Source: Noel Vasquez / Getty
f there’s one topic that will always grab the attention of Black people as a whole, the ongoing debate regarding the status of monetary
reparations being distributed to descendants of enslaved African Americans is sure to always be a sensitive subject.
Famed TV personality and talk show host
Dr. Phil opened up that can of worms a few weeks ago on his soon-ending titular daytime series, and let’s just say his hot take was met with a rather cold response from the melanated majority.
Take a look below at the clip that reignited the reparations conversation in the first place, reposted via
Hollywood Unlocked:
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Titled
“Should We Allow Reparations to Black Americans?,” the aforementioned episode of
Dr. Phil that aired on April 18 featured a handful of opinions from those both for and against the idea of a lump sum payout to make up for the inhumane abuse towards an entire race of people. Phil himself was quoted as saying, “If you take $350,000 or $840,000 and you write a check to any group of people — Black, white, poor, homeless, whatever — if you give any group of people that much money and say there you go, best of luck and you come back in six months, they’re going to be broke.” He further cemented his opinion by adding, “Whatever reparations are done, that would be an absolute disaster as opposed to guidance and help in creating generational wealth as opposed to income.”
The $350K figure came from research done by Duke University professor William Darity, a guest on the show who called in to state the facts on what the reality of reparations could possibly look like. “The first condition is that reparations should be paid to Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States,” he stated on his findings, further adding, “this would require an expenditure of $14 trillion, which would be distributed evenly across the 40 million Black American descendants of US slavery; that would be approximately $350,000 per person.” Darity’s 2020 book,
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, maps out the entire plan in detail.
As stated earlier, many took offense to the mere title of the episode posing the question of whether Black Americans “should” be “allowed” anything. Popular political commentator Van Lathan took it a step further while speaking with his
Higher Learning podcast co-host Rachel Lindsay, telling her, “nobody’s asking for permission…from Dr. Phil!” More on his side of the debate below:
Watch the full episode of Dr. Phil titled “Should We Allow Reparations to Black Americans?” and answer the question for us after seeing what many had to say on social media below.
