THE PROBLEM 

THE PROBLEM

Current Approaches Prioritize Indirect Investments

Most initiatives focus on indirect or institutional investments, such as: Funding Black businesses through loans , CDFIs- Community Develpment Financial institutions and lenders provide their reinvestment loans to none impacted investors to develop affordable housing that only adds to increase white wealth and financial pricing schemes to make the housing built unaffordable to the residents who already live in those communities, while offering training for low wage jobs  or education programs.  These approaches still leave the people who were denied government support of land grants, business grants and years of denial immediate cash for opportunities to build wealth legacies.  It still leaves them with the same incomes without additional money to afford the homes, to open business and to take care of their families.  These approaches are another way to delay financial payments for another two or more generations struggling and making them further behind. 

These are important to the larger society, but they don’t directly inject capital 

into Black households for immediate use, investing or for generational transfers.

These approaches have Political and Legal Constraints

• Race-targeted and any government programs are open to racist backlash and legal scrutiny, especially after recent court rulings challenging affirmative action (e.g., Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard i.e. education which is suppose to be delivered by taxes).

• Even private grant funded programs face lawsuits claiming "reverse discrimination" 

(e.g., Fearless Fund’s legal battle over its grant program for Black women entrepreneurs).

• This leads many organizations to use forced race-neutral language like “socially disadvantaged” or

“underserved” instead of naming Black descendants of enslaved persons households directly and specifically.

Policy Caution vs. Reparative Justice

• Some policymakers avoid direct wealth transfers fearing political backlash from their own culture who have silently been imposing a unspoken war on Black financial opportunities which are a path  to economic freedom. 

• But scholars and advocates argue that without direct cash for asset transfers, structural wealth gaps will remain unchanged for centuries more. 

Opposition, Power vs. Prophecy

Today, 85% of predominantly white Americans oppose financial reparations for Black descendants whose current economic struggles are deeply rooted in the actions of their ancestors. These Americans are direct beneficiaries of generational wealth built on the stolen labor of enslaved Africans — wealth passed down while the harms went unaddressed.

Despite identifying as Christians, many refuse to recognize that their resistance continues a legacy of injustice. Their denial contradicts the moral standards they claim to uphold. Scripture itself speaks directly to the nature of such harm and grace:

“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” — Exodus 21:16

Those now rejecting reparations are often the descendants of those who built fortunes through slavery — the very same system that created today’s racial wealth gap. Their ancestors received grace instead of judgment; yet instead of using that unearned advantage to repair, they continue to deny the debt owed.

But this is not the end of our shared story.

We stand at a crossroads: one path leads to healing and justice, the other to continued prophecy and judgment. Our nation's origin, foretold in Genesis 15:13-14, reminds us that God sees, remembers, and acts on historical injustice.

Both Black Americans and white Americans are spiritually tethered to this past — one through harm suffered, the other through benefit received. Many in that 85% continue to cling to a spirit of greed, claiming that anything but financial compensation can address the damage. But this defiance is a rejection of their moral and biblical obligation.

Repair requires more than words. When harm was financial, justice must be financial. Withheld wages demand restitution — not just as a policy, but as a sacred responsibility.

Our call in this divide is to address that wealth gap with what we can do right now