This is part 2 of the students' conversation with Linda Alcoff (Hunter College & The Graduate Center, CUNY).

Charles Mills's recent Tanner Lecture on Human Values (University of Michigan) is available here. In his introductory words, you'll hear Charles Mills refer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971, Belknap). Prior to this recorded conversation, students read and discussed: 'The political economy of personhood,' by Charles Mills (2015) and 'The Case for Reparations,' by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic, 2014). What are reparations? What case can be made for the claim that racial injustices should be repaired? And what are some of the objections and practical obstacles to the enactment of reparations? In this episode and the next, students explore these questions with Charles Mills (The Graduate Center, CUNY). Special thanks to: Alisa Besher, Jordan Lord, Sampson Starkweather, Kendra Sullivan, and the students of Hunter College. Mellon Foundation and supervised by the Center for the Humanities (The Graduate Center, CUNY). It was made possible by a Public Humanities Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. We The Pupils is produced by Jules Salomone-Sehr. It bears noting that Joe Biden, the president-elect, pledged to support a study of reparations during the campaign. This episode was recorded in the Spring 2018, before the protests for racial and social justice that have defined 2020 in the US and beyond. For an overview of normative issues regarding black reparations, see 'Black Reparations,' by Bernard Boxhill (2010/2015). Prior to this recorded conversation, students read and discussed: 'The Political Economy of Personhood,' by Charles Mills (2015) and 'The Case for Reparations,' by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic, 2014). White folks today have not been involved in chattel slavery, so why might they have an obligation to contribute to reparations for slavery? Didn't slavery happen too long ago for reparations to be justified? Do reparations mean that white folks have to feel guilty for slavery? In part 2 of Charles Mills's interview (The Graduate Center, CUNY), he and the students offer answers to some objections sometimes made against reparations.

Alisa besher