On reparations: How much is owed Black Americans today?

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report: Episode Summary Title: On Reparations: How Much Is Owed Black Americans Today?
Host: David Brancaccio
Release Date: June 19, 2025

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1. Navigating Tariffs in the Manufacturing Sector

Timestamp: [01:32] - [03:42]

David Brancaccio opens the episode by addressing the ongoing challenges faced by the U.S. manufacturing sector amidst fluctuating tariff policies. Highlighting the interconnectedness of global supply chains, Brancaccio emphasizes how American factories rely heavily on imported components, making them vulnerable to international trade tensions.

Key Insights:

• Impact of Tariffs on Manufacturing Costs:
  Speaker: Lyman Munson, President of S.L. Munson & Co.
  Timestamp: [01:58]
  Munson explains that his company imports precision tool components from Europe and is subject to a 10% tariff. This additional cost cannot be absorbed by the company, forcing them to pass it onto their customers, which has led to significant pushback.

• Decreased Demand and Workforce Adjustments:
  Speaker: Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace's Reporter
  Timestamp: [02:35]
  Referring to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Hartman notes that 86% of panelists have cited tariffs as a reason for decreased demand in manufactured goods. This has led to reduced production and employment within the sector.

• Industry Hesitation Amid Policy Uncertainty:
  Speaker: Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing
  Timestamp: [03:03]
  Paul points out that while layoffs haven't surged, the uncertainty surrounding tariff policies has made businesses hesitant to invest in capital or expand their workforce. This postponement of growth decisions is directly linked to the unpredictable nature of current tariff policies.

Notable Quotes:

• Lyman Munson: “We have another customer who today said we're not going to pay any tariffs.” [02:24]
• Scott Paul: “We still don't know what tariff policy is going to look like a month from now.” [03:26]

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2. Reparations and the Racial Wealth Gap

Timestamp: [05:05] - [09:23]

Transitioning to a socially critical topic, Brancaccio delves into the enduring racial wealth gap in America, particularly in the context of reparations for Black Americans. This segment coincides with the Juneteenth holiday, underscoring the historical and ongoing struggles against racial inequality.

Key Insights:

• Tulsa Race Massacre Reparations:
  Speaker: Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace's Reporter
  Timestamp: [05:51]
  Hartman discusses the recent announcement by Tulsa’s mayor of a $105 million private fund aimed at compensating victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. This fund will support affordable housing, education, and small business development within Tulsa’s Black community.

• Local vs. National Reparations Efforts:
  Timestamp: [06:44]
  While acknowledging local initiatives in places like Evanston, Illinois, and Asheville, North Carolina, Hartman highlights the limitations of these efforts in addressing the national scale of the racial wealth gap.

• Federal Reparations Proposal – HR 40:
  Speaker: Kristen Mullen, Co-Author of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century
  Timestamp: [07:04]
  Mullen advocates for a federal reparations program, arguing that only a nationwide initiative can effectively eliminate the racial wealth gap. She emphasizes the necessity of substantial funding to achieve meaningful progress.

• Historical Context and Financial Implications:
  Speaker: Mitchell Hartman
  Timestamp: [07:27]
  Hartman outlines the historical factors contributing to the wealth disparity, including the failure to provide reparations post-emancipation, discriminatory policies like redlining, and unequal access to federal housing assistance. He cites economist William Darity's estimate that addressing the wealth gap through reparations would cost the federal government $16 trillion.

• Public Opinion and Legislative Prospects:
  Timestamp: [08:37]
  Hartman notes that support for reparations is currently a minority view at the national level, with only about 30% of Americans approving of the idea. Among Black Americans, support exceeds 75%, while only less than 20% of white Americans are in favor.

Notable Quotes:

• Kristen Mullen: “We think of reparations as a federal project that has as its major focus the elimination of the racial wealth gap.” [07:04]
• Mitchell Hartman: “Redressing the racial wealth gap now through reparations would cost the federal government $16 trillion.” [08:15]

Conclusion: The episode underscores the profound economic and social challenges stemming from policy decisions, whether they pertain to international trade or addressing historical injustices. Through expert interviews and data-driven analysis, Marketplace Morning Report provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of how these issues impact both the manufacturing sector and the broader societal fabric.

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For more detailed discussions and insights, listeners are encouraged to tune into the full episode of Marketplace Morning Report.

Transcript

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[David Brancaccio]

How to tell if factories are navigating the tariff turns I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. We're going to get a couple of updates on the manufacturing sector in the coming days. Factories here often rely on inputs from over there imports, which means even US Manufacturing can be on the receiving end of the trade war. Marketplace's Justin Ho looked into how that sector has been reacting so far this year.

[Lyman Munson]

S.L. munson & Co. Is a manufacturer in Columbia, South Carolina that makes precision tools for other manufacturers. Company President Lyman Munson says the company imports components from Europe, which means he has to pay a 10% tariff on those imports.

[Susan Spence]

We're writing a check every week now on shipments coming in.

[Lyman Munson]

Munson says the company can't absorb that 10% tariff, but passing that cost along to his customers hasn't exactly been easy.

[Susan Spence]

We're getting some pushback. Some companies are offering to negotiate. We have another customer who today said we're not going to pay any tariffs.

[Lyman Munson]

Last month, manufacturers surveyed by the Institute for Supply Management said demand for manufactured goods contracted.

[Mitchell Hartman]

And if you look at the comments, 86% of our panelists this past month have cited tariffs.

[Lyman Munson]

That's ISM's Susan Spence. Manufacturers also said they're reducing production and employment.

[Mitchell Hartman]

People were saying we're not backfilling, we're not replacing people. And a fair number of the comments were around we continue to do layoffs.

[Lyman Munson]

That said, we haven't seen any mass layoffs happen in the sector so far this year, says Scott Paul, president of the alliance for American Manufacturing. He says that's because businesses are reluctant to make any big decisions since the president's tariff policies have changed so much.

[Richard Karn]

Uncertainty is the enemy of making capital investments, of making permanent hiring and of.

[Lyman Munson]

Making plans for growth in the future, paul says. We still don't know what tariff policy is going to look like a month from now. And until we do, he says, the manufacturing sector is going to keep postponing those kinds of decisions. I'm Justin Ho for Marketplace.

[David Brancaccio]

US Stock and bond markets are closed today to honor the Juneteenth holiday and will reopen tomorrow morning.

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[David Brancaccio]

Juneteenth is a day that commemorates the formal emancipation of enslaved people in Texas by a union general who took control of Galveston on June 19, 1865. Among the many legacies of the long history of inequality, According to the Pew Research center, the median white household in the US has about a quarter million dollars in wealth, versus $27,000 for the typical black household. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman joins me now. He's been reporting for us on the racial wealth gap through the lens of Tulsa, Oklahoma, once home to black Wall street, once one of the most prosperous black communities in America, then devastated by an armed white mob in the Tulsa race massacre of. Mitchell, hello.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Good to be here.

[David Brancaccio]

We wanted to spend some time talking about ways to reduce the persistent racial wealth gap in America.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Well, let's start with Tulsa. So after decades of efforts to obtain reparations for the hundreds of deaths, the homes and businesses that were destroyed in that 1921 massacre, there was no government or insurance compensation afterward. Just this month, Tulsa's mayor announced a reparations plan. It's a $105 million private fund that is more than advocates expected by quite a lot. It'll pay for affordable housing, education, small business development for Tulsa's black community. You know, there have been efforts to provide reparations in other places. You've heard of Evanston, Illinois, for housing. Asheville, North Carolina, Amherst, Massachusetts, steps toward reparations.

[David Brancaccio]

These are local, regional efforts. Right. It's not really addressing the racial wealth gap at a national scale.

[Mitchell Hartman]

No. A lot of advocates for reparations for African Americans say it doesn't do that. Here's Kristen Mullen. She's co author of From Here to Equality. Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st century.

[Kristen Mullen]

We think of reparations as a federal project that has as its major focus the elimination of the racial wealth gap. They are the only entity that can possibly pay these funds and eliminate the racial wealth gap. It's a tremendous sum.

[David Brancaccio]

And Mitchell, from your interviews and conversations, how do advocates of reparations think about how much is owed to black Americans today?

[Mitchell Hartman]

So calculations of this often start with the moment of emancipation. Most enslaved people, you know, were sent into freedom without any resources or compensation. Reconstruction was eventually abandoned. Jim Crow segregation, lynchings and massacres like the one in Tulsa just kept on destroying black intergenerational wealth. Meanwhile, as Mullins co author Duke Public policy professor William Dougherty points out, white Americans get to homestead out on the prairie. They get free land, they put down roots, and they build wealth.

[Susan Spence]

And so whites are given an enormous largesse as the nation completes its colonial settler project in the west, while blacks who are newly emancipated are not even given the land that they formerly tilled for their slave masters.

[Mitchell Hartman]

And, you know, Darity says it continues right through the 20th century. You have federal housing assistance for white veterans after World War II that mostly excludes black veterans and redlines black neighborhoods the list just goes on. All told, Darity estimates redressing the racial wealth gap now through reparations would cost the federal government $16 trillion.

[David Brancaccio]

$16 trillion here in June 2025. Mitchell where does the effort for reparations stand and at the national level?

[Mitchell Hartman]

There's a House bill, HR 40, that has been introduced in every Congress since 1989. It would start a process to study reparations for slavery at the federal level. That is not likely to go anywhere in this Congress. Overall, support for reparations for African Americans is a minority view. Pew Research center finds that about 30% of Americans approve of the idea, 70% don't. Among blacks, more than 75% approve, while white approval is below 20%.

[David Brancaccio]

Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman has been reporting on this. Mitchell, thanks.

[Mitchell Hartman]

You're welcome.

[David Brancaccio]

It's the Marketplace Morning Report. We're from apm, American Public Media.

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