Coates: Hello, Mr. Williamson. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. So, I heard that you made a response to the article that I published on the Atlantic. Help me understand your reasoning because I frankly cannot wrap my head around why you think there should be reparations to African Americans.

Williamson: Hello Mr. Coates. The pleasure is mine. I understand that you feel very passionately about this topic. I simply do not think reparations are conducive of a productive society at this point in time. We must keep moving forward, instead of focusing on the past. That is the only way we are going to make any positive change for African Americans and the generations to come.

Coates: You argue that all the oppression and wrongdoings are all in the past now, but it was just 2005 when Wells Fargo cheated black folk out of their money and into predatory loans. Racism is still widely spread and so ingrained in today’s society that has become the norm, but I will not have it anymore. I simply won’t have it. From the very start of this country, white people have stolen from black people, beaten us into submission, and subjected us to inhumane treatment. Knowing all that history, Mr. Williamson, you can’t possibly tell me that black people don’t deserve reparations.

Williamson: I do not argue that African Americans do not deserve reparations but I argue that white people of this time do not deserve to pay for the sins of their great, great, great however-many-greats father. And how can you say white people born into impoverished families should also pay for other impoverished families? I’m sorry to say this but, Mr. Coates, you must think about this issue on the scale of the individual person.

Coates: Yes, Mr. Williamson, I have thought about this issue on the scale of the individual person. I do believe I wrote about multiple black individuals who were devastated by the unfair treatment of blacks. People like Clyde Ross and Billy Brooks Sr. and hundreds of thousands of individual black people have suffered from unfair and discriminatory laws. I believe you think on too-small of a scale, Mr. Williamson. The magnitude of reparations is more than just a monetary repayment, but also a formal government acknowledgement of the country’s wrongdoings, of both the past and the present.

Williamson: I agree that a formal government acknowledgement that slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were, unfortunately, smears and stains of this country’s history, and African Americans deserve a sincere and formal apology from the government, but it is not necessary for people of the current day and age to pay for the sins of horrible men of the past.

Coates: But black men and women suffer in poverty from the systemic oppression of our kind since the very start. There are people who need this money to feed their families, to provide simple living necessities. Though I do agree that taking money from one impoverished family and giving it to another impoverished family will do nothing to fix our problem, something must be done.

Williamson: Well, I’m sure I will never be able to persuade you away from your personal opinions, but I’m glad we had this chance to discuss our differences in thought. I will take your words and think about this issue thoroughly. Thank you and have a good day.

Coates: Thank you, and have a good day too.