What is Owed?

What Could Boston Look Like After Reparations?

GBH News and The Emancipator — a digital magazine that reimagines the nation’s first abolitionist newspapers for a new day — convened a discussion to consider how Boston might change in the decades after reparations are enacted.

Meanwhile, Back in Boston

Boston’s Mayor and members of the reparations task force speak about the progress made so far, the challenges going forward, and what they think reparations could actually look like.————-Credits:Host, Producer and Writer: Saraya Wintersmith Senior Producer: Jerome Campbell Editor: Paul SingerEditorial Assistant: Mara Mellits Production oversight: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott Theme Song and original music: Malik Williams Artwork: Mamie-Hawa Bawoh & Matt Welch Project Manager: Meiqian He Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

That Reluctant Conversation

We’re talking about the “R” words. Race. And Reparations. With Ibram X. Kendi, founder and director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.————-Credits:Host, Producer and Writer: Saraya Wintersmith Senior Producer: Jerome Campbell Editor: Paul SingerEditorial Assistant: Mara Mellits Production oversight: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott Theme Song and original music: Malik Williams Artwork: Mamie-Hawa Bawoh & Matt Welch Project Manager: Meiqian He Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

A Midwest Experiment

As Boston begins its first steps into considering reparations, we look at the city of Evanston, Illinois - which is already doing it. Evanston is the first city in the U.S. to enact municipally-funded reparations legislation. Robin Rue Simmons is a former city alderman who led the passage of the bill, which began disbursements in January 2022. In this episode, Rue Simmons and her collaborators talk about what they learned during the efforts to move their city towards reparations as well as how the effort changed their city.———Credits:Host, Producer and Writer: Saraya Wintersmith Senior Producer: Jerome Campbell Editor: Paul SingerEditorial Assistant: Mara Mellits Production oversight: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott Theme Song and original music: Malik Williams Artwork: Mamie-Hawa Bawoh & Matt Welch Project Manager: Meiqian He Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

The Government’s Burden

Although reparations has been historically fought for by Black people, the duty will be ultimately carried out by the government. To understand this role, we look at one of the biggest reparation efforts launched in history – repaying survivors of the Nazi regime. In this episode, we focus on the reparations paid by the Austrian government in response to WWII and how the nation prepared itself before reckoning with the harm done to others. Then we look at one of the most comprehensive proposed reparation plans for the U.S. and see how the two compare.———Credits:Host, Producer and Writer: Saraya Wintersmith Senior Producer: Jerome Campbell Editor: Paul SingerEditorial Assistant: Mara Mellits Production oversight: Lee Hill Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott Theme Song and original music: Malik Williams Artwork: Mamie-Hawa Bawoh & Matt Welch Project Manager: Meiqian He Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins