Detroit had an opportunity to lead.
Instead, it delivered a catastrophic misstep, one that transforms a lineage-based justice initiative into a global, unfocused, legally indefensible diversity project.
The report defines its core population not as descendants of enslaved Black Americans, but as members of the global African diaspora — stretching from Brazil and Colombia to Europe, the Caribbean, Canada, South and Central America, and beyond. Reparations for historic crimes committed by the United States cannot be distributed to people whose ancestors were never harmed by the United States. This is not solidarity; it is structural confusion.
Lawsuit loading.
The Supreme Court Has Already Closed This Door
Detroit’s leadership appears unaware, or unwilling to acknowledge the legal reality shaped by the Supreme Court.
In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC, the Court ruled that race-based remedies are unconstitutional unless tied to specific, identifiable victims of specific, identifiable harms. Broad “racial categories” are no longer sufficient. “Diaspora” is even weaker.
This report ignores that reality entirely.
It attempts to push a globalized racial identity as the basis for a U.S. municipal reparations program. That is a legal obituary, not a strategy.
Eligibility Criteria (Page 28): A Framework Guaranteed to Fail
Detroit’s own eligibility language confirms the report’s fatal flaw. On page 28, the criteria are listed as:
- A descendant of an African enslaved in the U.S. or in the diaspora
- At least 21 years old
- A current Detroit resident for at least 20 years
The very first requirement detonates the entire framework.
The phrase “enslaved in the diaspora” is legally meaningless in U.S. reparations law.
It allows anyone with ancestry in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, or Europe to claim eligibility — even if their lineage has no historic connection to U.S. chattel slavery.
This language erases the very people the reparations movement was built to repair: descendants of slaves held on American soil by the American government under American law.
It transforms a lineage-specific remedy into a global diversity program, one guaranteed to be struck down the moment it faces judicial review.
AR1870’s Recommended Eligibility Standard — Constitutionally Grounded, Lineage-Based, Legally Unbreakable
AR1870 strongly recommends that all reparations bodies, cities, states, or federal, use the eligibility standard we helped craft for the Washington State Charles Mitchell & George Washington Bush Reparative Justice Study:
“Descendants of Victims of U.S. Chattel Slavery.”
This is not just wording.
It is a constitutional shield designed for the post-SFFA legal landscape.
It is broad enough to encompass every legitimate self-identifier used within the descendant community, including:
- Black Americans
- Freedmen
- FBA (Foundational Black Americans)
- Negro
- Colored
- African American
- Black Indigenous (Indigenous to the United States)
- Soulaan
- “Black” when used in a lineage-specific context
All of these terms refer to the same historic bloodline — the lineage directly harmed by U.S. slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, redlining, convict leasing, and state-sanctioned plunder.
This framework ensures that eligibility is:
- Historically accurate
- Constitutionally defensible
- Directly tied to U.S. culpability
- Inclusive of all lineage-based identities
This is the umbrella Detroit needed — and rejected.
AR1870 Warned of This
For years, AR1870 has sounded the alarm about the dangers of Pan-Africanism in reparations policy.
Not cultural Pan-Africanism, but political Pan-Africanism, the kind that confuses global Black identity with American lineage-based justice.
We warned that merging distinct lineages into a single “diaspora” category would:
- Waste time
- Burn resources
- Demoralize the harmed community
- Destroy legal legitimacy
- Hand our opponents a constitutional victory on a silver platter
Detroit followed the path we warned against. The result speaks for itself.
A Movement Hijacked by Scope
Detroit’s report attempts to tie U.S. lineage-based harms to a global Black experience.
Legally, this is catastrophic.
Politically, it is reckless.
Morally, it is a betrayal.
Reparations must repair specific harms inflicted by the United States upon a specific lineage living on American soil.
To universalize that injury is to nullify its remedy.
A Blueprint Built for Collapse
Detroit had one job: build a legally defensible reparations system anchored in the lived, inherited harms of the descendants of U.S. chattel slavery. Instead, it produced a blueprint so vague it invites its own destruction. By merging U.S. lineage with worldwide enslavement, the task force has undermined the constitutional core of its mission. This isn’t progress — it’s precedent for confusion. And every descendant of U.S. chattel slavery has the right to say plainly: this report abandons the very lineage it claims to uplift.
Call to Action
Detroit’s misstep is not merely a local failure — it is a warning for every jurisdiction pursuing reparations.
Do not copy confusion.
Do not globalize justice.
Do not abandon lineage.
Anchor your work in the only standard that will survive history, politics, and the courts:
Descendants of Victims of U.S. Chattel Slavery.
AR1870 will continue to guard this principle — and guard the descendant community from the erosion of its rightful claim.
