ProCon’s Reparations Quiz
- Question: Which group suffered the same fate as Japanese Americans during World War II and also received reparations from the U.S. government?
- Answer: In a largely forgotten chapter in World War II history, after Japan invaded the westernmost islands of Alaska, roughly 900 Aleuts (who are closely related to the Inuit) from the Aleutian and Pribilof islands were forcibly removed from their homes by the U.S. government and interned in “relocation camps” in southeast Alaska from 1942 to 1945; like Japanese Americans, they too were offered reparations as a result of their internment.
- Question: Which of the following could be a form of reparations?
- Answer: Reparations could take all of these forms.
- Question: Which of the following could be a reason for issuing reparations?
- Answer: All of these could be reasons for issuing reparations.
- Question: Which of the following is a common argument in favor of granting reparations for slavery?
- Answer: This is a common argument in favor of granting reparations for slavery.
- Question: Which of the following was associated with Native Americans, who, like Japanese Americans, received reparations from the U.S. government?
- Answer: The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation during the 1830s of Native Americans in the southeastern United States to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River; some 100,000 Indigenous people were forced from their homes and land, and some 15,000 of them died during the journey from starvation, disease, and severe weather.
- Question: Which issue was connected with Japanese Americans and led the U.S. government to grant them reparations?
- Answer: In 1988 Pres. Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which has provided more than a billion dollars ($20,000 per person) and an apology to more than 80,000 Japanese Americans who were forcibly relocated to internment camps during World War II.
- Question: Which U.S. city was the first to issue reparations to Black Americans for past discrimination?
- Answer: In March 2021 Evanston, Illinois, became the first U.S. city to issue reparations, offering up to $25,000 to Black residents (or their descendants) who had lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.
- Question: Which of the following was associated with African Americans, who, like Japanese Americans and Native Americans, have received reparations from the U.S. government?
- Answer: The Tuskegee syphilis study (1932–72) was an American medical research project that earned notoriety for its unethical experimentation on African American men in the rural South; in 1974, $10 million was paid in reparations to the surviving participants of the study (and their families).
- Question: Which of the following is a common argument against granting reparations for slavery?
- Answer: This is a common argument against granting reparations for slavery.
