I consider myself a pretty tough cookie. Whateva – bring it on. But by the last months of Vertus Hardiman’s life projected on the big screen, I was covering my face, unable to look at the screen. I could not bear the fact that a human being was enduring this depth of suffering. I didn’t want to have the horrific images of the growing, necrotic hole in his head emblazoned on my memory screen forever.
Last week, A Call to Conscience sponsored a screening of Hole in the Head at the Missouri History Museum. The documentary chronicles the life and death of Hardiman who, along with nine other black children, were victims of radiation experimentation in the 1920s. Vertus’ irradiation was the worst of the lot, perhaps because he was the youngest. At five years old, the so-called medical treatment for ringworm actually burned a hole through his little skull. The parents of the children had been deceived into participation by the white county hospital.
I know the documentary was supposed to lift up the dignity and resilience of Hardiman, who suffered incessant pain and disfigurement without complaint. His was a guarded life of 85 years, his secret covered by wigs or hats. I couldn’t get past Hardiman’s remarkable story for thinking about payback.
Just a few weeks ago, Ta-Nehisi Coates made “The Case for Reparations” in The Atlantic. The article blew up the internet; it set a single-day traffic record for the magazine’s website. The print edition shattered The Atlantic’s previous best sales figures at Barnes and Noble. All of a sudden Coates was talking to SRO venues, on a bunch of talk shows and the topic of numerous blogs and websites.
This is not the first article on reparations, so I’m baffled about why it resonated so deeply now (apparently, so is Coates). There have been numerous articles written on the subject. Randall Robinson wrote a book about it entitled “The Debt.”
So, here we are having a national discussion about reparations because an unlikely advocate decided to give it some thought. I say “unlikely,” because Coates was not always a reparations proponent. I suppose as he nears 40 years of age as a black man, he’s taking a more serious look at his own life and the lives of black folks in this country.
Coates takes us past the 250 years of free labor during slavery, past the nearly 100 years of government-sanctioned discrimination and terrorism, and past 60 years of separate but equal. He had to get these out of the way because the first point opponents of reparations argue is that slavery is over.
White supremacy and all its manifestations didn’t end with slavery. It took the form of medical experimentation and other racial disparities in health care, stolen land and property, profits from unequal pay, redlining and other unfair banking policies, mass incarceration, lack of access to opportunities – and the list goes on and on. Racial discrimination has negatively impacted the health, education and quality of life of African Americans.
Equally as devastating has been the impact of racial oppression on the psyche and souls of black folks – the self-hatred and resulting self-destruction are powerful by-products of white supremacy.
Coates has us talking about reparations again, and that’s a good thing. Congressman John Conyers has introduced H.R. 40 every year for the last 25 years to no avail, and it only deals with conducting a mere study on the topic. The article can help pump up groups like the National Coalition for Black Reparations in America (N’COBRA), who’ve carried the torch for 30 years.
This country stubbornly refuses to acknowledge its past and present racial crimes. I agree with Coates: Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
