RAPS Talk | Reparations for All?

The Race and Public Space (RAPS) Working Group at NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge invites you to join for a conversation between Michael Ralph and Haben Abraha about the prospect of reparations for all US taxpayers based on Robert Meister’s insight that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or “2008 Bailout,” constitutes an act of extortion that demands redress.
This event is part of the working group’s Reparations Project, a project which explores the prospect of reparations for Transatlantic slavery and colonialism, widely recognized as one of the most horrific events in world history. This inquiry will take the form of common readings to explore and frame the central issues, lectures by experts to interrogate the stakes, legal research to evaluate the case, and economic and statistical analysis to explore the feasibility of reparations for peoples and nations victimized by colonial slavery.

Can’t make it? Watch the live-stream on Facebook or Instagram.

Haben Abraha is first generation Eritrean-American, born and raised in St. Louis, MO. Mr. Abraha is the sole Senior Attorney for Corporate Income Tax with the Florida Department of Revenue Executive Program, where he works as a conferee providing informal and formal tax opinions to taxpayers who deal with specific tax implication of Florida Sales & Use, and Corporate Tax. In addition to providing tax opinions, Mr. Abraha assists in legislative bill analysis on behalf of the Department. Also, Mr. Abraha is a managing member of The Abraha Law Firm, PL, with practice areas in corporate, business, and civil. Prior to, he successfully started and operated a multi-branch tax preparation firm of which recently entered its fourth season.

Michael Ralph is an associate professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis and Director of Metropolitan Studies at New York University. He has published in Social Text, Souls, and South Atlantic Quarterly. He is a member of the Social Text Editorial Collective, the Souls Editorial Working Group, and the editorial boards of Transforming Anthropology and Sport in Society. At the IPK, he organizes the Race and Public Space Working Group.