Dr. David Margolius, director of public health for the city of Cleveland, made the case for reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans during an Aug. 11 City Club of Cleveland forum.
Margolius said reparations could be a means to address income inequality and remedy longstanding health inequities within the Black community.
During a wide-ranging discussion on health inequities held outside in Playhouse Square, Margolius argued present-day health disparities and lack of access to healthcare have their origins in decades of racism.
"Structural racism is the main cause" of current inequity, he said. "When we look at generational wealth between white families and Black families over the last 50 years, that gap is not closing. For every $1 that a white family has, a Black family has 12 cents. That is the number one predictor of health."
The city needs to act to narrow that gap, Margolius said.
"We've got to create more opportunities for generational wealth for families who are Black in Cleveland."
And reparations is the path to take, he said, calling it "the most effective public health intervention that's been proposed."
The NAACP defines reparations as involving "a national apology, rights to the cannabis industry, financial payment, social service benefits, and land grants to every descendant of an enslaved African American and Black person a descendant of those living in the United States including during American slavery until the Jim Crow era."
Margolius said the best way to make this strategy acceptable is to frame it in terms of public health.
"I think we need to continue to communicate it as a public health intervention to make it more mainstream."
Speaking after the forum to Ideastream, he cautioned that the push for reparations was in its earliest stages.
"I think there's a lot more work to do to be able to get reparations in the city of Cleveland," Margolius said.
He added the city is considering a universal basic income pilot as part of this process. According to the National League of Cities, universal basic income is "a cash payment granted to all members of a community on a regular basis, regardless of employment status or income level. It is meant to be individual, unconditional, universal and frequent."
Margolius said he will continue advocating for reparations.
"It's a proven public health intervention that we should continue to advocate for on a national level," he said.
Margolius discussed a number of other public health issues during the City Club forum moderated by Ideastream Director of Engaged Journalism, Marlene Harris-Taylor, including COVID-19, lead abatement efforts in Cleveland and the high rates of smoking locally.
The national average smoking rate is 11% but Cleveland's smoking rate has climbed to 35%, he said. Cleveland has the highest smoking rates in the country – and it’s no accident, he said.
“We’ve been targeted in Cleveland," Margolius said.
The tobacco manufacturers have focused their advertising dollars on Black communities and promoted menthol cigarettes which are stronger and more addictive, he said.
“They put more advertising in our community, more promotional giveaways. It’s a racial justice issue," Margolius said.
