Reference no: EM133284076

Part 1.

Justice requires impartiality: treating everyone the same according to a just and fair set of principles. At the same time, we also value loyalty to people with whom we share particular personal or social bonds. When there is a conflict between our sense of justice and our loyalty to others, what should we do?

Michael Sandel, in "What Do We Owe One Another," discusses the story of the Bulger brothers, James (Whitey) and William. Whitey was the leader of a violent organized crime group in the Boston area known as the Winter Hill Gang. In 1994, after being tipped off that he was about to be arrested and charged with over a dozen murders, he went into hiding. For many years, he was number one on the FBI's Most Wanted List. He was finally captured in 2011, living in a small apartment with his girlfriend on the beach in Santa Monica. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison and was murdered by a fellow inmate in 2018.

While the FBI was looking for Whitey for all those years, there was at least one person who actually spoke with him on a regular basis and always knew where he was: his brother William. William was the President of the University of Massachusetts for the first several years of the search for Whitey. The FBI asked William if he knew where his brother was, and he admitted that he did. However, he refused to help or provide any information to law enforcement. While acknowledging that his brother Whitey did indeed live the life of crime and violence that he was accused of, William nonetheless claimed that the loyalty he owed to his brother meant that he could not help the authorities capture him. As a result of his loyalty to his brother, William was forced out of his job.

What do you think about William's refusal to help the authorities locate Whitey? Was he right or wrong? If you had a sibling, parent, or child, that had committed murder and was hiding from authorities, and you knew where your family member was hiding, would you provide that information to authorities if they asked?

Part 2.

The idea of racial reparations for slavery in the US - compensating the descendants of slaves for the harms done by slavery - has increased in support in recent years. In 2019, a hearing on reparations was held in the U.S. House of Representatives.

To be sure, the serious harms done to Black Americans by slavery, and its aftermath of continued racism and discrimination, have reverberated throughout the generations. And we generally accept the principle that, if people are wrongly harmed, then they deserve, as a matter of justice, to be compensated for the harms that they have endured. But the US government, as representative of the American community, has never apologized for slavery nor provided restitution for it. Does justice require that the US government provide compensation to the descendants of American slaves?

What are your thoughts on this issue? Would you support a federal law that includes an official US apology for slavery and compensation to the descendants of slaves?