For almost four decades, I did expert witness testimony in wrongful death cases. The purpose of such testimony is often to place an affected party in a position of financial indifference between a “before” and “after” event. It’s the same premise for black reparations.

Most enslaved Africans brought to the United States came from Senegambia and west-central Africa, including present-day Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon. I did a calculation that compared wages in these countries today and compared them to current black wages in the US. I then did a present value analysis using a 5% discount rate on the income flows, extending it back 150 years.

The result is: blacks in the US have benefitted by just over $640,000 versus blacks who stayed in those African countries over that period of time. In other words, add up the income differentials for US versus African blacks, discount that wage differential over that 150 year period and US blacks have gained over $640K on average. So, if you are a descendant of a black slave, you owe non-blacks in the US a little over $640K.