Psychoanalysis is key—it’s the only way to evaluate the means and effectiveness of the plan.

This paper examines the question of slave reparations in light of Melanie Klein's notion of reparation, as presented in her essay Love, Guilt and Reparation , and the "Manichean" position described in Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (Fanon, 1961, p 41). Approaching this question from a psychoanalytic perspective allows the problem to be addressed in ways that ethical constructs do not. That is, by asking the question of consequences in light of sound theory the cart is not put before the horse. Instead of asking a theoretical question and providing a theoretical answer, a psychoanalytic inquiry posed in a pragmatic vein can raise and answer the question in recognition of the co-determination of the ends and means involved in an ethical situation. It is not the goal of this paper to argue that the issue of reparations should not be asked in terms of justice, equitability, or even debt, but rather to argue that by momentarily suspending these questions in favor of the public health question "what will decrease our suffering?," we may learn something more that can aid us in reaching a conclusion as regards reparations. We may also come to understand better the phantasies that structure contemporary whiteness such that racism continues to be a reality.