PAY THE TAB: Reparations Now

Tony Tolbert & Adam Radinsky
  • 5.0 (39)
  • DOCUMENTARY

America has never faced up to the atrocities its massive wealth was built on — or the racism that still plagues us today. It’s high time for reparations to Black Americans. In each episode, Harvard lawyers (and longtime friends) Tony and Adam expose a story of racial injustice — then explore creative ways to make it right. The show features special guests who are on the front lines fighting for justice. We're making the case for full national reparations, one story at a time.

  1. #22 - Tulsa Revisited: The Fight Continues At Reparations Ground Zero

    OCT 9

    #22 - Tulsa Revisited: The Fight Continues At Reparations Ground Zero

    Meet Damario Solomon-Simmons, the leading reparations lawyer in the country. He led the Tulsa Race Massacre court battle that put reparations on the national radar. Damario gives advice and inspiration for creative change-making when the system is stacked against us. You’ll be fired up and ready to go!  SHOW NOTES Guest: Damario Solomon-Simmons   Damario Solomon-Simmons has been a civil rights attorney for almost 20 years. He leads the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, and co-founded the MVP Foundation. Damario has been featured on CNN, The View, Good Morning America, ABC News, ESPN, The New York Times, and more.   Some of Damario’s projects for Tulsa:  Tulsa Race Massacre Lawsuit – The brilliant and riveting legal complaint that launched the historic court battle for reparations stemming from the Massacre.   Justice for Greenwood – Community-based Tulsa organization founded by Damario and fighting for justice and reparations for the Massacre.    Greenwood Is Still Burning – New award-winning documentary that exposes the events of the Massacre and the ongoing legacy of harms it caused.   HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE [9:05] Damario’s shock on learning of the Massacre [14:07] Thriving Greenwood community [17:27] The real catalysts of the Massacre  [24:14] Major impacts of the lawsuit [27:08] Key goals of lawsuit [33:00] Reparatory justice in plain terms [40:01] Damario’s motivations to fight for justice [49:00] Relevance of the Massacre today Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    53 min
  2. #21 - Our Project 2025: Double Down on Truth-Telling

    JUL 24

    #21 - Our Project 2025: Double Down on Truth-Telling

    What used to be called “science fiction” is now our daily reality. The fringe right is in power, bombarding us with the openly fascist Project 2025. A key tactic is snuffing out all talk about our racist and corrupt system. But this is no time to back down! Truth-telling is more critical than ever. Tony and Adam catch up on the latest - and how we can all fight back. SHOW NOTES Trump Administration Scare Tactics: “Dear Colleague” letter Anti-DEI Executive Order Law professors push back  Reparations in the News: Tulsa: City Announces Private Sector Reparations Proposal Stone Mountain, GA: Confederacy Group Sues To Block Truth-telling Exhibit  California: Legislative Black Caucus 2025 Priority Bill Package Maryland: Gov. Wes Moore Vetoes Reparations Study Washington: Washington State Undertakes Reparations Study  HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE  [1:22]   The far-right's Project 2025 [5:57]   Trump Administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter and pushback [10:30]   Tony on recent Georgia Confederacy group lawsuit  [13:50]   Strategies for pushing back against the powers that be  [14:52]   The importance of truth-telling [16:58]   Current activity in the fight for reparations [22:37]   The latest from Tony & Adam [27:12]   Calls to action   Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    32 min
  3. #20 - Slavery in the U.S. Today: Is This 2025 or 1825?

    MAR 18

    #20 - Slavery in the U.S. Today: Is This 2025 or 1825?

    News flash: Slavery didn’t end after the Civil War. Thanks to the massive loophole of the 13th Amendment, it’s still going strong - in the form of forced prison labor all across America. We take you to Louisiana, the world’s incarceration leader. Local historian Eric Seiferth tells about Louisiana’s barbaric prison labor system, where inmates are forced to toil in the same fields worked by enslaved people over 150 years ago. We’re talking reparations? Let’s start by actually ending slavery in America! SHOW NOTES Guest: Eric Seiferth  Eric Seiferth is a curator and historian with the Historic New Orleans Collection. His extensive research was instrumental in creating Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration, an exhibit examining the roots of Louisiana’s dubious distinction as the incarceration capital of the world. More on Louisiana's slave labor system: Promise of Justice Initiative – New Orleans-based group fighting to stop enslaved labor and other atrocities of the Prison Industrial Complex. Derrick Fruga's Return Home - Short film about formerly incarcerated man whose nearly two decades of forced labor earned him just enough money to buy his mother a bouquet of flowers. Visiting Room Project – Website lets you sit face-to-face with people serving life without parole at Angola Prison, telling their stories in their own words. The only collection of its kind with over 100 interviews. Angola Prisoners Lawsuit  More on mass incarceration and forced prison labor: “13th” – Oscar-nominated documentary on our history of forced prison labor and the 13th Amendment loophole. Equal Justice Initiative – One of America’s leading advocacy groups fighting for justice in the penal system.  California Voters Reject Anti-Slavery Proposition ACLU graphic of America’s coast-to-coast slave wages for prison labor More on “Captive State” and HNOC: Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration - exhibit website Historic New Orleans Collection website  HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE [5:45] Forced labor in the Louisiana prison system [9:01] Through-line from slavery at Angola plantation to slave labor at Angola Prison today [19:28] Louisiana eliminates parole for life sentences and adds life-term offenses [23:19] Louisiana’s impact on brutal practices across U.S. prisons [28:40] Tension in New Orleans between horrific oppression and creative resistance [33:48] Importance of shining a light on our true history and organizing for reparations   Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe   ·

    41 min
  4. #19 - The Bucks Start Here: William Darity Jr. and Kirsten Mullen

    12/13/2024

    #19 - The Bucks Start Here: William Darity Jr. and Kirsten Mullen

    Money isn’t the only part of reparations - but it sure is a big one! We sit down with William Darity and Kirsten Mullen, the nation's leading reparations experts. They answer key questions: How big is the tab? Who gets paid? What good is money unless we first change our racist society? They also break down why they're hopeful that reparations will happen in America - and tell us about the transforming power of cold hard cash. SHOW NOTES Guests: William Darity and Kirsten Mullen William A. Darity Jr. is Professor of Public Policy, African American Studies, Economics, and Business at Duke University. He’s the founding director of the Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke. A. Kirsten Mullen is a writer, folklorist and lecturer whose work focuses on race, art, history and politics. She’s the founder of Artefactual, and was part of the team that designed the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Darity and Mullen co-wrote the award-winning book From Here To Equality: Reparations For Black Americans in the 21st Century. William Darity's home page Kisten Mullen's bio Selected works by Darity and Mullen: From Here To Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century (2020)The Black Reparations Project : A Handbook For Racial Justice (2023)Black Reparations in the United States: An Introduction (2024) Related articles: “Stolen Lives” - Elizabeth Wrigley-Field’s piece on stolen Black time and the “longevity gap” (2024)"What Is Owed" - article in the Nation on Darity and Mullen’s case for reparations (2021)"The New Reparations Math” - on Thomas Craemer's revolutionary approach to calculating the tab (2020) HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE:  [14:57] The racial wealth gap and their plan for money reparations [24:42] The longevity gap and reparations [32:54] Eligibility issues for Black American reparations [42:36] Encouraging news on growing public support for money reparations [49:25] Problems with local and state initiatives [58:34] Mullen on the importance of collective will and calls to action Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    1h 12m
  5. #18 - The Negro Leagues: It’s Past Time for America’s Pastime to Make Reparations

    10/24/2024

    #18 - The Negro Leagues: It’s Past Time for America’s Pastime to Make Reparations

    Some of the greatest players ever were kept out of Major League Baseball for nearly 70 years - due to the collusion of the racist team owners. We visit with Bill Greason, 100, the oldest surviving Negro Leagues player, and baseball historian Larry Lester, to make the case for long-overdue reparations by MLB. We crunch some numbers and calculate the tab to right this historic wrong. It's time to play ball! SHOW NOTES Guests: Bill Greason and Larry Lester   Bill Greason, 100, is one of two surviving players from the Negro Leagues. He was a star pitcher for the Birmingham Black Barons and mentor to the great Willie Mays, before becoming the first Black pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954. He was also one of the first Black U.S. Marines. Rev. Greason has served as a pastor at a Birmingham, AL church for over 50 years. Larry Lester is the leading Negro Leagues historian. His epic research spanned over 40 years and filled 25 file cabinets in his home. Lester played a pivotal role in the integration of Negro Leagues statistics into the Major League Baseball records in 2024. He also co-founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO. More on Bill Greason: Bill Greason’s biographyBill Greason Takes Another Trip Around the Bases at 100 by Joseph King More on Larry Lester: Larry’s websiteLarry’s all-time greatest baseball player: "Bullet" Joe RoganWith Deliberate Speed by Larry Lester (article about 1950s baseball integration) More on baseball integration and reparations: Wendell Smith's Vision Helped Clear Jackie Robinson's Path to Majors by Isabelle MinasianThe Rippling Manifesto by Ernest DiStefanoView From Third Base (Willie Mays 1960 All-Star Game) by Gary Rhoades Visit:  Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (Kansas City, MO) HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE: [13:45] Bill Greason describes his navigating the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham [17:02] Greason compares the quality of play in Black and white baseball [18:21] Greason on his mentoring the great Willie Mays [19:57] Greason speaks on the prospect of reparations to Negro Leagues players [24:22] Larry Lester on the role of the Black press in integrating baseball [25:38] Lester on his role in helping to integrate the baseball record books [30:34] Lester compares the quality of play in Black and white baseball [35:10] Lester on Negro Leagues innovations [43:38] Adam calculates the $800 million owed by MLB to Negro Leaguers   Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    50 min
  6. #17 - The “Black Tax”: A Grand Theft of Historic Proportions

    06/27/2024

    #17 - The “Black Tax”: A Grand Theft of Historic Proportions

    A dirty secret in U.S. history is how local property taxes have been used to steal massive amounts of land and money from Black people, for the last 160 years. The Black Tax, a new book by historian Andrew Kahrl, exposes these scams that helped create the colossal racial wealth gap of today. The damage to Black Americans? More than $600 billion in straight-up theft – and trillions in lost generational wealth!   SHOW NOTES Guest: Andrew W. Kahrl Andrew Kahrl is a Professor at the University of Virgina. His research focuses on the social and political history of racial inequality in the United States. He teaches courses on African American history, race and real estate, and U.S. urban history. Books by Andrew Kahrl: The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America The Land Was Ours: How Black Beaches Became White Wealth in the Coastal South  Related readings and resources: The Whiteness of Wealth: How The Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans - And How We Can Fix It by Dorothy A. Brown“Blacks in South Struggle to Keep the Little Land They Have Left” (NY Times 1972)Federation of Southern Cooperatives (Land Assistance Fund) HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE: [10:55]  Over-taxing of Black-owned property [13:54]  Under-servicing of Black communities [22:18]  The tax sale scam [26:06]  The saga of Evelina Jenkins [29:08]  The tab: damages to Black Americans for stolen property [39:32]  Andrew Kahrl’s proposals to repair the tax system [42:22]  Importance of solidarity to creating a more just system   Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    50 min
  7. #16 - Special Update: The Reparations Movement, Our Growing Project, and Things We All Can Do

    04/16/2024

    #16 - Special Update: The Reparations Movement, Our Growing Project, and Things We All Can Do

    This is an exciting time in the fight for Black reparations! As momentum builds across the country, Pay The Tab is expanding in new directions - including the first-ever reparations course at UCLA Law School. In this special episode, Tony and Adam bring the latest news, answer your questions, and share things we all can do to disrupt America's toxic system of racism, denial, and capitalist greed. Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    33 min
  8. #15 - Henrietta Wood: An American Hero You Never Heard Of

    02/29/2024

    #15 - Henrietta Wood: An American Hero You Never Heard Of

    The largest-ever court award for slavery reparations came from an unlikely plaintiff. Henrietta Wood was an enslaved woman who gained her freedom in the 1840s - only to be kidnapped and sold back into slavery for 15 more horrific years. Her heroic fight for payback is inspiration for today’s reparations battle. Join us with historian Caleb McDaniel, whose book telling Wood's story, Sweet Taste Of Liberty, won the Pulitzer Prize. SHOW NOTES Guest: W. Caleb McDaniel Dr. McDaniel is a professor at Rice University and U.S. historian, focusing on the Civil War Era and the struggle over slavery. He chairs the Department of History and serves as co-chair of Rice's Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice. His book, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in History. Caleb McDaniel's home pageCaleb McDaniel's book about Henrietta Wood, Sweet Taste Of LibertyStolen by Richard Bell - story of five Black boys kidnapped from Philadelphia into slavery in 1825 More about Henrietta Wood's son Arthur Sims including his photo in Jet Magazine when he was America's oldest practicing Black lawyer! HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE: [5:57] The “reverse Underground Railroad” and kidnapping gangs in border states [12:51] The villain: Zebulon Ward [17:37] The case: Henrietta Wood v. Zebulon Ward [20:38] Generational impact of court award on Wood’s family [28:42] Importance of political action in the fight for reparations [31:52] The hero: Henrietta Wood Contact Tony & Adam Subscribe

    46 min
See All (23)

Trailer

5
out of 5
39 Ratings

About

America has never faced up to the atrocities its massive wealth was built on — or the racism that still plagues us today. It’s high time for reparations to Black Americans. In each episode, Harvard lawyers (and longtime friends) Tony and Adam expose a story of racial injustice — then explore creative ways to make it right. The show features special guests who are on the front lines fighting for justice. We're making the case for full national reparations, one story at a time.

Information

  • Creator
    Tony Tolbert & Adam Radinsky
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 PAY THE TAB: Reparations Now
  • Show Website
    PAY THE TAB: Reparations Now

You Might Also Like