"People talked about how, across the board, the response from whites was, `It can't be money,'" Ifill said. "I don't think [the matter of whether compensation should be paid] is a question for the mayor to answer. It's not a question for the victim alone to answer. It's a question the descendants of victims and the descendants of perpetrators need to work out. The `it can't be money' response strikes me as reflexive and protective."
Ifill is the author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century. She also teaches a course at the law school called "Reparations, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice." She's given quite a bit of thought to the matters of reparations and reconciliation - more, you can bet, than Peters has.
For Ifill, money is only one part of the discussion, and might well not even be the most important part. Ifill appears in Banished, telling viewers that of all the historical markers across the country, Americans aren't likely to see one that acknowledges what happened in places like Forsyth County, Pierce City and Harrison.
"You'll never see a marker that reflects the history of racial violence," Ifill said in the film. Yesterday, she elaborated on why such historical markers are so crucial.
"Part of what's important," Ifill said, "is the truth-telling piece."
A component of that "truth-telling" piece might be for whites who still live in all-white towns and counties to face how their communities got that way. Some might be shocked to learn the answers. Some might be uncomfortable.
And some might be downright pleased.
Williams, who is black, interviewed a white man named Bob Scott who moved to Harrison after he retired.
"Why'd you come to Harrison?" Williams asked Scott, who looked Williams straight in the eye when he gave his answer.
"For two reasons," Scott answered. "The low cost of living. The low cost of real estate. And probably, more importantly than anything else, the lack of blacks."
That's actually three reasons, Scott, you mathematically challenged imbecile. But in a country where many today tiptoe around questions of race, I have to admire your candor.
But please find out how your all-white town got that way.
greg.kane@baltsun.com
