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Authored by Matt Lamb via The College Fix,

Saint Louis University should hand over $74 billion in reparations to the descendants of slaves who reportedly built the Jesuit Catholic school, an advocacy group announced recently.

The Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved group laid out their demands during a press conference last week. The $74 billion number came from economist Julianne Malveaux who apparently believes the slaves never slept.

The group is represented by Areva Martin (pictured below), a “civil rights attorney” and CNN commentator.

While the university usually caves to demands from racial activists, they weren’t as promising that they’d hand over $74 billion.

Georgetown University, which is also run by the Jesuits, created a $1 billion fund to compensate for its past involvement in slavery.

However, there are no direct payments and descendants have questioned where the money is going.

“NOBODY( Georgetown /SOJ/ The Descendant Truth and Reconciliation) TALKS TO US,” one descendant told The College Fix in 2022.

Georgetown first announced the plan to much fanfare, including a New York Times write-up. The D.C. university planned to raise $1 billion, according to an April 2021 announcement, with a short-term goal of $100 million.

In May 2023, the university announced the first five recipients of grants from a $400,000 per year pool.

Georgetown announced:

Should SLU pay reparations to the slave descendants?

Probably not.

It is not clear how they have suffered direct harm from their ancestors being enslaved. It was morally wrong for anyone to be enslaved, but what is there to be repaired?

There is a case to be made for using some money to honor the past slaves.

For example, if they did not have a proper burial due to being slaves or living in poverty, the university might consider setting up a quality cemetery near or on campus to bury the remains.

That could uphold the horrific truth of slavery – while also moving toward reconciliation.