Principles of Compensation (John Speaking)
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I think our question is whether there is a moral justification for some or all of these policies --but mainly the strong policies that appear to be special preferences. The paradigm case is one in which a black job applicant is chosen over a white applicant who is superior by conventional criteria.

Sometimes the justification goes like this: Blacks were treated unfairly for a long time. Therefore, we have an obligation to do something to repair the harm that was done. It might be called compensation or reparations, but the general idea is that an injustice must be undone. Ideally, I think we should start by stating a general principle of compensation and then apply it to our questions.

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