Interview with Arlena Jones and Melvin Bates

Arlena Jones and Melvin Bates were interviewed as part of SHARE’s Reparations in the Black World oral history collection which was developed in partnership with the students in a Black Reparations course at Western Michigan University. Ms. Jones and Mr. Bates were interviewed by Sydney McCarrall and Sareniti Wallace-Lawson, students in the aforementioned course. During the interview, Ms. Jones and Mr. Bates discussed the following topics: Melvin’s childhood on a plantation in Mississippi; His journey to the north; Coaching tennis; His testimony of his faith; His welding career; His views on reparations; Arlena’s views on financial and spiritual reparations; The Willie Lynch Letter; Her response to the idea that reparations are unfair, and; What’s next?