Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson called on white people to maintain an "individual reparations account" to make donations to black individuals as retribution for racism in America.
The plan, put forth in Dyson's upcoming book, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, suggests that white people set aside funds to donate to groups like the United Negro College Fund or to pay "the black person who cuts your grass double what you might ordinarily pay."
"Look, if it doesn't cost you anything, you're not really engaging in change; you're engaging in convenience," Dyson told the New York Times Magazine last week. "I'm asking you to do stuff you wouldn't ordinarily do. I'm asking you to think more seriously and strategically about why you possess what you possess."
"You ain't got to ask the government, you don't have to ask your local politician–this is what you, an individual, conscientious, 'woke' citizen can do," he continued.
Dyson, a regular contributor to MSNBC, said he expects his book to be well-received by white people who are "deeply empathetic to the struggles of minorities."
"These are the ones who ask me, 'What can I do, as a white person?'" he said.