The Conservative Brotherhood (a blogger association that I am a part of) has decided to try to pick a subject for the week in which we will contribute our “two cents”. For this week the subject is reparations. Below, I have provided a list of opinions already provided by the group:
For the longest time, I have been listening to all sides of the reparations debate and I have found valid points on all sides. Because I hate re-hashing certain issues (like this one) that have been debated for years, my hope is to make this piece as short as possible and to the point. Hopefully I can offer a somewhat unique perspective on this very important issue.
For starters, I must say that I totally agree with one of our sister sites, Booker Rising. This is what the moderator of that site had to say regarding a recent USA Today article dealing with how reparations activists are encouraged by recent acknowledgment of slave trade beneficiaries:
“So there is a black consensus on an apology (which Booker Rising supports), but not for reparations (which Booker Rising believes have already been paid: the billions in affirmative action, Great Society, War On Poverty, etc. Most black folks are now middle-class, so individual challenges now primarily obstruct folks, not racism).”
I know it may seem that I cheating here by using “outside” opinions on this matter, but I just do not feel like it is necessary to keep re-inventing the wheel on this issue. Here is an article that I found on a free essays website. It doesn’t give the author, so I will just provide you with the link. Since it is free, I will provide you with the whole article. I will add my thoughts at the end of all of this.
==========
REPARATIONS COMPARISON Ever since the beginning of time groups of people have been used or persecuted by other groups who believed to be superior. The three groups being discussed in this paper are the Japanese-Americans, who were sent to internment camps during World War II, the European Jews, who were victims of acts of genocide at the hands of the Nazi government in Germany, and the Africans, now African-Americans, who were forced to board ships to America for the purpose of slavery. The Japanese-Americans, during WW II, were taken from their homes and forced to give up any job or business they maintained. This was supposedly a deterrent against the Japanese-Americans being potential security threats during the war. After WW II they were given $25 and a train ticket to wherever their home was before they were relocated. Most of them went back to find that their job was no longer open. They were forced to live a life of poverty. In 1988, an act was passed which granted Japanese-Americans who had been directly affected by this act $20,000 a piece. The Jews in Germany were treated in worse manner than the aforementioned group. Even though death did occur at the internment camps in The United States, it was mostly due to unsanitary conditions. In Germany the government was purposely killing the Jewish people with various tactics such as gas chambers and firing squads. Some Jews were able to leave the country before the brunt of the violence against them started. Though lucky enough to leave with their lives, they were not so fortunate when it came to their personal belongings, including money. The German government, after the Nazi regime, felt obliged to pay those people who were affected for lost property and wages as reparations. Starting in the 1600’s, Europeans began capturing Africans to bring them over to the United States to work the fields in the southern states. These men, women, and children were taken from their native environments, in which they may have held positions of authority, and made the property of other people whose only differences were skin color and culture. Even worst was the fact that some tribal leaders were selling their own members to the Europeans. African-Americans, though legal slavery has been abolished for over 100 years, still have not completely achieved the respect and status of the dominant group in the United States. Unlike the two previous groups discussed, the Jews and the Japanese-Americans, supposed plans of reparations like the Homestead and Land Grant Acts failed because of a lack of concern by the government combined with a lack of resistance by the Black community. I agree that all of these occurrences are definite atrocities. The difference, I see between the first two and the last group is that these were orders given by the government in power rather than “free enterprise†by certain individuals. It is terrible that African-Americans had to endure such harsh treatment, but how can any criteria be established by which to grant reparations. Had the government made it a rule that all Black people were to be enslaved rather than simply allowing it, the situation would be somewhat different. I say somewhat because I have not yet heard anyone distinctly give a way that slavery has affected them financially. Plus, how do the people whose ancestors did not come to this country until after slavery get taken out of the equation? I guess I have always taken the stance that, though Black Americans have not completely achieved equality, there are far too many opportunities available for people to be complaining about what opportunities they don’t have. Though it’s sad, it’s true because I have family members and associates that do it. I personally have never been to Africa, but I guess because of my comfort in the environment I was raised in, I’d rather be right here in America. But one last point I’d like to make is that those Black people who have been able to achieve certain successes need to help those people who haven’t so that we can better compete with the majority in this country someday.
emphasis are mine
=========
From what I gather from the pro-reparations group, the money that they seek will be used to economically even the playing field for black Americans. As the Booker Rising website suggests, the challenges that many black Americans face today have much to do with the individual rather than systematic racism.
I personally agree with some critics of the reparations movement that this movement has the tendency to be somewhat racist in nature. Here’s why:
1- There is a general assumption being made that all whites have somehow benefited from slavery.
As one writer puts it, there was only a small number of whites in this country who were actually directly involved in the slave trade. It is very true that few whites actually spoke out against these crimes; however, I think it is a far stretch to indite every white person that was around during those days and their descendants for not speaking out against slavery.
Another point to consider, for the whites who did fight against slavery and in some instances lost their lives as a result, are their descendants still responsible for paying reparations to a people they tried to help?
2- The reparations movement does not include a plan to seek repayment from African tribes that sold their fellow brothers into slavery. The only target is whites and white-owned corporations.
Another fact to consider in this biased search for justice is that there was a significant number of blacks in this country who also benefited from the slave trade. The following is an excerpt from the website Issues & Views:
Even though [black] slaveowners usually demonstrated benevolent behavior towards their slave relations and friends, a commercial or materialistic exchange existed between them and their slaves purchased as investments. In fact, the free blacks who maintained a dual relationship with their slaves had no universal commitment against slavery. To them, slavery was an oppressive institution when it affected a beloved relative or a trusted friend, but beyond that realm, slavery was viewed as a profit-making institution to be exploited (more…)
Here are some other links that discuss this “buried” historical fact:
Dixie’s Censored Subject: Black Slaveowners
Free Black Slaveowners in South Carolina
Black Slaveowners: Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina, 1790-1860 (book)
If the reparations movement is serious about seeking full repayment for slavery, then according to this historical fact, we owe ourselves. Again, an important issue that is not mentioned in this argument. Instead, we choose to give ourselves a pass while keeping “whitey” on the hook.
If reparations is about seeking economic power, then how are we to interpret the amount of black mayors that have been elected in major cities across the US? Yes, it is true that a mayor is not a source of finances, but this position does have major input into how funds are spent in his/her jurisdiction. According to the website for the National Conference of Black Mayors, there are roughly 42 black mayors throughout this country of jurisdictions of 50,000 people or more. Yet if you look at many of these cities with black leadership, you will find things like crime, homicide, drug usage, poverty, declining school systems higher than any most areas throughout the US. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BLACK INCOMPETENCE!!! I have to put that in caps so that some of my readers will understand that I am not solely blaming black leadership for these problems. Instead, I am simply pointing out the fact that having authority over large budgets does not guarantee economic empowerment.
Cities like Philadelphia are still learning this lesson. The African-American Chamber of Commerce recently complained that the city of Philadelphia has been keeping them away from economic opportunities. Here is how they described the situation:
“A coalition of predominantly African-American business, civic and community leaders, working with Philadelphia’s African-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), today likened the economic exclusion of blacks in the City of Brotherly Love to the economic hardship suffered by sub-Saharan African nations…(more)
Mind you, this is a city with a black mayor (John Street). Here is a case where a black individual has significant power over both the black tax dollar, white tax dollar, etc. yet blacks are still not seeing the benefit of his “empowerment”. So once again, money by itself cannot reverse the problems that ail black America. The problem goes a lot deeper than access to financial resources.
Each year scholarships for black Americans are being added to an already growing list that has been growing for years. And each year, millions of dollars of this scholarship money goes unclaimed by black American students. The same goes for money slated for minority economic empowerment. Once again, the access to the funds are there, but for whatever reason much of it just sits. Yet despite this fact, the pro-reparations crowd is still asking for more.
The last point I want to mention on this subject is the whole issue on how to “properly” distribute these funds is there were to be any kind of reparations payment. Most black Americans today are not full-blooded descendants of African slaves. How would one determine how much money a black person is to receive if they are only a percentage of their African descendants?
As you can see, there are many unanswered questions and intentional oversights that places the case for reparations on shaky ground. Referring back to the quote from the Booker Rising website, “reparations” have already been paid to black Americans in the form of the many array of government programs offered exclusively to us. Now we must learn how to effectively utilize the resources we have both acquired and gained access to thanks to the sacrifices of those that have gone before us.
