A Commentary Regarding Slave Reparations

"In Mecklenburg at this time a very primitive type of Feudalism existed, known as "Inherited Serfdom". The land owners controlled the economy and ruled their estates with absolute authority. The peasants were dependant entirely on the nobles who could even buy and sell them with or without their property, and the tax rate had to be reviewed every two to three years, and was usually increased at that time. They could not acquire any more land than they already had. Their Landlords produced crops for export from their vast estates by using the labour of these bonded peasants, servants and laborers. The landlords were known as "Landed Junkers". This word comes from "Jung Herr" which means "young noble".

Mecklenburg land produced grain, especially rye, in great abundance and there was a windmilllarge surplus for export. The land was dotted with windmills and gristmills for processing the grain. Other crops included potatoes, sugar beets, peas, beans and cabbage. Livestock was also significant to the economy. Both horses and cattle were raised for export. Wool was another important source of income.

In the 1800's the Landlords drove away more and more peasants with their highhanded ways. They then incorporated those peasants' plots into their estates, and crop production expanded further. This callous robbery of the peasant properties was known as "peasant seizure". Ten thousand peasants lost their holdings in this way. In Mecklenburg where the Nobility owned almost all of the land and dwellings, the number of the estimated peasant vacancies went from 2,490 to nearly 12,000 by 1800 AD. The former peasants who had land left held only small holdings which ensured little more than a bare livelihood for them.

Those villagers who were without land became cottagers or gardeners. Eventually they were simply known as day laborers (Tageloehners) and lived in grinding poverty. They were deprived almost entirely of their earnings and thereafter were forced to work for a starvation wage on the Junker estates. They traveled the countryside, moving from estate to estate as the land owner required their labor for plowing, planting or harvesting crops. Peasants often had to move constantly. It was common for a man to be born in one place and get married in another place to a woman who was born in yet another place. Then, each of their children might be born in a different place. The life they lived gave no possibility of resistance in an effort to better their condition.

Even the Police Force was under the jurisdiction of the Landlord and they held their own Courts of Justice. In some cases peasants tried to reject their feudal service, do poor work, or not furnish their dues. Estate owners employed bailiffs, overseers and estate stewards who could inflict severe penalties to those who did not conform. These included beatings, whipping and imprisonment for even small offenses.

This is a description of Mecklenburg, where many of my ancestors come from. There is more of this sort of thing at the link given above. I'm a 'typical' white, of mostly Germanic descent, and thus a prime target of those who seek 'slave reparations' for blacks in America.

My own name is Blievernicht, which means 'One who does not stay." Based on the description above, that is apparently a humble, if not downright humiliating, reference to the landless condition of my ancestors, forced to work as migrant workers under conditions that look, walk and quack like good old American slavery.

So I want to know, who is going to grant reparations to me for the sad condition of my ancestors? Should I slack back on doing hard work to try to get ahead in life, and instead complain about how 'my people' have been oppressed and kept down, cheating me of a chance to succeed in life?

I don't think so. Virtually all of us, statistically, come from such humble stock in the relatively recent past. You may not be German, but odds are your ancestors are overwhelmingly peasant stock (or your ethnic equivalent), of no more exalted condition. What folly, then, to clamor for 'reparations' from one individual to another. Reparations are just another rationalization for stealing on a grand scale.

Slavery in modern Africa

Slavery in Africa continues today. Slavery existed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans - as did a slave trade that exported millions of sub-Saharan Africans to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf.[1] However, slavery and bondage are still African realities. Hundreds of thousands of Africans still suffer in silence in slave-like situations of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves.

Modern-day enslavers also exploit lack of political will at the highest levels of some African governments to effectively tackle trafficking and its root causes. Weak interagency co-ordination and low funding levels for ministries tasked with prosecuting traffickers, preventing trafficking and protecting victims also enable traffickers to continue their operations. The transnational criminal nature of trafficking also overwhelms many countries’ law enforcement agencies, which are not equipped to fight organised criminal gangs that operate across national boundaries with impunity.

Slavery by African country

Chad
IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports children being sold to Arab herdsmen in Chad. As part of a new identity imposed on them the herdsman "...change their name, forbid them to speak in their native dialect, ban them from conversing with people from their own ethnic group and make them adopt Islam as their religion."[2]

Mali
The Malian government denies that slavery exists, however, the slavery in Timbuktu is obvious. Slavery still continues with some Tuaregs holding Bella people.[3]

Mauritania
A system exists now by which Arab Muslims -- the bidanes -- own black slaves, the haratines.[4] An estimated 90,000 black Mauritanians remain essentially enslaved to Arab/Berber owners.[5] The ruling bidanes (the name means literally white-skinned people) are descendants of the Sanhaja Berbers and Beni Hassan Arab tribes who emigrated to northwest Africa and present-day Western Sahara and Mauritania during the Middle Ages.[6] According to some estimates, up to 600,000 black Mauritanians, or 20% of the population, are still enslaved, many of them used as bonded labour.[7] Slavery in Mauritania was finally criminalized in August 2007.[8] Malouma Messoud, a former Muslim slave has explained her enslavement to a religious leader:

"We didn't learn this history in school; we simply grew up within this social hierarchy and lived it. Slaves believe that if they do not obey their masters, they will not go to paradise. They are raised in a social and religious system that everyday reinforces this idea.[9]"

In Mauritania, despite slave ownership having been banned by law in 1981, hereditary slavery continues.[10] Moreover, according to Amnesty International:

"Not only has the government denied the existence of slavery and failed to respond to cases brought to its attention, it has hampered the activities of organisations which are working on the issue, including by refusing to grant them official recognition".[11]

Imam El Hassan Ould Benyamin of Tayarat in 1997 expressed his views about earlier proclamations ending slavery in his country as follows:

"[it] is contrary to the teachings of the fundamental text of Islamic law, the Quran ... [and] amounts to the expropriation from muslims of their goods; goods that were acquired legally. The state, if it is Islamic, does not have the right to seize my house, my wife or my slave."[12]

Niger
In Niger, where the practice of slavery was outlawed in 2003, a study found that almost 8% of the population are still slaves.[13] Slavery dates back for centuries in Niger and was finally criminalised in 2003, after five years of lobbying by Anti-Slavery International and Nigerian human-rights group, Timidria.[14] More than 870,000 people still live in conditions of forced labour, according to Timidria, a local human rights group.[15][16]

Descent-based slavery, where generations of the same family are born into bondage, is traditionally practised by at least four of Niger’s eight ethnic groups. The slave masters are mostly from the nomadic tribes — the Tuareg, Fulani, Toubou and Arabs.[17] It is especially rife among the warlike Tuareg, in the wild deserts of north and west Niger, who roam near the borders with Mali and Algeria.[18] In the region of Say on the right bank of the river Niger, it is estimated that three-quarters of the population around 1904-1905 was composed of slaves.[19]

Historically, the Tuareg swelled the ranks of their slaves during war raids into other peoples’ lands. War was then the main source of supply of slaves, although many were bought at slave markets, run mostly by indigenous peoples.[20][21]

Sudan
Francis Bok, former Sudanese slave. At the age of seven, he was captured during a raid in Southern Sudan, and enslaved for ten years.(Courtesy Unitarian Universalist Association/Jeanette Leardi)

There has been a recrudescence of jihad slavery since 1983 in the Sudan.[23][24]

Slavery in the Sudan predates Islam, but continued under Islamic rulers and has never completely died out in Sudan. In the Sudan, Christian and animist captives in the civil war are often enslaved, and female prisoners are often used sexually, with their Muslim captors claiming that Islamic law grants them permission.[25] According to CBS news, slaves have been sold for $50 apiece. [1] In 2001 CNN reported the Bush administration was under pressure from Congress, including conservative Christians concerned about religious oppression and slavery, to address issues involved in the Sudanese conflict.[26] CNN has also quoted the U.S. State Department's allegations: "The [Sudanese] government's support of slavery and its continued military action which has resulted in numerous deaths are due in part to the victims' religious beliefs." [2]

Jok Madut Jok, professor of History at Loyola Marymount University, states that the abduction of women and children of the south by north is slavery by any definition. The government of Sudan insists that the whole matter is no more than the traditional tribal feuding over resources.[27]

It is estimated that as many as 200,000 people had been taken into slavery during the Second Sudanese Civil War. The slaves are mostly Dinka people.[28][29]

Child slave trade
The trading of children has been reported in modern Nigeria and Benin.[30] The children are kidnapped or purchased for $20 - $70 each by slavers in poorer states, such as Benin and Togo, and sold into slavery in sex dens or as unpaid domestic servants for $350.00 each in wealthier oil-rich states, such as Nigeria and Gabon.[31] [32]

Ghana, Togo, Benin
In parts of Ghana, a family may be punished for an offense by having to turn over a virgin female to serve as a sex slave within the offended family.[33] In this instance, the woman does not gain the title of "wife". In parts of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, shrine slavery persists, despite being illegal in Ghana since 1998. In this system of slavery, sometimes called trokosi (in Ghana) or voodoosi in Togo and Benin, or ritual servitude, young virgin girls are given as slaves in traditional shrines and are used sexually by the priests in addition to providing free labor for the shrine.[34]

Ethiopia
Mahider Bitew, Children's Rights and Protection expert at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, says that some isolated studies conducted in Dire Dawa, Shashemene, Awassa and three other towns of the country indicate that the problem of child trafficking is very serious. According to a 2003 study about one thousand children were trafficked via Dire Dawa to countries of the Middle East. The majority of those children were girls, most of whom were forced to be sex workers after leaving the country. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has identified prostitution as the Worst Form of Child Labor.[35]

In Ethiopia, children are trafficked into prostitution, to provide cheap or unpaid labor and to work as domestic servants or beggars. The ages of these children are usually between 10 and 18 and their trafficking is from the country to urban centers and from cities to the country. Boys are often expected to work in activities such as herding cattle in rural areas and in the weaving industry in Addis Ababa, and other major towns. Girls are expected to take responsibilities for domestic chores, childcare and looking after the sick and to work as prostitutes.[35]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_modern_Africa

Blacks And The Politics Of Racial Extortion: Will It Work Forever?
by Fred Reed

Oh, Lord. I’d pull my hair out, if I had more.

On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites, pay reparations to blacks. It’s because of slavery, see. He is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess he’ll send me a bill.

Huh? I feel like saying, Let me get this straight, Hank. I’m slow. Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right?

I don’t blame you. I’d like free money too.

Tell you what. I believe in justice. I’ll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? But tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean. Say to the nearest dozen. And how long were you a slave?

Oh.

In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn’t do and didn’t happen to you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday cake.

Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn’t do and never happened to me. I’ve never been coated in Dutch chocolate and thrown from the Eiffel Tower. I’ll bet you’ve never done it to anyone.

I want reparations.

Kinda silly, isn’t it?

But if we’re going to talk about reparations, that’s a street that runs in two directions. You want money from me for what some other whites did to some other blacks in another century. How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you’ll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. You can send me a check.

Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn’t like the verdict in the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn’t like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn’t burn my house and loot Korean grocers.

Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities: Newark, Detroit, Watts, on and on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in all its forms, of large police forces and jails and security systems in department stores. I can’t live in the capital city of my own country because of crime committed by blacks. Toss in the cultural cost of lowering standards in everything for the benefit of blacks.

See what I mean?

Now, I’d view things differently if you said, “Fred, blacks can’t get anywhere in a modern country without education. We know that. We need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?”

I’d say, “Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes. Let’s sell an aircraft carrier and get these folks some real schools and get them into the economic mainstream.” I’d say it partly because it would be the right thing to do, and partly because I’d like to add you guys to the tax base. The current custodial state is expensive. I’d just love for blacks to study and learn to compete and stop burning places.

But is it going to happen?

You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don’t like seeing blacks as miserable and screwed up as they are. I spend a fair amount of time in the projects. Those places are ugly. It’s no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semi-literate dope dealers who barely speak English. It just plain ain’t right.

But, Hank, what am I supposed to do about it? I can’t do your children’s homework. At some point, people have to do things for themselves, or they don’t get done.

Maybe it’s time.

I’ll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank. I think blacks are too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it. True, it has worked for over half a century. Get a few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.

Thing is, whites don’t much buy it any longer. Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement has become a shakedown game. Few people still feel responsible for the failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness keeps the lid on—but everyone knows the score.

Which scares me, Hank. On one hand, blacks hate whites and incline toward looting and burning. (The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the civil-rights movement. Ever think about that?) On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it. Not good.

On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical convenience) blacks keep demanding things. As I write, you demand reparations for slavery. Blacks in Oklahoma (I think it was) want money for some ancient race riot. Other blacks reject the Declaration of Independence, blacks in New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a trial, yet more demand the elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal-opportunity apparatus, which means blacks, wants to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring nonexistent black engineers.

That’s a lot of demanding for one month, Hank. What happens if whites ever say, “No”?

Now, how about you? You’ve got a cushy job up there at Harvard, and you can hoot and holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it’s lots of fun, and you get a salary for it. But don’t you think you might do blacks more good if you told them to complain less and study more?

For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the best approach might be to find some really smart black guys, and get them to study digital design, not Black Studies. That’s how everybody else does it. It works. Then blacks wouldn’t feel left out, and racial tension would decline. Sound like a plan?

Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of Afro-American Studies spend in the projects, encouraging poor black kids to study real subjects, Hank?

Oh.

http://www.fredoneverything.net/Reparations.shtml

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