Should Black America Get Reparations?

NewsOne For Black America ^ | May 16, 2012 | Kirsten West Savali

[2ndDivisionVet]

Reparations.

That single word has the power to bring forth memories of slave screams, blood-shed, lynching, raping and the unrepentant theft of generations of successful Black families by the United States of America.

It also has the power to breed resentment, as the 40 acres and a mule that Black Americans were promised by General William Sherman at the close of the American Civil War were snatched away by President Andrew Johnson and returned to their White owners.

Watch the 2008 presidential hopefuls debate whether African Americans should receive reparations here:

(VIDEO AT LINK)

Primarily left landless, fragmented, disconnected from our culture, and uneducated with little-to-no chance of gainful employment, the dregs of slavery and Jim and Jane Crow continue to poison our communities in both tangible and intangible ways.

During her investigation into the wealth — or lack thereof — in the African-American community, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien spoke with Rev. DeForest B. Soaries of First Baptist Church in Lincoln, New Jersey, who made the sharp correlation that “debt is slavery”:

“When I’m paying last month’s bills with next month’s check, that’s slavery. When I ‘m writing a check hoping that it doesn’t bounce, or when I pull out my credit card praying that it’s not rejected, then I’m living in financial bondage.”

Watch Minister Louis Farrakhan discuss what America and Europe owe to Blacks here:

(VIDEO AT LINK)

What becomes clear when the imbalanced economic scales in this country are tilted further by institutionalized racism, is that we are still very much living within a system that profited immensely from the blood, sweat, and tears of slave labor, while refusing to make good on the loan of our livelihoods and collective economic value. According to Harper’s magazine (November, 2000), the United States stole an estimated $100 trillion dollars for 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865 with a compounded interest of 6 percent.

In lieu of these tragic numbers, Dr. John Hope Franklin, renowned historian and author of “From Slavery to Freedom,” voices his contempt for the pseudo-apologies that the U.S. government has given for an institution that has left Black America in a perpetual race, with many having no idea why we seem to never make significant and collective economic strides:

People are running around apologizing for slavery, he said. What about that awful period since slavery — Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and all the rest? And what about the enormous wealth that was built up by Black labor? I think that’s little to pay for the gazillions that Black people built up — the wealth of this country — with their labor, and now you’re going to say, ‘I’m sorry I beat the hell out of you for all these years’? That’s not enough.

It’s definitely not enough.

In a system that relies heavily on what many consider to be Dixiecratic handouts, vilifying those who are forced to accept them, while simultaneously and condescendingly stating that, “Rising tides lift all boats,” this country has to reach a point where reparations is not viewed as a joke or some unimaginable occurrence. If the boats have historical, psychological, and economic holes blown through them by Jim Crow and Uncle Sam, rising tides without life rafts do nothing but drown us deeper into debt.

In his 1970 book, “By Any Means Necessary,” Malcolm X (aka El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) spoke of reparations not as a choice, or a last resort, but as the only way to rectify the inhumane atrocities committed against Black Americans:

If you are the son of a man who had a wealthy estate and you inherit your father’s estate, you have to pay off the debts that your father incurred before he died. The only reason that the present generation of White Americans are in a position of economic strength…is because their fathers worked our fathers for over 400 years with no pay…. We were sold from plantation to plantation like you sell a horse, or a cow, or a chicken, or a bushel of wheat…. All that money…is what gives the present generation of American Whites the ability to walk around the earth with their chest out…like they have some kind of economic ingenuity. Your father isn’t here to pay. My father isn’t here to collect. But I’m here to collect and you’re here to pay.

In the next weeks, NewsOne will speak with Black leaders on the topic of reparations and how exactly the concept can be contextualized in a contemporary narrative. More importantly, we will ask for feedback from our readers on the possibility of reparations and what we are willing to do – if anything — to ensure that it comes to fruition.

What do you think?

Should Black America receive reparations from the U.S. government for slavery?

Yes, absolutely.

No, that time has passed.

[ETL]

If Farrakhan wants to talk...

Farrakhan should lecture his hero Castro on racism.

Racism in Cuba
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page21.htm

[ETL]

Louis Farrakhan, Santiago de Cuba, February, 1998:
"There is not a member of the black masses in the United States who is not proud of the example set by Cuba and its revolution, with Comandante Fidel at its head"

Source: http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/farakhan21898.html#says
_______________________________________________________

"Minister Farrakhan and his delegation met privately with President Fidel Castro of Cuba."
http://www.finalcall.com/media/cuba/
________________________________________________________________________________

Unity generates power to change reality
By the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

"The time has never been more ripe for a strategic relationship between the Black, Brown, Native American and the poor of this nation and the world."

"We need a Ministry of Defense. Our young men are born soldiers, but they are in the wrong war. They are fighting a war in the streets of America against each other, or they are fighting an unjust war overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need to bring our boys home and put them into the Ministry of Defense, so we can defend our communities, rather than destroy our communities.

We need a Ministry of Art and Culture. We applaud the hip hop community, the leaders of young people all over the world, but I want the young generation of artists to know there is a bigger purpose for art and culture than popping our fingers and shaking our backsides.

Mao Tse Tung, throughout his long march to conquer China, had a billion people whose lives he had to transform. Many of them were victims of opium, drugs and prostitution, like we are. But Mao Tse Tung went to the cultural community and they accepted his idea. Then, through song, dance, poetry, drama, documentaries, movies and books, the idea of Mao Tse Tung became the idea of a billion people. China became a world power on the base of culture and the artistic community. If we had a Ministry of Art and Culture in every city, [we'd] create this movement [in the U.S.], we could say to our young people, “What is the idea of the Time and are you reflecting that idea in your songs, dance and music?

We need a Ministry of Trade and Commerce. Do you think that a Millions More Movement should not be involved in the development of Africa, the Caribbean and Central America? ... we need a Ministry of Trade and Commerce that can link the struggle here with Africa and the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Source: FinalCall.com
This is Farrakhan's own "Nation Of Islam" website
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4328.shtml
________________________________________________________________________________

Farrakhan hails Obama as 'hope of entire world'

Louis Farrakhan, at the annual Saviours' Day celebration in Chicago, Feb. 25, 2008: "This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better"..."If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23333598/

Video of Farrakhan's Obama endorsement at the above 'annual Saviours' Day celebration in Chicago, Feb. 25, 2008'. Hear him (Farrakhan) call Obama "The Messiah" And speak of "universal change":
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=farrakhan+messiah+obama&aq=0&oq=Farrakhan+messiah
________________________________________________________________________________

Farrakhan:

"If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

"Mao Tse Tung, throughout his long march to conquer China, had a billion people whose lives he had to transform."

[Texas resident]

Another question.
Why should one race be held to account for events that happened generations ago, while another race is not held responsible for what they do today?

Reparations is spreading the wealth around based on race.

[ArrogantBustard]

Even better question:

Why are we blathering about "race" in the first place? Why are "we" (Who's "we", Kemosabe?) judging people by the colour of their skin, and not the content of their character?

I wonder ...

Are there, maybe, some folks who make a fine living stirring up racial animosity and provoking racial division?

Hmmmmm? Jesse? Al? Louis? Barry?

[ETL]

From The Real Cuba:

"A white woman tourist came to the beach accompanied by a black Cuban male.

They sat on a lounge chair and were chatting. Within a few minutes, a cop showed up and began asking the Cuban black male for his identification.

The cop kept interrogating the Cuban male for several minutes.

Finally, the black Cuban male was forced to leave the beach. No one knows if he was arrested, or just expelled from that public beach for being with a white foreign woman.

Can you imagine the the outrage of the NAACP, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela and Company if incidents like these happened anywhere else in the world except in Castro's private farm?

In Cuba, the racist and fascist regime of the Castro brothers is allowed to treat Cuban blacks like third class citizens, and none of these hypocrites would say a word."

[security officer escorts black male off beach]

http://www.therealcuba.com/Page21.htm

[Caipirabob]

Every single slave alive in America, including tax-slaves should be entitled to reparations.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Reparations were paid in the form of BLOOD on a thousand battlefields from Bull Run to Appomattox. Half a million men gave their lives or limbs over the curse of Slavery on one side or the other.

The debt has been paid in full.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Any American who has ever owned one or more slaves should be required to pay reparations.

Any American who has never owned a slave should not.

[Darnright]

>I don’t believe that my people, late arriving 20th century Danish immigrants, owe the African-Americans anything!<

And neither do those of us whose families founded the country to which your kin emigrated owe anyone alive today more money. Minorities today have many advantages for advancement. They only have to do like everyone else - work hard in school, look presentable, and then be willing to take and work at a job. Heaven forbid we expect them to be productive members of society.

Nobody alive today should be remotely held financially responsible for the actions of their distant ancestors.

[Freestate316]

This is one of the most absurd ideas ever. How can someone who never owned a slave,and was born 75 to 100 years after slavery ended be responsible for what their ancestors may or may not have done 150 years ago or more? My ancestors were poor southern farmers who did not own slaves. Trying to determine which black people were descendants of slaves and which white people were descendants of slave owners would be a bureaucratic nightmare of enormous proportions. If they want to see the cost of their freedom, take them to Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run, or Chancellorsville. I’ve had racism, attempts at white guilt, and black victim mentality up to my eyeballs. Maybe all of the “descendants of slaves” owe reparations to the family members of American soldiers who fought for their freedom!

[Georgia Girl 2]

“Should Black America receive reparations from the U.S. government for slavery?”

They have been receiving reparations since LBJ and the Great Society created the welfare state. About 45 years now. I’d say reparations have been paid.

[CodeToad]

Get a bill for reparations, yes. How much are they going to pay me? We have spent trillions on them and have got nothing in return.

[CodeToad]

P.S. The first black slave owner in the New World was...a black man. Suprise!

[Verginius Rufus]

Sherman had no legal authority to take private property from some people and give it to others.

Congress could have appropriated money to buy property from the former slaveholders. The main reason Reconstruction didn't last longer than it did was the lack of support for it in the North (since the former Confederate states were excluded from Congress for several years)--it was a political loser for candidates running for office in Northern states.

Even if massive amounts had been spent setting up former slaves as small farmers, would that have solved the problem? Lots of whites with small farms in those days struggled to survive, and most of their descendants eventually gave up farming. How many poor blacks of today would be rich if their great-great-great-grandfather had been given 40 acres and a mule in 1865?

Long-term success comes from earning it--not from being given a lot of money.

[TexasRepublic]

Not only no, but HELL NO!!!

Next question?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The second half of Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell points out that slavery existed as an accepted institution worldwide and throughout recorded history.

The Epistle to Philemon is a letter from Saint Paul to a slaveowner imploring, almost demanding, that he forgive his runaway slave:

10 I appeal to you for my child [j] Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my [k]imprisonment,
11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.
12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,
13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my [l] imprisonment for the gospel;
14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.

Sowell says that the institution of slavery was so accepted that there did not exist any literature defending the institution until it came under attack and was defended in the American South.

Sowell Points out that behind the leadership of William Wilberforce, Britain became antislavery in the era of the founding of the US. And that Britain maintained a squadron of its navy off the coast of Africa for no purpose other than the altruistic motive of suppressing the slave trade. Christianity did not immediately delegitimate the institution of slavery - but no one but Christians ever delegitimated slavery as an institution. And, among Christians it was historically Protestants in the forefront of opposition to the institution, and among Protestants it was English speaking Protestants who were in the lead. The institution basically was delegitimated in the Nineteenth Century because of the influence of the British Empire.

And, of course, the American Civil War. The conclusion is that if you are enslaved, even if those who are enslaving you are themselves Christians with rifles, you don’t look to any other demographic than Christians with rifles to free you.

I favor reparations be paid to any surviving slaves, and any descendants of those slaves who can prove that they would even exist without the institution of slavery. I put it to you that no living American can make that claim with any assurance. The Butterfly Effect says that although there would be people in America if there hadn’t been any slavery here long ago, none of the people now living are descended from the same parents who would have married and had children in an alternate universe without the institution of slavery, and the resultant civil war, in America. Our grandparents would not even have met, even in the unlikely event that their own parents did meet and marry.

Do black Americans imagine that, absent America and the unfortunate slave trade of the Seventeenth Century, Africa today would have all the people it does today and all of black America as well? Do they imagine that their unfortunate ancestors enslaved in America were worse off than those who were imported into Muslim countries in vast numbers but not permitted to reproduce, thereby leaving no descendants in those Muslim countries?

[jaydee770]

What say you?

Never owned a slave. I'm many generations removed from slave owners. I don't know anyone who is a slave. I don't know anyone who isn't many generations removed from being a slave.

I did grow up in the segregated south, but that was something adults concerned themselves with. All us kids cared about was if you could catch, hit or pitch when picking teams.

I'm not buying Savali's scam. Unless by "slavery" she means the successive generations of poor blacks in the south who have been trapped into welfare and public housing and told by the govt that they can not better themselves unless they stay on the Democrats welfare-plantation. If *that's* what she means, she should probably try suing the Democrats, herself and all the other race-hustlers who've worked *damned* hard to keep themselves "enslaved" as such.

[bfree]

Boat tickets back to Africa seems fair.

[CSM]

Let’s do it.

Every intact black family is more than welcome to receive reparations. When the rest of the culture learns how to succeed on their own, then we can take further action.

That ought to limit the liability of another entitlement program.

[Verginius Rufus]

There were some Christian groups which began to object to slavery before Wilberforce.

The Spanish crown tried to protect the Indians from enslavement. The Spanish, of course, then brought people from Africa to be slaves in the New World--but non-Christians only. The Christian/non-Christian distinction was more important than skin color.

The Stono uprising in colonial South Carolina seems to have involved slaves who were from the kingdom of Kongo (roughly modern Angola) who had been Catholics before being enslaved, who hoped to get to Spanish Florida where they hoped to be recognized as free because of their religion. They didn't manage to get that far.