Posted on 02/22/2014 8:11:03 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
During his 2004 Senate run and again during the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama stood firm in his opposition to reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans here in the United States. “I have said in the past – and I’ll repeat again – that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,” he said in 2008 right before his historic election.
The radical solutions required to address the needs and long-festering wounds of the African American community of course had to be purged from public discourse. Yet before we explore the repercussions of the failure of the first black president to adequately address this issue, let’s take a look at the reparations movement as it currently exists outside of the United States. For the purposes of this article we will focus on reparations as they relate to Africa and the African diaspora, though there are other useful examples – the reparations paid by Germany to Israel being one of them. Despite the fact that the reparations movement never quite got off the ground here in the U.S., globally it’s a different story.
In Kenya, the birthplace of President Obama’s father, tens of thousands of Kenyans were beaten, sexually assaulted, raped and otherwise tortured by the British colonial government and its supporters during the 1950′s and 60′s Mau Mau rebellion. In a landmark case, some of the victims have managed to successfully sue the British government for (a rather paltry) 31.5 million in reparations, including court fees. I consider this amount to be paltry because each of the 5,200 Kenyans who could prove their torture claims will be receiving a mere $4,100. When we consider that a woman who spilled hot coffee on her lap was awarded nearly $3 million, and the vast sums others have received for far less egregious crimes committed against them, the $4,100 figure is indeed nothing more than a symbolic gesture. Yet it sets an interesting precedent.
Represented by the same law firm that successfully sued on behalf of the Kenyans, a coalition of fourteen Caribbean nations (CARICOM) has begun the process of seeking reparations from Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Portugal and Holland for their role in the Atlantic slave trade. According to some estimates, about four trillion British pounds in unpaid labor was extracted from those held in captivity in the West Indies over nearly a century. The sale of sugar, cotton, tobacco, indigo, rum and other products produced on West India’s very lucrative slave plantations jump-started the Industrial Revolution and precipitated Britain, France, Spain and Holland’s elevation to the level of global superpowers. Meanwhile, today, most CARICOM countries are relatively impoverished and dependent on tourism to meet the needs of their people. In February, 2014 CARICOM will officially reveal a list of ten demands for the former colonial and slave owning powers; their demands will include an apology and the recuperation of funds that could total in the billions of dollars.
Both of the above examples are important, but the Kenya example is especially relevant for us here in the United States. While most discussions of reparations have so far focused on the period of chattel slavery leading up to 1865, the Kenya lawsuit against Great Britain compels us to expand the time frame to include the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. One century after the official end of slavery African-Americans, like the Kenyans under colonial retribution, continued to endure and struggle against disenfranchisement, exploitation and widespread psychological and physical torture despite being nominally free in their movements. After chattel slavery officially came to an end both private citizens and agents of the state were free to harass, abuse, discriminate against, deny services to, and even murder African Americans with near impunity until relatively recently (although this last point is debatable). The cumulative and lingering effects of virulent anti-black racism cannot be understated when examining the disparities that exist between African Americans and other ethnic groups.
in his book, ‘When Affirmative Action Was White: The Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth Century America’, Ira Katznelson explores how Congress and other agents of the federal government were complicit in economic disenfranchisement and social discrimination during the Jim Crow era. This fascinating book explores the hidden history of how African-Americans were sacrificed by northern liberal lawmakers in exchange for southern cooperation on progressive legislation like the New Deal and the GI Bill. The exclusion of African Americans from the economic and social uplift provided by progressive legislation was systematic and deliberate, and effectively blocked most from entry into the middle class. The effects of this discrimination can still be seen today; the federal government must be held to account for its role in the hobbling of the prospects and aspirations of a significant portion of its citizens.
The situation for many African Americans living in the United States today is dire. Homelessness, health disparities, mass incarceration, food insecurity, joblessness; the cumulative effects of these ills are taking an enormous toll. At the core of these problems lay a lack of resources and a lack of access to resources. Despite the fact that we live in the richest and most powerful country in the world, many African Americans face near third-world conditions and health outcomes, consistently falling behind all other ethnic groups except for Native Americans. As mentioned earlier, in 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama rejected any talk of reparations, instead offering up a mythical robust jobs programs for all Americans. Proponents of reparations were rightfully dismayed considering the widely available data. Consider the following statistics and studies as prime examples of why Mr. Obama’s attitude towards reparations is at best extremely misguided.
A 2003 University of Chicago study by Devah Pager found that whites with felony criminal records were preferred by employers over blacks with no criminal record whatsoever. Additionally, Janelle Ross’ article, ‘Black Unemployment Driven By White America’s Favors For Friends’, describes the repercussions for black job seekers of favoritism in a white-dominated and white supremacist society. According to her analysis, some of the discrimination taking place today in the job market is subconscious or unintentional; but regardless of intentions, discrimination and exclusion have serious economic and social consequences.
According to a 2013 article by Matt Bruening entitled, ‘The Racial Wealth Gap’, blacks collectively hold 2.7 percent of the nation’s wealth with whites gobbling up a whopping 88.4 percent. Black wealth would have to increase by at least five-fold to be in proportion to our share of the population. A Brandeis University study published last year revealed that white median net worth in 2009 was $265,000 while black median net worth was $28,500. A Pew Hispanic Center study found the 2009 median black net worth to be much lower at $5,677.
The NAACP’s Economic Department and the Dēmos think tank recently released the results of a study finding that, despite having relatively similar levels of credit card debt, blacks are 20 percent more likely to be targeted by bill collectors. This is due in part to the fact that, according to the study, “…only 42 percent of African American households reported having “good” or “excellent” credit, compared to 74 percent of white households.” Disparities also exist in the world of student loan debt with 27 percent of black bachelor’s degree holders struggling with more than $30,000 in debt versus 16 percent of white bachelor’s degree holders, according to a study by Campus Progress and the Center for American Progress.
In a capitalist society, disparities in wealth mean disparities in well being; if you cannot afford “the good life” you will most likely not experience one. The health disparities born of socio-economic inequality are particularly troubling considering the fact that they are totally unnecessary and avoidable. Lack of health insurance and access to preventive care is literally killing people. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among black women aged 45-64 with the death rate being 60% higher than the death rate of white women; diabetes and obesity are at high levels in African American communities with diabetes related mortality rates 20 percent higher for black men and 40 percent higher for black women compared to their white counterparts; the HIV/AIDS rate in some black communities is on par with impoverished African countries – in fact, Washington D.C.’s HIV/AIDS infection rate is actually higher than Ethiopia, Nigeria and Rwanda’s.
In his 2009 article, ‘Racism’s Hidden Toll‘, Ryan Blitstein asks, “Does the stress of living in a white-dominated society make African Americans get sick and die younger than their white counterparts? Apparently, yes.” While examining Arline Geronimus’ excellent research on this subject, he goes on to say:
American minorities face a bevy of chronic obstacles that whites and the socioeconomically advantaged cope with far less often: environmental pollution, high crime, poor health care, overt racism, concentrated poverty. Over the course of a person’s life, the psychological and physiological response to this kind of stress leads to dire health problems, advanced aging and early death.
This, unfortunately, sums up the experience of many African Americans quite well. Lack of access to health insurance, preventive screenings, venues for exercise and stress management, organic food, mental health support and safe communities has severely degraded the quality of life and life expectancy of many African Americans.
The economic and health disparities outlined so far require an urgent response in and of themselves, yet when the issues of mass incarceration, disparities in education, gentrification and homelessness/housing insecurity are added to the picture, we can say with confidence that the measures taken so far to address racial inequality have been a disastrous failure. Adding insult to injury, ongoing widespread police brutality and harassment, racist vigilante attacks and modern day lynchings continue to expose the fraud that is our so-called color blind and post-racial society.
The economic and social stresses African Americans face under white supremacy seem to be increasing rather than decreasing. Something must be done, and it must be done soon before the powder keg explodes, or worse, before people resign themselves to their hobbled status. Yet many vehemently criticize the reparations movement, saying it victimizes African Americans and could lead to people avoiding taking responsibility for their own poor choices. Some question where the money and resources would come from; others denounce the movement altogether for being utopian and for having too broad a scope, or for being too complicated to practically implement. Many of the critiques of the reparations movement amount to victim blaming and an attempt to suppress and conceal the centuries long cumulative effects of white supremacy in this country. As far as the logistics are concerned, if people can send robots to Mars and put a man on the moon we should be able to figure this out, though it will of course require many long hours of debate and discussion.
Before we can explore what reparations and true reconciliation could look like for the African diaspora here in the United States, we must take a moment to address some misconceptions about reparations. Reparations are not:
1. Freedom from chattel slavery 2. Desegregated public spaces, schools and work places 3. The election of African American politicians 4. Legal protections from racist terrorism 5. The right to apply for and receive social services and benefits 6. Black History Month 7. Legal protection from housing discrimination 8. Affirmative Action 9. free money for the lazy and unmotivated
Most of the above are basic human rights; they are, or should be, the bare minimum for people living in a human community and must not be conflated with reparations for past and ongoing injustices and crimes against humanity. Some aspects of the above list could however play a role in the construction of a future reparations program.
Reparations and true reconciliation, though desperately needed, will most likely not occur under the current capitalist regime for several different reasons. One reason is illuminated by Frantz Fanon in his book, ‘Wretched of the Earth’, and directly relates to the Kenya and CARICOM examples explored above. Fanon writes:
Not long ago Nazism transformed the whole of Europe into a veritable colony. The governments of the various European nations called for reparations and demanded the restitution in kind and money of the wealth which had been stolen from them… There was only one slogan in the mouths of Europeans on the morrow of the 1945 V-Day: “Germany must pay.”
Fanon was both exposing the hypocrisy of European powers and making a rhetorical point concerning reparations for African countries suffering from the effects of colonization and colonialism. Unfortunately, African Americans are not in a position comparable to the Kenyans or the members of the CARICOM countries. We have been absorbed, albeit grudgingly, into the American body politic and cannot be considered a separate political entity – at least not at this present moment.
Under the current system African Americans are, in general, treated as the flotsam and jetsam of history who happen to make up a reliable voting bloc for the Democratic party. A relative few are allowed some measure of privilege and media visibility; in exchange they keep silent about the increasingly desperate plight of poor and working class blacks who will ultimately be left to rot in the ghettos and in the prisons as a source of cheap labor very much the same way Natives have been relegated to their distant and mostly forgotten reservations. This is the trajectory we are currently on, but things do not necessarily have to turn out this way.
Given the current political climate where even the first black president could care less about adequately addressing the concerns of poor blacks and blacks in general, the best strategy for moving forward would be to align the reparations movement with other movements for marginalized people. It should be obvious that some of the social and economic ills outlined above also plague other communities, including poor and disenfranchised whites. Native Americans are themselves long overdue for their own form of reparations in the form of the return of stolen lands. Central and south American immigrants, driven from their homelands by NAFTA and other pernicious forces, and who make up a substantial percentage of the population, also have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed. Organized and united agitation for the righting of historical wrongs has the potential to coalesce historically antagonistic and disconnected groups into a powerful political force. The socialist revolution in Venezuela, though incomplete and problematic on some levels, gives us a clear glimpse into what the future could be once marginalized people and their allies manage to leverage power against the bourgeoisie and the money drenched elites.
A broad, determined and united coalition of African Americans, Native Americans, so-called illegal immigrants and working class and poor people of all stripes coming together to demand what is owed to them could ignite a radical transformation of this society away from exploitative capitalism. Over $21 trillion is being hidden offshore by the super rich and global elites. We know that the resources needed to fix society’s problems are there; they are simply, for the moment, out of reach, though hopefully not for long. The traditionally marginalized and dispossessed along with their allies could be a powerful force if united, replacing the “pay to play” society we have now with one that respects the inherent dignity and value of all human beings, offering hope and opportunity to all people instead of to a select and privileged few.
Everyone on the planet is a descendant of some slave.
So if the children of illegal aliens who were brought to this country and therefore are not citizens can’t be “punished for the sins of their fathers”, how is it that people who never held slaves or had any responsibility for slavery are suddenly responsible for reparations? How about reparations to the citizens of the US for all the resources drained by and mayhem committed by illegal aliens who are perpetrators of the crime of being here illegally?
A strong set of personal moral values and righteousness are the bedrock ‘wealth’ that all should cultivate first; otherwise, any material wealth will be wasted on the immoral.
Serfdom for all is Obamacare. Everyone is doomed including the descendants of slaves. It took the lives of 300,000 white men and boys to liberate the South from Slavery. The descendants of those 300,000 need reparations from the descendants of slaves as payback for their blood and mental suffering. I will take my first $50,000 in silver, please.
A contradiction in terms. If you extort money from me in the name of reparations then I'm not going to feel very conciliatory.
In short, through the tremendous amount of crime and addiction to gov. handouts, black Americans cost the country far more than they're worth. I realize there are millions of blacks (even many who voted for Obama) who work hard, obey the rules, and contribute to society. But overall, they're a completely unnecessary part of the general population ....great Americans like Tom Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Dr. Ben Carson, and a few other conservative blacks aside. The latter are welcome to stay....the rest of the whiny complainers please leave.
“Comments?”
The appearance of articles such as this one about reparations, and the increasing noise from the left about wealth inequality and white privilege, plus occasional articles in academic journals and the media about the $16 trillion in 401K and IRA accounts suggests the next crusade of the left may be “social justice” which includes a massive redistribution scheme. In today’s New York Times there is an article referencing a new academic study suggesting social mobility is very slow and needs to be addressed by government.
Once the election of 2014 is over, Obama and his handlers will be unrestrained by any prospect of facing voters in the future. Given the aggressiveness with which they have pursued the health care, gay rights, government funded abortion, global warming, and immigration amnesty agendas it may be wealth redistribution will be the major push for the 2014 to 2016 period.
I have to words or letters “FU”
I didnt read it but imo, this would be cover because I believe through the banking system and govt that reparations have been going on for a number of years. Less interest on money, easier to get loans and just easy money from govt loans. jmo
“I have said in the past – and I’ll repeat again – that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,” he said in 2008 right before his historic election.”
I bet half just want a $10million paycheck and white people in chains.
It's about time the Black race-baiters like Sharpton/Jackson/Obama/Holder and a whole lot of others had to make restitution for the damages they have wrought and continue to perpetrate. Add them to the average Democrat and we have a real start. Then, have those that riot/rob/murder make personal restitution to everyone of every color that they harm/have harmed.
If they do that, I'll be glad to chip in my 25 cents for my personal transgressions that have kept Blacks in slavery...
My Scotts ancestors were enslaved by the Romans. I wants a Ferrari for repairashuns. (sic, sic and more sic)
Perhaps there can a case be made that no black person with as much as 1/8 or less Caucasian or Asian genes shall be permitted to reside in the western hemisphere.
Exceptions to the rule would be those that have emigrated of their own free will. Only those with ancestral slavery would be subject to the ruling.
Those that recognize the benefits of living in the western hemisphere rather than Africa can remain if they sign a sworn statement disavowing the need to receive any form of monetary or other damages. The receipt of the privilege of not living in Africa is all that is required to off set the need for any reparations.
I also find it interesting that the author has expanded the justification for slavery to include Jim Crow. If they want to use the reparations settlements in Kenya as precedent then they obviously feel the need to have actual, live victims.
We are already there.
Food Stamps, EBT, TANF, Affirmative Action, and every other program is designed to to steal our money, and thus our time and our lives, to give to these people while they do not have to lift a finger.
Public schools denigrate whites while teaching blacks that they deserve the world without having to earn it.
I think reparations are in order.
Black people should repay the government for all the welfare support they have received—several trillion dollars since LBJ and his “Great Society”.
Native Americans should stop taking government welfare and stand on their own.
Illegal immigrants should make reparations by repatriating.
White liberals should be made to repay for all the social and economic damage they’ve done to the rest of us. They should have a special tax rate and be required to pay back the 20 trillion in debt they’ve burdened us with.
Yes. Reparations are in order.
Slavery in the United Stares has resulted in an African descended citizenry that has more liberty, opportunity, education, wealth and prosperity than any other similarly sized group of black people on the face of the earth. I suspect that the perpetually racially aggrieved discomfiture with the notion that black people should express gratitude for this eventual outcome has much to do with the realization that it undercuts much of the basis for “White Guilt” that the Politically Correct so love to wield as a cudgel to beat back dissents against slavery reparations.
I have always been mystified by racial grievance mongers who pontificate on the glorious Nirvana that their lives would be had they only been left in Mother Africa, notwithstanding the general quality of life there. Since most American blacks have some measure of Caucasian genealogical ancestry, and since slavery was the transmission belt that enabled the mixing of their black and white ancestor’s gene pools, (whether by rape, semi voluntary or voluntary sexual associations) what they are really saying is that they and their descendants would rather not exist.
I acknowledge the kidnapping and suffering of my African ancestors, and the resultant decades of slavery, oppression, and discrimination that amounted to a monstrous crime for them and to this nation’s creed. I experienced some of that horrid legacy in the form of beatings and assaults as a youngster when I strayed into white neighborhoods in 1960’s Chicago. But the result was me and my family living in a nation that is the enormous net benefit that this one is NOW. I am profoundly grateful to be here. That reality is the embodiment of the meaning of “paradox.” As progressives and liberals LOVE to say GET OVER IT!!!!
Do not misunderstand me. I welcome the opportunity for any clarification of the historical record, and should that clarification reveal more evidence of the often bestial nature of the American institution of slavery, than we should unflinchingly face and acknowledge it. The historical record should be properly contextualized, and honestly examined without any attempt to inflate the crime beyond the actual truth of the injustice. We also should acknowledge that the only organized political and philosophical opposition to the once nearly universal institution of slavery was centered in the Western world, principally the US, Great Britain and France. The racial navel gazing, racial identity posturing, and puffed up grievance mongering should be rejected for the PC irrelevance that it is.
Reparations advocates often attach a variation of the of the tiresome “Uncle Tom” argument without using that epithet by referring to black opponents of reparations as “black people who didn’t want to leave the Masters plantation when slavery ended.” I can safely conclude that most of them view contemporary issues first and foremost through the prism of racial identity politics. It is probably inconceivable to them that historically aware black people can object to reparations for principled reasons that are grounded in constitutional, historical and cultural factors.
They will speak of of the legacy of colonial exploitation as though it was completely negative with absolutely nothing of significance to contribute to any nation’s future successful growth. Much of Great Britain was subdued and conquered by the Romans, at an enormous price in slaughter, blood and enslavement, but the infrastructure, basis for law, and technology that they left behind had much to do with Britain becoming one of the greatest empires in history from a disparate aggregation of uncivilized tribes. Singapore, Ireland and Hong Kong were brutally colonized, but despite being devoid of natural resources are now among the most prosperous countries on earth, owing in large part to the civil service tradition that the British left behind. Similar institutions were extant in most of the British and Belgian African colonies. I do not attempt to gainsay the proposition that colonial rule is often brutal, exploitative and cruel. Rather I say that it can often serve as a basis for the future success of nations that are freed from the colonial yoke should they embrace capitalism, the rule of law and liberty. Africa’s contemporary problems have more to do with corruption, graft, strong man rule, tribalism, and an undue infatuation with Marxist socialism than with any legacy of slavery or colonialism.
Similarly many of the contemporary problems of the black community have little to do with the legacy of slavery than that of a “monopoly of philosophy” (i.e. an unwarranted loyalty to the Democratic party and many of the tenets of modern day liberalism) within the black community that rejects educational alternatives such as school choice, charter schools, and home schooling instead of the ignorance factories that many public schools within the inner-city have become. In his book “Unfounded Loyalty” the Rev. Wayne Perryman lays out a solid case that due to the singularly racist and destructive historical policies of the Democratic party (and I will include the Great Society Welfare state of LBJ’s democrats which has been shown conclusively to have been the single most important factor in the destruction of the two parent black family) it is THEY who should be paying reparations to American blacks.
The main reason that I am not entitled to slavery reparations is because I was NOT ENSLAVED. I grew up in an era in which I remember all of the visible (literally) signs of Jim Crow when I visited relatives in the south in the early 60’s. I experienced physical racial attacks as my newly acquired South side Chicago neighborhood underwent racial integration. I experienced some minor racial discrimination at other times and places. No one has to tell me how bad it was, I have first hand experience. The United States today is NO LONGER THE NATION THAT ONCE LEGALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IT’S BLACK CITIZENS, unless you wish to consider “Racial Preferences” for preferred minorities, which is another form of legally codified racism in the guise of cultural Marxism. None of that changes the fact that I am blessed to be a citizen of the greatest nation in the history of mankind, with a higher standard of living, opportunity and liberty than any other.
If you want concrete evidence of the butcher’s bill to atone for the sin of slavery, than look for the thousands of Civil War graveyards of Union soldiers that proliferate the length and breadth of this country, particularly east of the Mississippi river. Sometimes it seems as though the race industry merchants and class action lawyers would divide us into warring ethnic enclaves with mortar pits in the streets sniping at each other ala the Balkans, all of them seeking racial spoils with government help. I truly think that the reparations racket is nothing more than an immoral cultural Marxist wealth redistribution scheme, spearheaded by the shock troops of the divisive racial industrial complex.
I’m with you, there, Cousin.
If reparations are to be paid, they should be paid by the Democratic Party. They were the slavers, they were the authors of Jim Crow. They are the ones who fought against freeing the slaves, they are the ones who fought for race repression, and they are the ones who continue to be obsessed by race in the modern era.
When you look at old photographs of lynchings there isn’t a Republican to be seen, except for maybe some of the people hanging from the trees. When you see old photographs of people being fire-hosed, the only Republicans in the picture would possibly be some of the people being fire-hosed.
I remember those days, and it pleases me to know that with the passing of my generation there won’t be anyone left alive who remembers how it once was. I admit, I was shielded from much of it, my folks were Republicans and the church we were raised in taught us that in Christ there is no jew or greek, no white or black. We believed it. But I saw enough and heard enough from the surrounding world and it disturbed my sense of right and wrong.
Nobody could explain it in a way that didn’t make it worse.
And I remember otherwise good people defending what was clearly wrong, and that taught me a life-long lesson:
Evil persists because of otherwise good people. The evil people are easy to spot and you can defend yourself against them. Its the good people who accept evil who are the most dangerous, because you don’t see them coming, and believing in their own goodness they can’t accept that they can be on the side of evil themselves.
A corollary to that lesson is this: most people get their sense of right and wrong from the culture that bred them. It makes it impossible for them to see when the culture itself is going off the rails.
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