This is such a bad idea on so many levels:
Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.
Reparations would have made more sense a little closer to the damaging events, when there were still actual victims to compensate. For every white American who still feels enough guilt to go along with this, there are 1,000 who will say, sensibly, that they shouldn't be made to pay for something that happened generations ago. It is hard to imagine anything more divisive than this movement.
As John Torepy explains, it's a whole new way of looking at things politically, looking backward instead of forward. We can and should learn from the past, but we can't hold onto it like a festering wound we keep poking at:
"Under normal circumstances the past returns only fleetingly and remains simply part of the stock of ideas on which people draw to make sense of their lives. But it is scarcely the predominant part; ordinarily, people maintain a balance between past present, and future that allows them to move forward in their everyday lives." He continues: "An excessive preoccupation with the past is usually a sign that something is amiss - whether in the manner of nostalgia or of failing to let go of past troubles - for individuals as well as societies."
There are "reparations" other than money, of course, and perhaps the movement will head in that direction. Money doesn't solve everything -- if it did, the billions and billions already spent trying to make amends for our past would have fixed everything already. If reparations in the form of money were successful, it would, in fact, be a final victory for racism. We would forever be separate nations.
Comments
I agree that LEARNING from the past is MUCH better than constantly trying to dredge it up and repeat it in some fashion, with the same results.
Then again, I (personally) refuse to apologize for or even acknowledge this "reparations" thing. It makes no sense whatsoever. MY family was never a slave holder or owner in any manner or fashion.
My (many) friends of color would agree, as they believe that personally overcoming whatever problems life tosses at them through hard work, education, and a level of integrity (sadly missing in much of the black community these days) goes MUCH farther and accomplishes MUCH more than mere reparations could ever hope to.
When I see the blacks living around me that embrace ONLY that which they can covet and obtain through any means, at the cost of accountability, responsibility, and civility, that speaks volumes as to whether reparations is truly warranted...which it is NOT.
Every aspect of these peoples' lives revolves around entertainment and/or intimidation. When they are not doing ONE...they are pursuing the OTHER...to whatever end, and at anyone's expense.
Sure, we can say that pulling oneself up by one's "bootstrap" sounds a tad cliche', but in retrospect, ALL real black leaders have done JUST THAT. And the results of self-improvement and trying to be more today than they were yesterday is obvious...and welcomed in ANY venue...all without reparations.
Look at all the so-called "white" people have already done...abolishemnt of slavery, the civil rights amendment, the welfare system, welfare REFORM (1966 AND 1996), the formation of the NAACP (yes, it was founded by whites), and affirmative action (in whatever form it has taken).
Enough has been done to level the playing field...now it's time for the "playaz" to either get off the bench and try to hit one out of the park...or quit the team. But please do not let them remain on the active/injured roster. This only sets things back, and does not advance any cause, however well intentioned.
B.G.
As was pointed out, many if not the majority of Americans today were are not the decedents of slave owner generation. The large immigration influx into the United States after the civil war makes up the majority of Americans today. Then when you look at the south as being the slave holding states, the number of people within a given geographical area shrinks even more. But it does not end there; not all who lived in the confederate states were slaveholders. When you get right down to it, I think we are looking at a very few who benefited financially from owning slaves.
The only argument would then be what did the majority allow? Did they condone slavery and if so are they responsible for looking the other way?
I seem to recall that every slave was given land and a mule/horse. This in no way means I condone what happened or that this compensation then was or is a just compensation. However, to seek compensation for wrongs this far past from those today would be just as bad as the original wrong.
All the United State practice slavery, but the north just renamed it. Slavery's impact did not stop the day, the emanicipation was enacted. Indentured servants, Jim Crow laws, segregation, colorblind racism is a continuation of racial discrimination.
It has always been about money, money for raced whites and little for those not raced whites. Do you really believe a mule and land was given to those enslaved in certain southern states?
There is no level playing field. Attending college, I couldn't tell you how many times I heard the N word used in class. Or the professor who worked to keep from giving African-Americans an A, by weighing a test at 90% rather than 100% because only the African-American received a 100%.
Or how about two professor conspiring to end your college career because they felt you should be taught a lesson on how to behave in class. The two filed a claim under hazing, but was thrown out after another student overheard the conversation and foiled the attempt.
When another professor later stated, I didn't have anything to do with that little plot, when the other two were going around trying to recruit professors to speak out against me.
Or the professor that was upset because her daughter didn't get into college, so she saw nothing wrong with positive discrimination by rewarding police officers better grades because they were police officers.
or the department heads who worked to change the graduation requirement when told that a student would be graduating from two different school at the same time.
Continue to believe that all is right in America, many do not believe in the fiction that makes you smug. If your family didn't contribute to the problem, get over it. As Dick Gregory said, when visiting fort wayne, when I say white folks, I am not talking to you in the audience, I am talking about rich white folks. But just saying reparation, you think someone is asking for your pennies. Lani Guinier, says that you are black, you just don't know it. Ask yourself, how much of your paycheck do you keep to spend on your family. If not who get your money before you are paid?
When you live in a community that includes others, you get to learn about how raced whites speak in public and how they speak in private...generally it is different.
No, former slaves were never given their 40 acres and a mule. This order was revoked by president Johnson after Lincoln was assassinated. It's sad that people still think they did receive that payment...
Having attended Purdue in Fort Wayne 1975 and West Lafayette in 82, I can honestly say that the professors treated all the same. I had study partners of all races and none of us thought anyone got better treatment.
I have heard the
Slavery was and is today a terrible injustice to all peoples affected. That being said, in the big picture of world wide history, Americas' participation was miniscule in comparison to the rest of the world including slavery which still exists today.
For all of recorded time right up to today, evil and repressive people have enslaved others for their own profit. Americans did not invent this, and considering our scant 230 year history as a country, (from a historical point of view) it's remarkable we were able to abolish slavery relatively early on.
Do we as a country have more to do to end racism and oppression? Of course we do, no thinking person could claim otherwise, but I fail to see how shifting a few thousand dollars from my family to another family along with an apology for something I had NOTHING to do with amounts to anything more than a forced redistribution of wealth.
As a middle aged white guy, is there any social ill that I am NOT responsible for?
As Mr Larsen correctly points out, two wrongs don't make right.
I agree that reparations are the worst possible "solution" for the injustices of the past. They would only serve to increase the amount racism and hate speech present today...
Jeff, you and I have agreed on 2 posts....
Are the stars out of alignment? lol
One point that I haven't seen addressed is the fact that SLAVERY is still alive and well.
Sure there are no longer the iron shackles about the neck, hands, or feet, but yet, in many ways, there are more "slaves" than ever before.
Consider the rising foreclosures, bankruptcies and personal indebtedness that abound in this country.
Does this not smack of being a slave to the almighty dollar...or to whatever job we can manage to hang onto?
How many people, too woried about keeping up with the Joneses have gone too far into debt, or just can't manage what money they have?
Rampant inflation has made Americans slaves to so many foreign countries...just look at our trade deficit!
Have SO many people not traded ONE form of "chains" (or bondage) for another?
People have become indentured to society and it's marketing devices. And to what end?
We are slaves to the gas pumps, the utilities companies, the government (taxes, remember?) and to corporations that monopolize whatever it is we need, supplanting our WANTS for those needs in the process, telling us we are "nothing" without THIS...or THAT. Everything from fashion to food is affected. And we're "given" entertainment (in whatever form) to take our minds from all of this, albeit briefly, much like a universal panacea.
If one were to assess the entire "slave" aspect...then we ARE ALL "entitled" to something from our "owners", right?
But I'm not holding my breath waiting.
B.G.
Larsen, we will never agree. I point out
only that racism is embedded in the very fiber of America. History is on going, the present and the past. Slavery is part of America history. The government that supported those who practiced slavery support those who are practicing racialists.
If you are suggesting your experiences negates my experiences, it does not.
I suggest you read The Debt by Randall Robinson. Robinson speaks of a government design that benefited raced whites over African-Americans. This practice by government and companies continues today. upon and after your grandparents arrivals.
I suggest another book, By Barack Obama, Dereams from My Father. A young man experienced racism, because of his skin color...and that we do not live in a color blind society. Raced whites use color blind theory to silent the conversation about America's history of slavery.
You probably would say he lives in the past because he speaks of slavery, and was recently elected to the United States Senate.
In closing, if you know anything about law that it is legal fiction. You look to law when reasonable men can not agree. The one with the best argument generally wins, or has the deepest pocket.
So credo, somewhere in that rambling diatribe do you actually say if you are for or against of reparations?
I'm confused
If you want to read some books that describe much, if not all of a lot of the problems with "victimology" then I would recommend:
LOSING THE RACE: Self Sabotage in Black America as well as DOING OUR OWN THING: The Degradation of Language and Music in America - both by John McWhorter.
THE TEN THINGS YOU CAN'T SAY IN AMERICA - by Larry Elder.
Their books are an eye-opening experience for anyone willing to read them.
Interestingly, these two BLACK authors do NOT believe in reparations, but rather believe in overcoming a "victicratic" mindset by personal achievement, hard work, and eschewing personal responsibility.
(whatta concept, eh?)
B.G.
(deep pockets but EMPTY pockets here)
;)
Tim,
Even a broken watch is right twice a day - I'll leave it to the audience to decide which one of us is the watch - lol
Credo you may be right, we may never agree. You point out that racism is alive and well in the US. The problem is that people are what make racism and it appears to be a personal choice to discriminate against anyone they choose. I remember when the Vietnamese came to the U.S. in the 1970's. They were heavily discriminated against. History shows the Chinese were discriminated against as well when they came. My interpretation of what you wrote appears to be about what happened to you. I have not experienced what has happened to you, but I have seen colleagues of color work hard and prosper just like myself.
I have seen much change in my lifetime. Changing an individual
Bill:
No disagreement here with gov't taking over INDIVIDUAL responsibilities.
People should be able to succeed (or fail) on their OWN merits (or lack thereof). The gov't cannot erase poverty....not with itself being SO much in debt. I'm just glad I'm not "as bad off" as the nation as far as indebtedness...lol!
I would be remiss to not mention that CHOICES make all the difference in everyone's life, be they good or bad choices. And you can carry this further by saying that GOOD choices are promoted by RESPONSIBLE behavior and actions. The converse is also true.
To see agencies (state, local or federal) promote a dependancy on others serves no good to anyone in the long run.
To see entitlements where none are warranted NOR deserved only begets more hands being held out for the "ticket on the gravy train", with little regard for WHO will be "footing the tab".
Government should never be able to control a person's actions or attitude (shades of 1984 & Brave New World), but yet the government I feel DOES have a duty to impart (through IT'S OWN ACTIONS) a sense of responsibility to each of us. And we ourselves should be able to do likewise. I know this sounds Victorian in nature, but honor and integrity can go a LONG way to personal growth, achievement, and a quality of life not seen in some time.
It's when the gov't fails to be accountable, is irresponsible, and has little integrity that many people will still feel the need to emulate them. Children often grow up to be just like their parents. There's a huge analogy there, right?
And that's where this nation appears to be right now.
B.G.
(doesn't have HIS hand out)
Reparations for the Irish- "No Irish need apply". pay me $10,000 and I'll leave town...
And lets think ahead a little- Reparations for illegal aliens.
and American Indians- give them their land back. And go back home to Europe.
problem solved. just like that...
Larsen:
Reread the postings and I am now responding.
Credo, So how much is fair for you?
Meeting the opposition to reparations
By Donna Lamb
One of the first things I tell people who are opposed to reparations is, don't believe what the mainstream press and media tell you about this subject; put aside everything you've heard so far and start fresh. The government of this country, backed by its powerful henchmen, the press and media, wants you to fear and hate the idea of reparations, and they feed you misinformation to try to have you do so. Any time you see them introduce a TV show with a statement like, "Should every Black be given a million dollars?", change the channel! They're already mocking, not dealing with the subject seriously. Reparations isn't just about X amount of money being given to X amount of people, and don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you it is.
Nor is reparations about money being taken out of every white person's personal bank account and handed over to Blacks, as the spreaders of misinformation can make it seem. Individuals do not pay reparations. Reparations are what a government pays a people it has wronged for them to use to repair the damage it has done to them. The way we would pay is the same way we pay now for anything else our government does--even the things we are vehemently opposed to--with our tax dollars.
Legal cases can be and are being brought against specific entities--such as insurance companies that got their start insuring slave owners against the loss of their "property" and were thus able to grow to the multi-billion dollar corporations they are today. But there again, it isn't your average struggling worker who's going to be left destitute because he's being punished for a crime he never committed. It's corporations that amassed huge fortunes off the backs of Blacks that are going to be made to share some of their ill-gotten gains.
Another thing the powers-that-be want us to think is that reparations is some weird little idea dreamed up by a greedy bunch of Blacks who are busy figuring out how to grab it all for themselves--instead of what it really is: a well established principle in law and in international law which the United States has supported over and over. This government was pivotal in the Jews obtaining reparations from Germany for their Holocaust, and it backs reparations for the victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. The US government also awarded reparations to Japanese Americans for this country's inhumane detention of them during World War II. And with both the Jews and the Japanese, reparations included provisions for the descendants of the people harmed, not just the actual victims.
I also ask people to be courageous and try to see whether their objection to reparations is really about the thing itself--or about the fact that it's Black people calling for it. I ask them to experiment mentally, change the scenario and see if it alters how they feel. For instance, what if it were Irish people who had been enslaved and Blacks who had been the slave owners and masters--would they still be against reparations? Come on, be honest: suppose it were your ancestors who had undergone chattel slavery: would you still say it was too long ago so just get over it--or would you feel it still deserved redress?
Another thing I try to have white people do is compare how they feel about Blacks receiving reparations with how they feel about others who have gotten them. Do they object to the fact that our government used their tax dollars to pay the Japanese and to build the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC? And since I hear questions like, "If we were to give Blacks reparations, how do we know they wouldn't just squander it all and come back asking for more?", I ask if they would have ever thought to ask such a question as to the Japanese and the Jews. The answer, of course, is no. I try to have people see that all of a sudden a different, more racist standard is applied when something has to do with people of African ancestry, including when it comes to reparations.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1) One of the most common questions I get from white people is, "My family didn't own slaves so why should I have to pay?"
I tell them a person didn't have to own enslaved Africans to benefit from slavery. The entire early American economy, in the North as well as the South, was fueled by the products and revenues generated by the institution of slavery. As, for example, the government raked in millions of dollars in taxes on cotton alone, all whites--whether they were rich or poor, slave holder or passionate abolitionist--benefited from slavery because the whole infrastructure of this nation was built on money made from it, directly or indirectly.
As I learned from CURE member Ken Lewis, we even owe the success of the American Revolution to money generated by slavery in the colonies. For example, Robert Morris, who made his money in the slave trade and trading slavery products, is known as the "Financier of the American Revolution" because he bailed out Washington's army several times, thus helping to save the revolution from going down in defeat from lack of money. This country's true history is replete with such facts.
If you dig deep enough, you will find that every large metropolitan area in the country benefited greatly from slavery. Take New York City where I live, which--despite the fact that it was the heaviest slave holding region north of the Mason-Dixon Line--has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the liberal refuges from slavery during the decades leading up to the Civil War.
As Howard Dodson, Chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has illuminated, from the beginning, every white person in New York benefited from the enslavement because slavery was a publicly organized and operated institution created by the laws of the colony of New Amsterdam. The first enslaved Africans brought to New York in 1625 weren't brought as private "slaves" to work for individuals, but as public "slaves" to work for the City. They built forts, constructed houses--in general were the labor force that created the foundation of New York City as we know it today.
From the founding of the republic through the years leading up to the Civil War, New York City, as the financial and commercial capital of the US, controlled the sale of the slave-produced goods that were sold abroad. Cotton grown by enslaved Africans was shipped up here from the South, and from here sold to Europe. Which leads us to this truly shocking fact: because of the city's economic dependence on slavery and the slave trade, when South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood proposed that New York City also secede and join the confederacy. Fortunately, the City Council voted down this proposition!
2) Another thing I hear all the time is, "I don't see why I should have to pay, because my ancestors weren't here during slavery." In fact, I hear this so often I'd almost think there were no whites in this country during slavery! There is also this variation, which is a valid question, "What about all the poor people who immigrated here long after slavery--isn't it unfair to expect them to pay?"
First of all, it doesn't really matter when your family came over. As soon as a person's feet land on this soil, in one way or another, they, too, begin to benefit from what slavery created that has come down to all of us through the centuries.
And the fact is, the whole reason people come to this country in the first place is to get in on the wealth that had its origin in slavery. They don't know it, but these "streets paved in gold" they came here to find could more aptly be called "streets bathed in the blood, sweat and tears of enslaved Africans." A person cannot expect to come and share in what really amounts to ill-gotten gains without also having to be a part of making amends for the unjust way it was amassed in the first place.
With that said, I must also stress the fact that people who've come to this country looking for a better life, like all people who are struggling financially themselves, have nothing to fear from the reparations movement. I only wish I knew how to make that point strongly enough. Black Reparationists have enough sense and kindness that they are thinking very deeply about how reparations can be paid without taking resources away from others who are suffering as well. It is a sign of how selfish and racist we ourselves are if we don't assume that Blacks in this movement are considering what is fair to others, too.
I have seen that there are a lot of great ideas out there among Reparationists about how, along with corporations, the Robber Barons and other super-rich families who benefited the most from slavery can be made to pay the most through such things as progressive taxes--where the richer you are, the more you pay. There is also thought about how money can be diverted from things that don't benefit working class people anyway, like corporate welfare, the bloated war budget and the militarization of space--in other words, ways money can be redirected in such a manner that it not only doesn't harm other poor people, but will actually save the lives of some!
Furthermore, there are ideas out there--such as freeing the political prisoners and people who were incarcerated for non-violent crimes--which, far from costing us money, will actually save our tax dollars!
3) Other questions people put to me frequently are, "It happened so long ago and all the slaves are dead, so isn't it just divisive to keep bringing it up? Wouldn't it help more to bring about racial harmony if we just buried it with the past?"
My response is that the ravages of slavery, both economic and spiritual, are very much alive and immediate today. Persons of African ancestry are still seen and dealt with in a way that is very far from what they deserve, while we European Americans continue to receive a subtle--and not so subtle--white privilege in every area of life. In this country all other ethnicities and immigrants are more respected as human beings than the descendants of slavery.
And the fact is, you can't brutalize a people massively and then just tell them to get over it. That will never work--just as it would never work in our personal lives. What if I were to tell you I was a battered wife who'd had my arm broken and my jaw wired several times. Once when my husband was beating me I called the police, which resulted in our children being taken away, and even now, it's going to be years before I finish paying off all my medical and legal bills. Now my former husband, who doesn't think he owes me so much as an apology, wants me to let by-gones be by-gones and be friends. He says it's very unchristian of me to hold a grudge. Would you think my ex-husband was right? Most people would say, no, definitely not!
It's no different in this case. I am quite certain that there will never be healing between Blacks and whites in this country until whites faces up to the crime we as a people committed against people of African descent and begin to set it right. That's the only way Blacks will ever be able to genuinely respect us. And, odd as it may seem, it's the only way we'll ever be able to respect them, because no one can feel clean, at ease with and respectful of someone they've robbed and brutalized and then felt they got away with it. Working towards mutual respect is the only way to bring about true racial harmony. Anything else is divisive.
4) People also say to me, "But whites fought and died in the Civil War to free the slaves. Doesn't that settle any possible debt to Blacks?"
One of this country's great myths, I tell them, is that hundreds of thousands of brave Northern men marched off to war to free the "slaves"--but it simply isn't true! While I'm glad to say that Quakers and some other white individuals, such as William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Wendell Phillips, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, were avid opponents of slavery, the majority of the people in the North were either too wrapped up in their own lives to think much about it, or had a lot to gain financially from slavery continuing. In the 1800s, Northern industrialists were making millions of dollars off of enterprises fueled by what enslaved labor produced--in New England's textile mills, for instance--so they weren't about to help terminate it.
Not only the rich, but Northern working class whites felt they had much reason to fear the end of slavery. In fact, the poorer a person was, the more he or she felt threatened by that possibility. They already blamed free Blacks for their low wages, and the last thing they wanted was for more Black persons to come north and compete with them for jobs.
Therefore, in 1863 when President Lincoln passed the first draft law, which contained a provision making it possible for the wealthy to pay $300 to get out of the draft or to hire someone else to go in their place, there were draft riots by people who couldn't afford to do that. New York City experienced a vicious 4-day long insurrection in which laborers rioted in lower Manhattan, targeting abolitionists and Blacks. The rioters vandalized and burned down entire neighborhoods and maimed and murdered hundreds of people of African ancestry.
During the Civil War, half a million men deserted the Union Army; in fact, Lincoln had to make desertion a crime punishable by death in the effort to stop them!
Yet, along with the ignobility of so many Northerners, there were also moral and spiritual persons, such as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and Brigadier General Rufus Saxton, who went to battle against the Confederacy motivated by a sense of ethics. There were white Union soldiers who truly did give their lives to end slavery. And I say this from the depths of my being: it is a desecration of their memory to try to use them against the very thing they were willing to die for--justice to people of African descent! To oppose reparations in their name is to dishonor everything they stood for. I am sure that what they want from us now is to complete their work by bringing about the full emancipation of enslaved Africans through reparations.
5) Two more arguments I get are the following--one sounding very noble and the other not, but both essentially coming to the same thing: "Giving Blacks reparations would be insulting; it would take away their dignity," and "They should use some personal initiative instead of standing around asking for a handout."
Both of these miss the point: reparations is not charity; it is not giving people anything; it is paying people back the wages that were withheld from their ancestors when they were forced to work for free. This is the money Black persons living now should have inherited, but couldn't. There's no essential difference from when a friend of mine loaned another man money, to be repaid in three months; yet, five years later he still couldn't get his money back. So he took this man to Small Claims Court, and the court ordered the man to pay him back immediately. In fact they froze his bank account until he did.
You would never say my friend was looking for a handout or that it lessened his dignity to demand he be given back what was rightfully his--a demand fully recognized by the US legal system. That is why I see taking part in the struggle for reparations as one of the most dignified, self-empowering things a Black person can do--and fully in keeping with the justice the United States of America is supposed to stand for.
6) Yet another thing I often hear is, "If it hadn't been for the African people themselves selling each other into slavery, there wouldn't have been any slavery, so why should America have to pay reparations?"
Now, I usually find that the people who have no compunction about asking me this would, however, think it extremely crass to bring up the fact that many Jews ended up in concentration camps because other Jews turned them in, and that while in the death camps, some Jews, in the effort to save themselves, collaborated with the Nazis, carrying out atrocities against other Jews. Yet, would anyone, even for a moment, think that these facts in some way lessen or excuse what the Germans did? Of course not! And we all know that every community, when it's been under siege, has had its traitors and collaborators who sold out their own people. Global history is full of instances.
My personal opinion is that unequivocally, slavery as such, at whatever period in history and in whatever form, was and is an abomination, and it should be condemned utterly. But it's not for us white people to say how descendants of slavery should deal with those African countries that once participated in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Just as African Americans have the right to decide what they want to do about European nations such as Spain, Portugal and England that played major roles in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, or the Catholic Church which profited enormously from overseeing it, Black Reparationists must decide for themselves what they think is just as to individual African nations.
The important thing for us, as white people, is to be accurate about what actually happened in Africa during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and to see what our part was in it--not go casting about, looking to place the blame elsewhere so we can get ourselves off the hook.
For starters, contrary to what most white Americans think, the numerous "slave forts" along the coast of Ghana, which are often depicted as symbols of the African slave trade, weren't built by Africans but by Europeans. Originally constructed as trading posts for gold and ivory, they later became pens where their "human cargo" were held and branded before being shipped off to the "New World."
Also, though the diverse African peoples fought among themselves--as did people on every other continent--after Europeans got a glimpse of how lucrative the slave trade in the New World could be they began doing everything in their power to escalate conflicts between different African peoples so they would be in constant combat with each other, and could be gotten to capture and sell each other to the Europeans in exchange for guns and other items of value. If Europeans and Americans has kept their noses out of Africa and hadn't provided an insatiable market for captured Africans, the slave trade would never have become what it did.
And yes, some Africans did indeed accept bribes and other things that were offered by the European and American slave traders to kidnap other Africans for trade. However, they had no idea what the persons they captured had in store for them across the sea, for Africans had never, ever conceived of anything as base, cruel and truly sick as chattel slavery, which was different from how slavery had been practiced anywhere in the world before.
The thing we never hear about is, as word spread across the continent about the incredible abuse and suffering the enslaved Africans were enduring in the New World, most Africans stopped participating in the European slave trade. Many countries mounted fierce resistance to the trade--Angola, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal, for instance.
Unfortunately, their efforts were woefully inadequate against the power and might of the Europeans and Americans. The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade became the largest forced migration in the history of the world, destabilizing many African societies politically and economically. All you have to do is look at what a rich nation we grew to be and how impoverished Africa became to see who really benefited from the slave trade. It so weakened African nations that they were sitting ducks for the colonization that followed, from which they have never recovered.
7) Here is the final question I will deal with now which white people--even those who support reparations to descendants of slavery--often ask me: "How would we know how to spend the money and who to give the reparations to?"
Well, I tell them, the good news is, we don't have to decide anything about how descendants of slavery will make their case, what they'll ask for, how they'll spend the money and who will get reparations. All of those things are strictly up to them. Just as in any other situation where one party has been injured by another and is seeking redress, it isn't the place of the party who committed the injury to tell the injured party what to do. For example in a class action suit against the tobacco companies, it would seem ludicrous to even suggest that Phillip Morris should tell the people bringing charges how to argue their case or how they should spend the money after they won. It's really just none of our business what Blacks do with the money--although I've seen abundant evidence that they're going to do just fine figuring out how to spend it and who to spend it on.
The only thing that is our business is looking honestly at this question: Did we, as a nation, commit a crime against people of African ancestry for which our government owes reparations? That's all. If we aren't trying to answer that honestly, everything else is just an evasion.
In the face of every argument any person can make against reparations--even ones I haven't known how to argue against effectively--heart and soul I feel it was a crime of such monstrous proportions that a way must be found to make restitution--and, to use the old clich
Just when I thought I'd never say someone should limit the size of posts, ...
Don't evade the issue by worrying about trivial matters like that. Just ask yourself whether the post makes sense and can be supported by evidence from factual, credible websites.
If you can't prove any of these statements to be wrong, then you need to get in gear and reprogram your mind before Satan gets ahold of you.
Take that bait, ...
Take that bait, ...
I believe Leo summed it up best: This is bad on SO many levels.....