The issue of reparations for slavery is a divisive one in America. While a 2002 opinion poll found that 67 percent of African-Americans supported monetary reparations, only 4 percent of whites agreed. If whites were to compensate African-Americans for their centuries of servitude, how much would it cost? According to Harper’s Magazine, the United States owes African-Americans over $100 trillion in reparations, based on 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865, with a compounded interest of 6%.
Is there precedent for such an action? Since 1951, Germany has paid an estimated $25 billion in reparations to Israeli Holocaust survivors.
But let's not kid ourselves into thinking the United States will follow Germany's lead. Whites here are much more comfortable with the idea of spending $1.3 trillion to torture and kill dark-skinned people in Iraq than they are with using that money to recompense the descendants of the slaves who helped build our nation.
Admittedly, a $100 trillion payoff in a country with a GDP of $14.2 trillion is nigh impossible. At the very least, an apology would be nice. But even that proved too much to bear for the 70 percent of whites who opposed last year's formal apology for slavery.
Affirmative Action? This is yet another sore spot for whites, 74% of whom oppose giving some racial groups preference for private sector jobs to increase diversity.
Whites support the status quo and no wonder, it has been very good for them these last 500 years.
But here is the way I view the situation: life is like the game of Monopoly. African-Americans were not even allowed to play until 1865 and then for the next hundred years whites let them roll the dice but not collect their full $200 for passing Go or inherit the money in the middle for landing on Free Parking. Today African-Americans are free to buy anything they wish; only they are unable to afford much given whites 400 year head start.
The effects of slavery and Jim Crow reverberate today in the disparity between white and black wealth. According to the Consumer Federation of America, median household wealth among blacks is less than a quarter of that of whites and eighty percent of African-American children begin their adult lives with no assets whatsoever. But according to Melvin Oliver, co-author of Black Wealth/White Wealth, "That's not the case for white kids. If they don't have financial resources in hand, they have access to them through their families. Most black kids don't have that available to them."
Oliver goes on to add that "as much as 80 percent of the wealth people accumulate over the course of their lifetimes actually begins as a gift from a relative. That gift can come in the form of a down payment on a first home, a college education, or an inheritance from a parent or grandparent."
You can see this disparity in action when comparing the current occupant of the Oval Office with the prior tenant. Bush used his familial connections to avert financial ruin, then buy the Texas Rangers and finally win the Presidency with a little help from his baby brother. Obama on the other hand had to run a nearly flawless campaign against a clearly overmatched and seemingly senile opponent to win last year's election.
And for those who think racism is no longer relevant, look at the compromises Obama had to make to win the presidency such as speaking out against reparations and throwing his own pastor the Reverand Jeremiah Wright under the bus. The compromises continue in the Obama cabinet, which has plenty of room for white mediocrities such as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Judging by the racial makeup of the cabinet, there is only one fellow African-American, Attorney General Eric Holder, competent enough to advise our President.
And we call this progress? It sounds like more of the same white mediocrities in high places to me.
If we can afford to spend nearly a trillion dollars bailing out the predominantly white bankers whose greed got us into this recession, what's another trillion to pay back the people who helped build this country through the blood and sweat of their forced labor?
To those who complain that their ancestors did not personally own slaves, I say suck it up.This country would be in more disarray that it is already if we all personally decided where our tax dollars went. Seventeen states fund abortions for poor women. What about all the pro-life people in those states who must fund a procedure they consider murder? And what about the Amish, Quakers and other pacifists currently paying for the wars of the Middle East with their tax money?
To those who contend the paying out of reparations is too complicated, I offer up the Germans who figured out a way to do it. If the United States of America can put a man on the moon, we can surely figure out a fair way to divvy up reparations.
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I believe in affirmative action, and yes, an apology would be nice.
If we agree that not only an apology, but reparations are in order even I am not surprised that most white folks disagree - definitely check out Noah's Dr. Seuss story. The question becomes how are reparations paid out?
@Harp - I like your suggestion that reparations should be given back to communities - can you imagine what those hundreds of billions that we paid to the thieves that got us into this recession could do if invested in inner city communities, education, black cultural and economic institutions, etc?
I am grateful that you brought this discussion to OS. Rated, reddited and emailed.
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/8snbl/affirmative_action_dr_seuss_style_a_parable_on/?already_submitted=true
Should whites who never owned slave be exempt? Why should I pay, I never owned a slave ( my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents who lived in Mississippi no less) never owned slaves. They did not have plantations?
The whole issue is racist in nature. It assumes all blacks are victims and all whites were the cause. It is not true. What about whites who died to end slavery. I am not going to take the blame for what some whites did to some blacks just because of the color of my skin.
All we can do as a society is correct the problems. For the past 50 years there has been a certain amount of field leveling and I have no problem with affirmative action. Perfect no, could more be done? Sure and that is true with all problems.
Obama is the future. He did not run on race. And the majority of voters did not vote for or against him because of his race. Are there still racist out there, you bet, but they are not all white. It is time to move on and embrace the future not live in the past. The task at hand is to keep the playing field level as possible. The constitution grants all the right to pursue happiness, the pursuit is guaranteed not the results.
My ancestors fled Ireland and Scotland to escape religious and economic persecution. But, that was 150 years ago. I don't expect England to make good for some past mistakes made by people who are long gone and dead.
And if you think I am being rude consider this, my great grandfather came to this country in the hold of a ship, having been booted out of his native homeland. He worked in a coal mine to pay off his passage and living expense to the company, and had little or nothing left over. He finally escaped and homesteaded 160 acres of rough land. Everything he had he earned. Everything my grandfater got he earned. Everything my father got he earned and everything I have I earned.
we also need a formal apology, a national museum and monument.
And, Ron Kirk, Lisa Jackson and Susan Rice are also African American members of Obama's cabinet. It's not just Holder and the President.
"Eighty percent of African-American children begin their adult lives with no assets whatsoever. But according to Melvin Oliver, co-author of Black Wealth/White Wealth, "That's not the case for white kids. If they don't have financial resources in hand, they have access to them through their families. Most black kids [for generations] don't have that available to them, [nor will their offspring."]
Their inheritances, whether great or small, were violently usurped.
As to your main point of reparations. I agree that the emancipated slaves should have been compensated somehow. But it's now 150 years after the fact. It's just way too complicated to figure out who should pay whom.
As an alternative, I think the society would benefit from a huge 'do-over' once every 50-100 years. In the bible there is the year of the jubilee every 50th year when the land was redistributed. In your analogy of monopoly, every player starts out with equal shares. Likewise I think it's healthy in a capitalist economy to have a one-time wealth redistribution every 50 years or so, and then let people compete on an equal basis the rest of the time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902279.html
Harp: Thanks for the comment: the people on Reddit called me an irrational racist. Anyways I like your realistic approach.
Cartouche: And don't forget Limbaugh. He's an even bigger racist than O'Reilly. Remember the Donavan McNabb brouhaha a few years ago?
Shivaun: Thanks for the information. I was unaware of how much slaves taught their masters. This is something I was never taught in my history courses.
The majority of families do not pass any great amount of wealth to the next generation. This is true for both white and black families. I would imagine most inheritances amount to far less than a years wages for the recepients.
This idea that whites collectively have had 4 generations to generate their wealth in my estimation does not hold any merit. The majority of this country are poor, working class, and lower middle and middle class families. What my great great great grandfather did or accumulated has no impact on my personal wealth. And I don't think this is atypical of most whites in this country.
The whole idea of reparations is racist. It is making the assumption all white people participated in slavery. And it seeks compensation from the government (tax payers) not the individuals who practiced slavery. Why should your taxes go up for something a person did 150 years ago to a person who is dead?
Throughout this country's history it has tried to correct this evil that was once accepted in the world. Not just in the white world, but the entire black, white, Asian, Middle East and Latin world. We tend to think of slavery as a uniquely white enterprise, but truth is almost every civilizations in the new and old world including Africa has practiced slavery.
Frankly I am not going to take the rap or pay for someone else's actions white or black. Sorry I don't have this collective guilt about racism because I am white. My responsibility ends at my actions not the actions of others.
A 100 trillion dollars, please what a crock. Why not just say a gazillion since it is all made up numbers anyway.
The Consumer Federation of America report found that median household wealth among blacks grew 321% between 1989 and 1998, from $3,680 in 1989 to $15,500. However, that still was less than a quarter of the $71,700 accumulated by the typical American household.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/2002-08-30-black-savings_x.htm
The $100 trillion figure comes from a reputable source: Harper's Magazine as well. It wouldn't be that difficult to arrive at a figure. Simply determine the number of slaves then times that by the minimum wage level for that time period, etc.
But like I said in the article, that would be an impossible figure to pay back. I think affirmative action is a worthwhile compromise.
BikeLizard: Reread my first paragraph. Sixty-seven percent of blacks feel reparations are in order. That hardly sounds like they consider "it a reminder they can be bought and sold".
Insurance actuaries put a price on human suffering every day. It's not sickening but a necessary part of life and death sometimes.
Do you propose we do away with life insurance because it is too sickening to determine how much a human life is worth?
Reparations were owed to those directly harmed by slavery, not their descendants. No one owes me a thing for the harm done to my ancestors. I never lived in that world. What happened in those times was morally reprehensible to both of us. You , however, make the claim that since my skin is lighter than yours that I carry the guilt that rightfully belongs to the same people that held my ancestors in bondage.
I did have ancestors here in the early days of the country. One was a general in Washingtons army. My direct ancestors came here in the late 19th century and worked in coal mines. They owned no slaves. Would you have me pay reparations to you? For no reason other than the color of my skin?
I mean you no disrespect. My questions are meant to provide food for thought on this sensitive subject. The issue is not so cut and dried as it would appear on first glance. The history on the treatment and conditions that met my ancestors is available but is widely ignored.
For example minimum wage did not exist. Most worked for enough to eat and a place to live, period. So if you are going to use a wage factor you have to back out room and board since slaves did not pay either. Also, what about slaves who had greater value as workers, or skilled workers? Should they be compensated more than say a laborer? Or is it a sort of communist idea of all are equal?
The problems with formulas is that they mean nothing. 100 trillion dollars is assuming everything is constant. People make and loose fortunes all the time. White farmers who share cropped lived hand to mouth and also had to accept the risk of a failed crop. Again if we are going to apply some formula you have to account for variations in economic conditions.
I am not denying blacks in the past faced hardships and unfair labor and economic discrepancies. Today, we have free education for almost anyone who wants it and if you are poor you access to college grants and loans. But, how many (white and black) make the most of the opportunity? Our society just can't keep blaming the past for the present problems in communities and families for ever.
There is no dispute there are more middle class and upper middle class whites and they will provide more opportunities for their families. It is not about race it is about family ties. I am not working for the white race. I bust my hump for my family not the next door neighbor's family. And blacks are no different. They are working for their families, not some cosmic black community.
I have no problems with paying taxes for schools and roads and hospitals. There is no problems in my eyes with giving minorities a leg up in the way of grants and other economic opportunities. Not because I feel guilty for some past offense in history, but because it is the only way to even out the discrepancies. If someone does not take advantage of the opportunity, then tough. There will be no free check for something that may or may not have happened to their great, great great grandfather.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASafrica.htm
"British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated the market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the captured Africans until the arrival of the slave-ships. The merchants obtained the slaves from African chiefs by giving them goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were often the captured soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves become so great that raiding parties were organised to obtain young Africans."
So, following the line of reasoning behind reparation, a good few African countries *also* owe reparation to the descendants of slaves. Considering the financial/social disarray of most African countries, I can't see that one working out well.
Slavery is/was wrong *however*, the mores of the day were such that the whites, initially, were merely taking advantage of a system that had been in place in Africa for millenia.
Finally, ask yourself this: would you rather be a descendant of a slave, who now has a home, electricity, clean, running water, an education and all the perks of "civilised" life *because* your ancestors were brought over to America/Britain, or would you rather be a descendant of one of the African tribal slave traders, who faces unspeakable horrors every day, no clean water, no electricity, little to no education available etc?
If anyone wants to go forward with reparation, give the money towards fighting the modern slave trade. Those are the only slaves that need help nowadays.
*sigh*
Webbi
In most countries they are still slaves, can't drive, can't go to school, must carry and bear many children and do all the work.
It was only 60 years ago that women couldn't go to college in the U.S.
But you don't hear us asking for reparations.
Racism is an UGLY thing no matter the color or the person guilty of being racist. A black person calling me a "filthy redskin" is JUST as guilty of racism as a white person calling me a "filthy redskin".
And what about the Amish, Quakers and other pacifists currently paying for the wars of the Middle East with their tax money?
My point is we don't get to choose where our tax money goes. And yes, African-Americans will partly be paying for their own reparations. Ironic, I know.
JK Brady: I mentioned the apology, which 70 percent of white America opposed, in the original post.
LOL @ cartouche.......I'm not sure how Fox News fits into this idea. But, at least I had a good laugh.
Do you even know the real meaning of "racist"? Or do you prefer the one that Al Sharpton says covers just about any remark made about a black person?
With all due respect, you're sounding like a liberal, and the only thing as bad as a liberal is a conservative...
My response to your "suck it up" comment, is suck it up and work hard to make the wealth your ancestors couldn't make. What happened to the African Americans was abhorrent, as was what happened to the Native Americans, the Women, and many many others... But what's past it past. You can't turn back the clock, and frankly you shouldn't try. Who gets to decide what's fair and equitable for such past evils? Who do you trust to make that call?
The fact of the matter is, there's immigrants coming into this country every day with nothing but the shirts off their backs and a dream. And yet, they manage to carve out a life for themselves through hard work, and hopefully the next generation does a little better then the last...
My own ancestors were only in this country for maybe two generations, but they worked their tails off farming and did the best they could. And now, I'm carrying on that tradition. I DO NOT want you or anyone else trying to tailor the perfect society or correct past ills with your half baked social programs.
Yes, we MUST keep a vigilant eye out against discrimination against sex, race, gender, ect... We must struggle to keep the playing field as even as possible... But the lesser of two evils is and always will be keeping the governments nose out of our affairs as much as possible. I don't care what your party affiliation is, they're ALL crooks, and not ONE of them has the answer for social ills. And if they say they do, they're lying.
"No less than twenty-five percent of all cowhands were Black. In fact, the label “cowboy” is thought to have originally been a derogatory term used to describe Black “cowhands”. As the word “cowboy” has grown immeasurably in popularity, the Black cowboys the term described have been stricken from the record with extreme prejudice. "
Blacks dominated America's first national sport--horseracing. Arthur Ashe wrote about them in his book ''A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African- American Athlete.'' Blacks were forced out of horseracing because they were black.
"For 120 years, white America has gone to extraordinary lengths to discredit and discourage black participation in sports because black athletes have been so accomplished. The saddest case is that of the black jockeys. When the first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875, 15 thoroughbreds were entered and 14 of their riders were black. Black domination of horse racing then was analogous to the domination of the National Basketball Association today. Subsequently, the Jockey Club was formed in the early 1890's to regulate and license all jockeys. Then one by one the blacks were denied their license renewals. By 1911 they had all but disappeared."
This country also owes much to a multitude of black inventors who's intellectual property and licenses have been stolen by corporations.
The white folks who say their ancestors worked hard to get what they have are not taking into account that the government gave them a leg up with land, loans and other social services that were not made available to blacks. It's interesting that Obama explained how his grandparents got an FHA loan--well this was not available to black people at the time--it benefited Obama that he was half-white. Half the of the white privileged that whites take for granted.
A study published in the July issue of Public Affairs Quarterly by two Oregon State University faculty members in 2008 concluded that "Black Americans Should Get Reparations for Housing Discrimination."
"Historic housing and lending discrimination against black Americans has created a significant discrepancy in their overall wealth – a gap that may take reparations to close, according to research published by two Oregon State University faculty members.
...The FHA made home ownership possible for many Americans by introducing low down-payment, long-term fixed-interest, self-amortizing loans. In 1938, the creation of the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) provided a market for Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loans, increasing liquidity and further decreasing lender risk.
As Kaplan explains, black Americans were almost completely excluded from benefiting from these loans because the FHA assigned “risk” rating to neighborhoods, based on various demographic factors, especially race. Mixed and predominantly black neighborhoods were rated as “riskier” and were generally not eligible for FHA loans.
Valls said after World War II, the G.I. Bill led to a housing boom where returning soldiers bought new homes in the newly-formed suburbs. However, black veterans were largely excluded from the housing benefits of the G.I. Bill.
“The FHA manual at the time stated that ‘If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes,’” Valls said. “So for a home to be insurable, a neighborhood had to be white and to stay white.”
To ensure that stability, the FHA actively promoted the use of racial covenants – legal restrictions on who houses could be sold to – in order to protect against transitions to mixed neighborhoods. According to Kaplan and Valls, by some estimates 80 percent of new suburban housing developments in the 1930s and ’40s included such covenants.
“So even if you wanted to sell your home to a person of color, you couldn’t,” noted Valls. Valls said he recently found a racial covenant in the original deed for his 1949 home that stated that the home was 'not to be sold to blacks or Asians.'"
Whites could live in whatever neighborhood they could afford or get the loans to open businesses.
Even when blacks were able to build their own communities and businesses to support themselves, there have been documented cases of entire communities being burned out and their residents massacred. One example was The Rosewood Massacres.
Did I mention the centuries of crimes against blacks by whites that went unpunished? Violence, murder, Jim Crow and other atrocities were legitimized by "law enforcement", who were often leaders in the KKK in Southern states like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee... Then there was the resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s "in response to urbanization and industrialization."
"'By mid-1949, there were so many charred house carcasses that the area [College Hills] was informally named Dynamite Hill." Independent Klan groups remained active in Birmingham and were deeply engaged in violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement.
The Klan had major political influence in several states and was influential mostly in the center of the country. The Klan spread from the South into the Midwest and Northern states, and into Canada where there was a large movement against Catholic immigrants. At its peak, Klan membership exceeded four million and comprised 20% of the adult white male population in many broad geographic regions, with 40% in some areas. Most of the membership resided in Midwestern states.
The KKK controlled Southern legislatures and the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon. In Indiana, Republican Klansman Edward Jackson was elected governor in 1924."
Many of the discriminatory practices described above still occur. These are not long ago practices that are now a part of American History. Generations of blacks still suffer from what one psychologist calls, "post-traumatic slave syndrome." "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing" by Joy Degruy Leary
Do African-Americans Deserve Reparations for Slavery?
Yes! They also deserve reparations for the hell they've been catching since "legal" slavery ended.
"No less than twenty-five percent of all cowhands were Black. In fact, the label “cowboy” is thought to have originally been a derogatory term used to describe Black “cowhands”. As the word “cowboy” has grown immeasurably in popularity, the Black cowboys the term described have been stricken from the record with extreme prejudice. "
Blacks dominated America's first national sport--horseracing. Arthur Ashe wrote about them in his book ''A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African- American Athlete.'' Blacks were forced out of horseracing because they were black.
"For 120 years, white America has gone to extraordinary lengths to discredit and discourage black participation in sports because black athletes have been so accomplished. The saddest case is that of the black jockeys. When the first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875, 15 thoroughbreds were entered and 14 of their riders were black. Black domination of horse racing then was analogous to the domination of the National Basketball Association today. Subsequently, the Jockey Club was formed in the early 1890's to regulate and license all jockeys. Then one by one the blacks were denied their license renewals. By 1911 they had all but disappeared."
This country also owes much to a multitude of black inventors who's intellectual property and licenses have been stolen by corporations.
The white folks who say their ancestors worked hard to get what they have are not taking into account that the government gave them a leg up with land, loans and other social services that were not made available to blacks. It's interesting that Obama explained how his grandparents got an FHA loan--well this was not available to black people at the time--it benefited Obama that he was half-white. Half the of the white privileged that whites take for granted.
A study published in the July issue of Public Affairs Quarterly by two Oregon State University faculty members in 2008 concluded that "Black Americans Should Get Reparations for Housing Discrimination."
"Historic housing and lending discrimination against black Americans has created a significant discrepancy in their overall wealth – a gap that may take reparations to close, according to research published by two Oregon State University faculty members.
...The FHA made home ownership possible for many Americans by introducing low down-payment, long-term fixed-interest, self-amortizing loans. In 1938, the creation of the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) provided a market for Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loans, increasing liquidity and further decreasing lender risk.
As Kaplan explains, black Americans were almost completely excluded from benefiting from these loans because the FHA assigned “risk” rating to neighborhoods, based on various demographic factors, especially race. Mixed and predominantly black neighborhoods were rated as “riskier” and were generally not eligible for FHA loans.
Valls said after World War II, the G.I. Bill led to a housing boom where returning soldiers bought new homes in the newly-formed suburbs. However, black veterans were largely excluded from the housing benefits of the G.I. Bill.
“The FHA manual at the time stated that ‘If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes,’” Valls said. “So for a home to be insurable, a neighborhood had to be white and to stay white.”
To ensure that stability, the FHA actively promoted the use of racial covenants – legal restrictions on who houses could be sold to – in order to protect against transitions to mixed neighborhoods. According to Kaplan and Valls, by some estimates 80 percent of new suburban housing developments in the 1930s and ’40s included such covenants.
“So even if you wanted to sell your home to a person of color, you couldn’t,” noted Valls. Valls said he recently found a racial covenant in the original deed for his 1949 home that stated that the home was 'not to be sold to blacks or Asians.'"
Whites could live in whatever neighborhood they could afford or get the loans to open businesses.
Even when blacks were able to build their own communities and businesses to support themselves, there have been documented cases of entire communities being burned out and their residents massacred. One example was The Rosewood Massacres.
Did I mention the centuries of crimes against blacks by whites that went unpunished? Violence, murder, Jim Crow and other atrocities were legitimized by "law enforcement", who were often leaders in the KKK in Southern states like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee... Then there was the resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s "in response to urbanization and industrialization."
"'By mid-1949, there were so many charred house carcasses that the area [College Hills] was informally named Dynamite Hill." Independent Klan groups remained active in Birmingham and were deeply engaged in violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement.
The Klan had major political influence in several states and was influential mostly in the center of the country. The Klan spread from the South into the Midwest and Northern states, and into Canada where there was a large movement against Catholic immigrants. At its peak, Klan membership exceeded four million and comprised 20% of the adult white male population in many broad geographic regions, with 40% in some areas. Most of the membership resided in Midwestern states.
The KKK controlled Southern legislatures and the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon. In Indiana, Republican Klansman Edward Jackson was elected governor in 1924."
Many of the discriminatory practices described above still occur. These are not long ago practices that are now a part of American History. Generations of blacks still suffer from what one psychologist calls, "post-traumatic slave syndrome." "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing" by Joy Degruy Leary
Do African-Americans Deserve Reparations for Slavery?
Yes! They also deserve reparations for the hell they've been catching since "legal" slavery ended.
Blacks Deserve Reparations for Slavery
- Ryan from online dating service
the duration of our holocaust..the most significant
part of jewish reparations on behalf of the
germans and the UN was the freeing up of jewish
thinkers.. allowing them to think for a national
behalf...what we africans in a america need
more than ever is a place to go lick our wounds
to come and learn who we are and what we
must peacefully do..we need an instituition that
is our own to cure the mental disease of slavery.
institutions as grand and dedicated
as the colonial europeans were to creating the
condition of slavery..peace
Since so much of our American wealth has been created relatively recently I fail to see an argument that everyone owes the descendants of former slaves a check.
What's next? Egyptians writing checks to the Jews for driving them out of town? Or how bout some old Greek and Roman conflicts? At some point one must draw the line.
Logic lacks in the comparison to German reparations to the Jews. In many cases these people were still alive, or at least their direct relatives and descendants. Even today over fifty years since the liberation of the camps, there are still a few survivors. It's not as if the descendants of slaves can knock upon the door of the families who had once "owned" them. Most of those families eventually lost their fortunes after the "War of Northern Aggression."
So, once more, NO. There must be a cultural statute of limitations and surely that has been met. I'd like to see helping hands extended to everyone who needs it regardless of their cultural/racial heritage. Move on everyone, spend the energy on something worthwhile!
Every treaty, absolutly every single treaty signed by the US goverment to an Indain Nation has been BROKEN, EVERY SINGLE ONE.
If reparitions are made. the Indians are the first in line.
I am simply quote from a comment I posted on huffingtonpost
What American Blacks, (Blacks who claim bloodline to the Black Africans where were forcefully brought to US) have achieved over the years is quite the most enviable experience compared to what an immensity of others all around the world have experienced.
Close proximity to English systems, English dressing standards, White native-English speakers as classmates, best educational systems, personal and social liberty that cannot be even imagined in most Asian, African, SouthAmerica, and even some European nations. They can address social superiors by their name, with or without a Mr., Mrs, Miss prefixed. Among 99% of the rest of the world population in Asian/African/South American nations, this is not possible or even conceivable.
At best, slavery existed only for around 75 years after the formation of the US. In most other nations, it existed for centuries, without any chains, but only shackled by words and usages; and still continues. In the US, Whites fought for the abolishing of slavery. GB did this much earlier.
In spite of all this, a certain percentage of Blacks are still bearing a creepy antipathy for their benefactors. Not only blacks, many non-native-English-speaking whites and Asians, also have improved.
Time to come out with some words acknowledging gratitude.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Victoria_Institutions/trayvon-martin-case-georg_n_1381322_143964692.html
OUR BEST WILL NOT COME UNTIL WE CORRECT THE PASS AND LAY A SUSTAINABLE FOUNDATION FOR OUR FUTURE.
WE THE PEOPLE, LIFE- LIBERTY AND HAPPINESS!!!