Reparations

The Issue:
Determining whether or not the descendants of African slaves brought to the U.S. should be repaid for the work and suffering of their ancestors.

Determining who should be held accountable for the repayment.

Determining who would be eligible to receive any such payment.

And determining how any such payment would be made to those eligible, e.g. in the form of cash, governmental benefits, a verbal apology, land grants, education benefits, etc.


Background: During the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War, slaves were promised "forty acres and a mule" to help them start their lives as 'free men'. The promise was never kept and the idea of reparations began to grow. The debt owed to African-American descendants of slaves for work and suffering has been estimated anywhere between $1.6 and $777 trillion by those in favor of reparations.

There is historical precedence for the payment of reparations. Reparations were awarded to Japanese families in internment camps during World War II by a 1940s court decision. Also an international court has awarded reparations to descendants of Jewish slave laborers who worked in Germany and Austria during World War II.

The Case For: Those in favor of slavery reparations argue that compensation promised to slaves upon their release was never paid. Proponents cite the years of labor, horrendous conditions, rape and beatings at the hands of their owners and veritable construction of the country as reasons for the debt that is owed. Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the plaintiff in the most recent case against U.S. corporations for slavery reparations states, "These are corporations that benefited from stealing people, from stealing labor, from forced breeding, from torture, from committing numerous horrendous acts, and there's no reason why they should be able to hold onto assets they acquired through such horrendous acts." Farmer-Paellmann's case cites "unpaid labor" as the cause of the compensatory damages she and her lawyers are seeking.


The Case Against: Reparations opponents, such as conservative activist David Horowitz, one of the most out-spoken of the opponents, argue that paying reparations to African-Americans is a racist idea and that it will hurt the African-American community, in the long run. Horowitz has offered ten reasons why reparations are a bad idea. His reasons have been seen on Salon.com as well as in now famous ads in college newspapers across the country. Horowitz's reasons are, to a large extent, reflective of many common arguments against reparations. They include:

It is unclear who actually should be responsible for the debt.

Not all Americans are descendants of slave owners and therefore, the entire populations shouldn't be punished for the actions of a few. In fact, most living Americans have no "lineal connection" to slavery at all.

Not all African Americans actually "suffer" from the consequences of slavery.

Reparations have already been "paid" in the form of welfare, Affirmative Action, Civil Rights Acts and racial preferences.

Opponents also argue that payment of any reparations to African Americans will hurt race relations and, according to Horowitz, "intensify ethnic antagonisms and generate new levels of racial resentment."



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MY OUTLOOK
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I Think that Reperations should be given to Black Parents who Currently have College Students & Black Veterans who Walked away with No Honor / Bo Recignition for anything..

Did they give Reperations to the Natives we call Indians?? ..

That was a similar situation.

but it was So Many Years ago. Nobody Exists from those times

Same as slavery times

People like Emmit Till's Family should get Reperations

You know .. People who still have Living Family Members Who have been Victims of The Goverments Slavery Upon Blacks In the South Durring in the past














The Band's All Here - Reparations