Every now and then, you’ll hear discussion about whether the United States owes reparations to the descendants of slaves. Here’s a video clip from a recent debate of Democratic candidates on this very issue. Now that you have some historical perspective on the institution of slavery, you should be able to provide some insight on the topic. So, watch the video clip, and respond with your opinion, supported by some historical perspective. The deadline is Sunday at midnight.
An historical perspective on reparations
November 8th, 2007 | extra credit |
17 comments ↓
How to deal with the horrors of slavery is a question that has haunted America for years, the idea of reparations being one of the central discussions. Although I believe that slavery was one of the most atrocious practices of our country it is hard to say that descendants of slaves should be paid for the sufferings of their ancestors in a time when slavery was a common practice. Although I do believe that it was the duty of anyone at the time to speak up if they thought slavery was wrong (which many ended up doing), it is hard to really persecute those who saw this as their only way of life. I believe that it is important to recognize the suffering and oppression of slaves but I don’t think reparations in the form or money is the correct answer. Rather a celebration of the fact that they are free now and that America finally recognized their backwards and often cruel practice and stood up to an ancient and unfair institution. America has obviously come a long way and I think everyone should recognize that we have made much progress. Its important to remember the past so we don’t repeat it but it is also important to appreciate the present and the lives we share together, through all races and to look to better the future for next generations.
This topic can certainly be argued from many angles, my personal perspective being from a white girl, raised in the south, thinking of slavery as the ultimate form of evil. Had I lived a little less than two hundred years ago, though, I may have thought very differently. My family could easily be plantation owners and our only source of income may have been from the production and sale of the cotton on our land. To make reperations now for a way of life that was the norm at that time is acceptable, but only to a point. I agree slavery was a terrible thing and every person has basic rights to life, liberty and happiness and slavery only takes these away, but to reward the descendants of the oppressed may be, well frankly, extreme. Unnumbered apologies are certainly necessary, because it was horrific, but more important needs to be the step taken next. If we something like this happening again in our country or even in the world its our duty to try and change it in honor of those who were enslaved or as a reflection on our society’s mistakes many years ago. Reperations, I believ, should be modest, but the next time something threatens the rights of man or causes a group of people into oppression, it is our duty as generations who have come after the fact to learn and grow from the mistakes of our ancestors.
Although there is not one correct answer to the question of reparations for ancestors of slaves I think the solution is not giving blacks money. I think, as some of the candidates said, that instead we need to continue to repair the gap between blacks and whites and work towards more equality in business, schools and everything else. America has gone from being a country where slavery was common and blacks were supposedly being “saved” by forced conversion to Christianity, to a country that can recognize the horrible dehumanization that slavery caused. By doing this we have come a long way, but we can make progress through non-monetary reparations.
I do not believe that there should be direct reparations to African Americans for slavery. I do however believe that everyday we are working on equality, and continue to do so. I agree strongly with Obama, who believed that we can start working towards this equality by improving school systems and equal opportunity for everyone, which begins with a solid education. I believe that this is more valuable than just handing money over to African Americans. I think that in the long run building working toward equal opportunity for everyone regardless of race will be more beneficial than just handing money over to this generation of African Americans. However I do understand, after learning about the terrors of slavery such as harsh working conditions and abusive master and slave relationships, the desire of African Americans for repartitions. Though, building equal opportunity for everyone will be more beneficial for all generations to come.
While it may seem a bit extreme to be doling out reparations to the descendants of slaves more than a century after they were freed, in a way it makes sense. I think that the main reason to give reparations to the descendants of slaves is not simply as a method of apology for all of the atrocities of slavery, but as a means of giving these people the financial assistance their ancestors should have received when they were originally freed. Slaves were simply told that they were free to go, and had no possessions, nowhere to go or live, and no particular skills to be able to make a living. Without all these things they fell into dire poverty, and many of their families have remained that way ever since. Whether that is because of racism, or simply the fault of the virtual social immobility that exists for the truly impoverished, is unimportant. The fact remains that once they were free men and women the government failed to assist them in their attempt at the normal everyday life that whites had lived since they first arrived in America. Their descendants who are still living in poverty deserve the opportunity to become part of mainstream society, which they cannot have without an economic boost. This may be impractical right now, considering so much of America’s money is currently being funneled into the war in Iraq, but perhaps in the future something along these lines should be done to aid the poor blacks whose social position has been entirely predetermined for them by the fate of the former slaves. Obviously racism needs to be combated in offices, schools, etc. as another answer to the problems of racial inequality, but this racism doesn’t even affect the people who really need the money because they are not in a financial position to be a part of these institutions. Reparations really should have been made to the former slaves themselves or to their more direct descendants, and it may well be too late for this money to mean anything to or do anything for the descendants of slaves. But I understand where the request is coming from just as well as I understand the reluctance to meet this request. Whites feel like it was our ancestors and your ancestors, so we should just put it all behind us and move on and try to make up for it in other ways, but somehow that is much harder to do for the oppressed than it is for the oppressors.
I disagree with giving reparations to African-Americans for slavery. This idea may have been more appropriate right after the Civil War to get newly freed blacks on their feet and give some compensation for the awful institution they were just released from. But today I think that money could be put to better use for equality, such as fighting those mortgage companies and helping our country’s schools. Also the money for reparations would probably be raised in the form of a tax on all Americans, which would not be necessarily fair for those to pay for this reparation who are immigrants to this country or anyone whose ancestors were not cruel slave holders responsible for the hardships African Americans faced. I believe a breach has been made but paying this generation with reparations would be less beneficial than creating more equality of opportunity.
I think that the government does not need to give the descendents of slaves reparations for slavery. I do not think that paying these families would lessen the atrocious institution that was slavery. While listening to the clip I decided that I agree with Obama, I think that instead of paying the families the government should instead make their lives better by putting more money into better housing and better schools. I think that the slave’s descendents definitely deserve some sort of apology or form of amends, but I do not think that money in their pockets is what they need in order to make up for their descendants pain and enslavement.
I do not believe that just giving money to the black population is the best way to apologize for slavery. I think we as a country need to work harder to establish equal opportunity for all, black, white, rich, or poor. This really starts in the schools systems as Obama said. Improving public schools will give more children the urge to learn and to lead. It will spark new ideas and ultimately be a great thing for our country. Instead of just giving money, we should do something that will benefit the generations to come like a proper and strong school system that is available to everyone. This will take a lot of work, but in the end it will come to benefit children who would not have had the opportunity to learn like we are so privileged to have.
I do not think that the government should give slave descendants reparations. Giving them money will not change the past it would most likely just cause for more debate. As much as we would like to change the past, we can only change the future. The awful suffering and cruelty toward slaves should certainly be recognized but it was the mistake of our ancestors, not of the people today. Moving forward for positive change in the future, like some of the presidential candidates suggested, is the best reparation for all. Creating equality of opportunity such as bettering our country’s school systems would be far more effective.
I do not think that the government should give out reparations to the descendents of slaves, because that is not an adequate apology for the horrible institution of slavery. However, I do believe in what Obama said that we need to improve the public school system and the “corridor of shame”. In doing this it will allow children, who otherwise might not have had a proper education, to be successful and show the nation how far they have come. This will not just effect the present generation, but it will effect the generations of the future because hopefully it will be a long lasting commitment. I feel that in this way we can make our amends for slavery and strengthen our nation.
I do not think descendants of slaves should receive reparations. There is no doubt that slavery was an extremely cruel and evil institution but giving reparations will not change that fact or really do anything for equality in this nation. If it is a matter of apologizing for slavery, how does giving money change anything. It is completely unfair to raise taxes on Americans who aren’t even related to slave owners and even those who are descendants of slave owners should not be penalized for their ancestors poor choices. Yes, it was incredibly unfair for slaves to have been given nothing for their years of work and the injustices forced upon them after they were freed but what needs to be done is improvements in equality of opportunity for all so that these descendants of slaves are not affected by their lack of inheritance from their ancestors. I think that all people living in poverty should be given the chance to improve their circumstances not just those whose ancestors were slaves. If you only give money to these descendants, it is furthuring the inequality between races because then you have left out the rest of the poor population who’s not african american and who’s ancestors weren’t slaves.
Reparation for an unforgivable crime against humanity is a difficult thing to pinpoint. Personally, I do not believe that we as a country should give direct reparations, monetary or in other forms, to descendants of slaves. What we can do is to show our humility and our recognition that what happened was wrong, but that we can’t change the past. Senator Edwards’ words in particular stood out to me. It is obvious that although our country has indeed come a long way since the days of slavery, that we still have a lot of work to be done. If what John Edwards said is true, that blacks’ mortgage rates are consistently higher than that of whites’, it is obvious that there is still some of that underlying persecutory mindset in what we have to believe is mainly the South. Obama’s wish for a stronger school system will, in the long run I believe, help to educate the coming generations to what happened in the past, and how we can work to change it today. Before we can truly begin to contemplate how in the world we can make reparations for enslaving other human beings, we need to deal with the fact that some Americans still have prejudices against blacks. Even though we may not be able to change each individual person’s prejudice, we can deal with the obvious prejudices of society as a whole.
I do not believe that reparations in the form of money is they way to atone for slavery in America almost two hundred years ago. Slavery, though it was an atrocious institution, was an ordinary practice up until the Civil War. There is no way to ever fully apologize for the aftereffects, but I think a good way to give reparations is to improve America. I do not feel that paying money to the descendents of slaves is the way to appease the feelings, but helping the greater good, like Obama’s idea to improve the school systems. By creating a better school environment and destroy the “corridors of shame” would be a good way to spend the money and improve the education and ignorance of the generations to come. Just giving money to individuals will not improve America as a whole and what really needs to be dealt with is the prejudices that people have against African – Americans as a majority. Improving the educations for the generations of kids to come can show that America has come very far in educating about slavery, and the negative conatation it has. Monetary reparations to individual descendants does nothing but continue the discremination.
Although I do believe that presence of slavery in America up until the civil war still affects our society today, I do not think that it is necessary to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. Other races could argue the need for reparations, so why should these be answered? They shouldn’t. As Edwards said, Paying reparations will not fix it. We need to try to acheive equality amongst the races through trying to spread oppurtunities to all areas of the country. The government needs to work to try to lessen prejudices effect on blacks, such as the mortgage rates in society. I don’t think reparations are the answer; It’s more complicated than that. I don’t think equality can be acheived quickly it’s a gradual process.
To say slavery was a horrific institution is an understatement. It helped shape our nation, and will always be a defining time period in history. It will always be taught, examined, and critized. But in asking for reparations, the descendents of slaves are asking in a sense to correct or undo history. Are reparations necessary? In my opinion no. They can’t fix the past, and they also cant fix the pain and cruelty that many suffered under slavery. This is not saying that slavery should be ignored or be looked upon lightly. This is just to say that money can’t fix problems of the past, no matter how big or how small. But if we had to pay reparations for every race that has been mistreated throughout the centuries, people would be in massive debt. I think that there is no real solution to repaying for slavery, but I do think that there are ways to keep future generations informed and aware of the impact slavery has on our nation even today.
I do not think paying reparations to the descendents of slaves is necessary. Paying their descendents does not in any way take away from the pain endured by the slaves in the antebellum time period in the south. I think the descendents of slaves who feel they deserve this payment are just trying to find a way to earn money and blame their own financial problems on the slavery and poverty induced on their relatives. In fact, I think that those who had enslaved realtives would be more inclined to take advantage of the opportunities they have today that their ancestors did not have, including education. This state of mind is a benefit of their family’s past. I am not say, by any means, that slavery was good, but I do not think white southerners today owe any money for the mistakes our ancestors made any more than our children and grandchildren will owe anything for our mistakes. The past cannot be undone, even with something as powerful as money.
Slavery was a horrific institution. It went against the very foundation of our country and compromised the one thing we have always prided ourselves on having, freedom. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” but those men and women certainly weren’t. It lasted as long as it did because it was infused in their way of life. Jefferson himself owned slaves until the day he died, although he supported eventual emancipation. However, event though it was morally wrong for a white American to have power and priveleges over a black American I believe it would be wrong for a black American to receive reparations. Many races have been mistreated over time. It would not be fair to only reward the African Americans. How much money could they be given? Can you really put a price on your ancestor’s and subsequently your own freedom? I don’t think so. I agree with Senator Obama’s idea to give funds to schools. This would create an equal playing ground for everyone.
Leave a Comment