Do African Americans deserve reparations?

Question

I have seen a few posts regarding this issue (mostly for user Oracle) and I want to get some more opinions on issue especially since it has recently been brought back to forefront in the media. Personally I don't think reparations would solve anything. How do you measure a monetary value for how much someone is affected by slavery? What is someone is black but they are over it? Should they get less than someone who still has it lingering in their mind? Should someone who had more slave ancestors get more than someone who only had a few? With historical records as sketchy as they are could we really accurately calculate who was a slave and for how long? My personal opinion is that I didn't enslave anyone so I'm not paying anyone a dime. I'm not at all racist in anyway either. I just work hard for my money and I'm sure not going to hand it out for something I didn't do.

White people basically cheated Native Americans out of the entire country with bogus contracts and treaties. Do you know how much we would owe them considering the inflated price of land right now!?

Or...what about someone who has black ancestors a few generations ago. Would their share be based on the percentage of their ancestry that was enslaved? If the have white ancestors would they have to pay AND receive reparations?

Overall what I am asking is
a) Do they deserve reparations?
b) If so, how would you calculate how much they deserve?

Answer 1

I'm an African American. Paying out reparations to descendants of slaves won't help anyone (and I'm one of them). Nice idea, but impractical and impossible in this day and time. Where is the money going to come from to pay us? What does 40 acres and a mule amount to nowadays? It doen't make any sense. A lot of people have experienced hardship in the past in this country. As you mentioned, Native Americans as much as anyone. Our ancestors would have deserved something for their hard work. But unfortunately, they are no longer here.

The only thing I hate about these questions are the real racists that do jump on here...trust me, I know a lot of black people, no one I know seriously thinks about receiving reparations. Those are the voices of a few people. Everyone who jumps on the "all black people get handouts anyway" bandwagon shouldn't even attempt to answer legitimate questions.

Answer 2

Hotsauceg, when I read your comments on this question I can see a lot of logic. When you stated that you didn't enslave anyone and therefore didn't owe anything, I can see the human element to the whole subject of "paying back". Still whether or not your ancestors owned slaves, this country profited from humans who were turned into property. As with the native Americans, where would this country be without the resources it stole from these people. I'm not sure what form reparations should take, but they are owed.
There is a debt out there that most would rather ignore, simply because the injustice did not effect them. Still the passage of time, or the fear of equality should not trivialize the crimes that took place. Though everyone can understand, and agree with the concept of "paying back" (when it happens to them), I know this country is much to racist to ever do the proper thing.

Answer 3

First, there is not a single former slave alive today. If there were they would certainly be due just compensation for their labor, but the ancestors of atrocities do not deserve compensation in any way. As a precedent for this point of view, from the last century, let us look at how the compensation of slave labor during the holocaust of World War II has been handled. The thousands of people that survived that inequity are being compensated by both the government of Germany and by the companies that gained from their forced labor, and rightfully so. But their children have no inherited right to collect for the uncompensated labor of their parents. Certainly the grandchildren and great grandchildren of American slaves never experienced the appalling life of slavery, and therefore, like the children of Jews and others enslaved in Germany 50 years ago, they have no claim for themselves.

Secondly, blacks do not have a monopoly on living in poverty in this country. According to the latest census data approximately 30 percent of blacks and whites live in poverty. Hispanics unfortunately have an even higher percentage living below the poverty line. All this current day poverty can not be attributed to a disgusting institution that was ended 150 years ago. It can however be attributed to present day governmental policy. There should be a monumental effort made by the government, at all levels, to get all Americans out of poverty, but a policy centered on only one race is just as wrong as slavery was.

Thirdly, slavery could not have existed without the complicity of black Africans who supplied most of the unfortunate humans that were sold into this dreadful condition. It was not just whites that kept this retched institution going for over 200 years. In addition, there were over 200,000 white Americans that paid the ultimate retribution during the Civil War, when they gave their lives to end slavery. The reparation debt owed to slaves was paid a long time ago when the North won the Civil War and freed them.

Answer 4

I have never held a slave in my life. The money I've recieved since leaving high school has been a result of my labors in life.
I do not feel that I 'owe' anyone ANYthing based on their ethnicity, their heritage, or the conditions their relatives might or might not have been subject to. Since I also am an american citizen, and ultimately any 'reparations' will be monies drawn from taxes I'll likely end up paying, I believe that it is wrong to continue to compensate the circumstances of centuries' past out of the wallets of latter-day americans. These people need to pull their socks up, and get JOBS, like everyone else, and let the past be the past. The only 'enslavement' going on these days is a hood-winking by those who would deliberately imbue others with some sort of entitlement mentality. How's that song go, 'free your mind, and the rest will follow'? Such sage words...did it turn out they were shallow, and empty?

Answer 5

Reparations in this day and age is a complicated matter. For example, if you are multicultural, how much should you get? It is obvious that African Americans' ancestors were severely mistreated and the inequalities linger today.

But no, blacks today should not receive monetary reparations. However, it would not be completely unfair to give blacks scholarships. The problem with that is that we dont live in a socialist society and our legislatures make the law. The majority of Americans today are struggling and would not give another group such a competitive advantage. And, it is totally within their rights not to provide taxpayer money to do so.

Answer 6

Yes, you can measure how much someone is affected by slavery. Our legal system calls it "pain and suffering."

I'm a bit biased because I have everything that I want in life and have the ability to get the things I need in life. I am this way even though I had parents who lived through Jim Crow Laws and were denied access to many things in life. My parents were poor; then they started their own business and were able to pay for me to go to college. Payment is not going to change how I live my life. Maybe it will for some; I don't know.

I personally think that a formal apology on the books would be in order. I also think that restitution should be made by 1) funding research to study the negative effect slavery and Jim Crow had on blacks, whites, and America as a whole; 2) fighting racism in America and 3) researching the culture that was stripped away from the African slaves (what was left behind).

Answer 7

Absolutely not. You would think that the people who request these reparations were enslaved themselves. It's appaling how they hold themselves back over something that happened so long ago. I'm not saying that you should forget history, but you can learn from it. I feel that people who keep playing the "race card" only make more of a division of race. They hold themselves back by playing the part of the so called "weaker race" who always gets picked on by the white and don't want to "bow down" to the white man. If they would just live their lives the best they can, without excused, they would get a lot farther in life.

Answer 8

No. Slave ancestors have nothing coming to them. We all feel terrible about their fore-father's and mother's condition. That is what united the Northern states to bring that atrocity to an end.

In fact, the US Civil War still holds many of the death toll records for Americans lost at war. That price was paid with blood.

However, the plight of the Native Americans continued well into the 20th Century. There is no comparison.

Answer 9

Well, I think African Americans shoud not be payed reparations but they should be helped out of the poor condition that most of them are in. Slavery still has effects on black people today, seeing as how they, (most of them) are still living in ghettos. I think that Hispanics (not just Mexicans you ignorant boobs) should also be helped out of their situation because they were also oppressed in the early 20th century and up into the 60's. Mainly, white people should be the primary contributors to this, seeing as how they, even today, are preferred over others by some racist bosses or people on high possitions.

Answer 10

sexykitten06 wrote

"yes if white people had the power to make us slaves we should have the power to make them regret it!!"

That is an extremely racist thing to say from someone who isn't and hasn't been a slave!!!!
I am white American and didn't make anybod a slave nor did my ancestors make anyone a slave!
The first member of my family came to this country from Germany in the 1890's.
You can just leave me out of your BS ideals that I owe you some of my tax money for something that didn't even happen to you directly nor was caused by me or any of my relatives!!!
How about a free plane ticket back to your motherland instead!