Slavery Debate?

Question

Should the nations of North America and Europe be required to pay compensation to all nations in Africa for the abuses of slavery and imperialism?

Answer 1

No since America's Union troops kicked the Confederates rear ends in the Civil War....It's already been decided....the South lost.

Answer 2

Not a dime. Although slavery is reprehensible, it wasn't invented in the U.S. Slavery has been going on since time began. Does Egypt owe money to Israel because the Hebrews were slaves in Moses' time? Oppression has happened throughout history. It's never right. I believe that it is a good thing that the U.S. realized it's error, and put a stop to it. As a matter of fact, my ancestors fought and died in the civil war to put a stop to it. Is their blood, and the blood of thousands of others not compensation enough? Slavery existed for many thousands of years. Although there is still work to do to get where we need to be, we have come a very long way in the past 150 years. Particularly in the last 40 years. All of mankind would have to compensate each other to make all the restitution that is owed. Why punish the society that is trying to make it right?

Answer 3

That's far too simple a question. If we pay reparations for slavery, exactly how will the dollar amounts be figured out? Does the final dollar figure take into account that many African slaves weren't captured by Anglos but actually sold to them by other Africans? Does that get us a discount? Also, should we take into account the benefits of slavery that are now being reaped by modern African Americans? Modern black Americans, though they are descended from slaves, benefit just as much as the rest of us from the forced sacrifices made by their ancestors. Should modern black Americans also be forced to contribute a share of their reparations to the African nations their grandparents came from? In fact, couldn't it be argued that black America should be *penalized* for profiting at the expense of their ancestors? To take the idea even further, can't we argue that payment of reparations to a black American is a tacit statement that if all of the ill-gotten gains of slavery are to be accounted for then that person should renounce American citizenship and leave for Africa since - without slavery - they would never have been born here?

Saying "the US and Europe should pay reparations" is a ghastly oversimplification of the realities of slavery. Many nations other than "the white ones" have engaged in indentured servitude, slavery by capture, slavery by purchase, and imperialism of all sorts. If we're going to reduce the horrors of slavery to a simple matter of paying a few dollars to ease our consciences then the entire world will miss out on an opportunity to look at what happens when some people are seen as "less than human."

Answer 4

Slavery goes back to the beginning of human history.
Woman was dragged by the hair into the cave.
Who would you make responsible for enslaving women? Men?
It has negatively affected all races and all nations.
Who will you try to make responsible for that? and how?

Change the world one day at a time - first stop the recriminations -these abusive retaliatory accusations intended to cause debate without end.

Would you seek out a living decendant of the very first slave owner, going back to the beginning of time, whether you believe in creation or evolution, and would you charge this generation with the sins of his family's past or with those of the whole world. (It might be you)

Would you accept the consequences?

No - the answer is No.

Answer 5

Ask for forgiveness yes! paying someone compensation is like asking someone else that had nothing to do with it to go into slavery is that fair? I believe that the USA the most Giving nation on Earth, has repaid that debt many times. we have forgiven many nations debts to us, just to turn around and give them more. we are Blessed and Show it! Look at the Aid we send compared to other nations and you will be proud! Only thing is we could send More!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

Only if you want it to come out of your paycheck. If we should have to pay them back...then I want compensation for something...I'll figure it out later! Did anybody compensate anybody for all the jews killed in the holocaust... How about let's compensate all the relatives of people believed to be witches that were killed...let's just go ahead and just give anybody that asks for it 1 million dollars each. I'll ask twice...

People have made mistakes for years, and we stop making the mistakes, and people apologize....and then years go by, and somebody says, you know that could have been my great aunts cousin's father's uncle's mother. So can I have some money...because I (yes, I, me, hundreds of years later...I) feel like I have been violated. FOR WHAT...something that happened a long time ago to somebody you don't even know, and never would have whether there was slavery or not!?



Oh, and you down there with your civil rights plea!!!! How are we denying africans their medicine. We have all kinds of CHARITIES (that's right, we give them things for FREE) to help the AIDs epidemic in Africa. And might I remind you, that is their fault, not ours. African American men had at one point thought that if a woman did not have aids, she was a virgin, and in some way unclean, and they would rape her repeatedly...until she got AIDs. So don't give me that "american's deny their need for medication" crap...we are helping fix what they decided would be fun to spread. I'm not racist...I have a problem with stupid people, who make stupid comments!

Answer 7

Lots of luck! Why then shouldn't the Jews get compensation from Egypt for slavery during the time of their enslavement?
What about the millions enslaved by the Romans? Shouldn't Rome give trillions to the cause?

Answer 8

Nope. The debt for slavery in this nation was paid in blood both Northern and Southern --- roughly 600,000 Americans paid for the sin of slavery. Maybe visits to Arlington Cemetary ought to be mandatory for all Americans...lest they forget what was done on their behalf.

Of course, maybe folks can still get in on the 40 acres and a mule special....

Answer 9

This is a good question. Recently I toured Elmina and Cape Coast in Africa from where millions of slaves were deported and I asked a very similar question.

The response I got was that they (the Africans) were also to blame for slavery. Rival tribes would fight each other and kidnap the menfolk. The kidnap victims would then be taken to the slave markets where they would be sold.

My own feeling is that we (Americans and Europeans) would have gone and captured more slaves had it not been made easy for us by having them delivered into our hands.

The conditions that we imposed on them were indescribably brutal and unless you were actually there you can only begin to imagine what it must have been like. Slaves (men, women and children) were imprisoned in castles and locked in tiny unlit cells for weeks on end. In these cells many people died and in the heat and humidity their bodies rapidly began decomposing.

Disease was rife and there were no toilets. Each person had about 4 square feet of space - not enough to lie down in. They existed in these cells amongst disease, rotting corpses, faeces, urine, vomit etc for weeks on end before being marched to ships to be transported off. Even to this day you can still smell the horrible stench it's that engrained in the stones. Women and children were often raped to death or starved to death.

However, all this is history. The Africans bear no grudges and of hundreds, if not thousands of Africans I've spoken to not one has shown any bitterness or resentment.

Today, we are still forcing Africans into poverty by locking them out of trade deals, imposing unfair restrictions on them and denying them access to their basic needs such as medicine and education. I think we should be addressing these issues and giving todays Africans a fairer deal rather than digging up something that, despite it's horror, has been confined to the hostory books.

Answer 10

No

That is simple - Should the Germans have to pay reparations for World War 2? - the Answer ? - see World War 1.

Answer 11

NO I dont think so... because the slaves were sold by their OWN people. Read a history book.... maybe their own people need to pay them back. Do you think the Indian Casino thing is a good idea, too? Because I know a couple of people who get money for being PART Indian and I know exactly where that money goes - to drugs.... So if we want to give money away to support bad habits, go for it... But it is better to let people earn what they have, not to give it away because of ancestry.