Do you think black people deserve reparations from whites?

Question

Reverend Jesse Petersen when confronted with this question said instead of reparations why not a free ticket back to Africa. This was a very racist comment wasnt it?

Answer 1

Extremely racist. If you mean financial reparations-no. Many non-African people were brought to the new world as "Indentured servants", just another term for slavery. The native people, were also held as slaves. To try to explain to some poor person, holding 2 or 3 jobs to support their family, that their tax dollars are going to O.J.Simpson, Condi Rice,Colin Powell, muti-millionaire sports figures would be a difficult sell.The Govennor-General of Canada came to Canada as a refugee from Haiti as a child and is now our Head of State as the Queen's representative. She is the desendent of slaves herself. She recently went to Africa and , well I'll include the press releases and I will add that she has done all Canadians regardless of race or ethnic background , very proud;

By ALEXANDER PANETTA
ACCRA, Ghana — Michaelle Jean told an African audience Tuesday that the continent must recognize its own role in the slave trade to help turn the page on a shameful chapter in history.
The Governor General used a state dinner to congratulate Ghana’s government for offering such an apology and suggested other African countries should do the same.
She made the remarks on the eve of an emotional pilgrimage to a seaside fortress where thousands of slaves were shipped to the Americas.
"The time has come to recapture that moment of African history in order to move ahead together," Jean said in a speech.
"As it looks to the future, Ghana has shown that it is willing to confront the past.
"I am impressed by your government’s decision to apologize for what was done hundreds of years ago by the people of this region involved in the slave trade."
More than 15 million men, women and children were captured and sold to Europeans during the colonial age and crammed onto wooden ships bound for the Americas.
Ghana was a major hub of the international slave trade concentrated in West Africa, and the national government has recognized the role Africans here played.
"As a descendent of slaves, that touched me very much. I know that we cannot go back and solve past injustices. All we can do is learn from the lessons of the past, even the painful lessons, and use that knowledge to build a better future."
Jean will visit Elmina Castle today and step up to its so-called Door of No Return, the infamous final spot where the captured natives were taken from African soil.
Jean said she planned to gaze at the ocean and reflect on what happened there.
"I will think of the millions of people packed tightly in rickety ships bound for unknown lands. Faraway lands where they were deprived of their memories, of their languages, of their heritage, of their dignity and, most of all, of their freedom," she said.
"I will stand and pray for those who never completed the journey and whose bodies were thrown out to the ocean."
"As I will stand there and reconnect with the land of my ancestors, I will salute your openness and I will accept your apology."
Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor gave an extremely detailed account of the history of slavery to an international conference in July, where he drew attention to historical facts that many Africans would rather forget.
He described how Phoenicians and Greco-Romans had been enslaving Africans thousands of years ago and how Africans themselves profited from the trade with Europeans.

She visited "Elmina Castle", the next day and this was the report:
By ALEXANDER PANETTA
ELMINA, Ghana — Michaelle Jean wept softly for several minutes Wednesday as she stared out from a seaside castle that still literally reeks from the stench of slavery.
The passing of generations has not erased the fetid trace of bodily waste in the dark, dank dungeons of Elmina castle where tens of thousands of human beings were stored like cattle.
The Governor General triggered a chain reaction of tears from her entourage as she broke into sobs while touching the rusty iron gate of the so-called the Door of No Return.
For more than three centuries, the chains of African captives scraped the rugged stone floor as they were shoved onto ships waiting below to carry them into slavery.
Jean gently touched the gate, then grabbed onto it tightly, and knelt as she wept for several minutes while praying in silence and gazing from the dark cellar into the sunlit horizon.
She said she prayed for millions of slaves, including her own ancestors, and for the untold millions who died during the journey and whose corpses were dumped into the ocean.
"My life will never be the same again," said Jean, the Haitian-born descendant of slaves.
"I said one thing (during my prayer): we shall never be chained again. We shall never be on our knees again. We shall never be humiliated again."
Upon emerging from the castle, the Governor General shook her head and waved off staff who attempted to set up a news conference with Ghanaian and Canadian media.
A moment later she regained her composure and changed her mind.
Jean then delivered an eight-minute monologue without a single reference to the joyful irony that a slaves’ descendent would return here as vice-royalty.
Jean was asked if she had a message for Canada’s black community and declined to offer one.
Instead she spoke about what she called modern-day slavery: the children who are forced into armies around the world, or to work for little or no pay.
"This doesn’t concern just the descendants of slaves," she said when asked for a reaction. "There are still children who are enslaved. I know that slavery is still a reality today."
"We can’t say that we’re unaware this is happening . . . Indifference is guilt. Indifference is a killer ..."
"Not only would we betray the people still living in those conditions . . . we would also be betraying ourselves."
A half-hour helicopter ride from the Ghanaian capital of Accra, Elmina Castle was first established as a Portuguese trading post in 1482 to exchange European goods for African gold.
But it was soon overtaken by the slave trade and served that sole purpose under the Portuguese, Dutch and British until the practice ended in the 1830s.
It has found a new vocation as a shrine to inhumanity.

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WE MUST LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES AND MOVE ON, OTHERWISE WE JUST KEEP THE HATRED GOING AND IT WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY US ALL. GOD BLESS YOU AND GOOD LUCK.
SORRY MY ANSWER IS SO LONG, BUT I THINK IT SHOWS THAT THE ONLY WAY IS TO FORGIVE AND GET ON WITH OUR INDIVIDUAL LIVES.

Answer 2

No. Jiminy H. f*cking Crickets! Why won't everyone just let this stupid, ignorant issue die already? Who exactly keeps asking for reparations? I'm black and I don't need or want reparations. I don't even know any black people who want or care about reparations. Where exactly is this sh*t coming from? Is some random media pundit just bored and looking to stir up controversy in order to sell copy? Do Al and Jesse have a burr up their collective @sses again because they aren't getting enough media exposure from Obama and Imus? WTFk? Enough already! It's an ignorant subject. Just let it go.

Now that I've sweated my hair out, I have work to do. Bored now. Going now.....

Answer 3

No, I don't think we deserve reparations, I believe racism still exists all over the country, but our African slaves forefathers wanted freedom and opportunity, not money and we have those things now. We now have the tools to surmount those things, of course, we may have to work harder sometimes and deal with a lot of stuff that white people do not have to, but I feel it makes us better, stronger and more capable if we decide to take that challenge.

And yes, that was a very nasty and racist comment, especially when Africans did not come to this country voluntarily. He could have still said no and been intelligent and diplomatic about it, but I guess its just easier to be racist for some people.

Answer 4

Oprah goes back to country's in Africa to help her people ! This is a good thing, because here is a women who hasn't forgotten her roots. I don't see anything racists in what she does, yet it is a program only for blacks.

During the Civil War, my ancestors fought for the union, were not slave owners, and believed in democracy for all. By asking for reparation for blacks, you would be suggesting that all those crackers who fought and died for the union and the abolition of slavery and their prodigy should pay today's blacks reparation. I don't think so !

Answer 5

While I dont agree with that statement I do not believe that erpirations are i order. ALL the people of this country benefit now from all of the pioneers and slaves. We all have the same opportunities to succeed if we so choose.

Plus many of our (both white and black) families were not even here when that was going on.

There are many successful black people that see repirations has a horrid thing and think it would only put the fight for equal rights that has happened back a few steps.

If my grandma slapped your grandpa, should I be the one apologizing?

Answer 6

Um. No. Blacks that lived before 1860 deserve reparations from those that benefited from their labor. I never owned a slave, and my great great grandparents immigrated here from Germany at the turn of the century, so nobody from my family ever benefited from slavery. Why should I be punished for it?

If you can find me a living pre-1860 slave and a pre-1860 plantation owner, then yes, the owner owes the slaves money.

Unless you fit in the above stated groups, you owe nor are owed anything. Let it go. You weren't enslaved and I wasn't enslaving you, so no, nothing.

Answer 7

No. We all live in a country where slavery has not existed for generations. Blacks go to the same public schools whites go to. They can get more grants to go to the same colleges I had to pay for. They can apply for the same job I want, and the companys have quotas to make sure they are hired, even if they are not the most qualified. It's time for those members of Black society(not all Blacks) who want a handout to get a job and get over it. You have the same shot I do and you need to take it, work hard, stop making babies as a way to show you are a big man and make a good life for you and your family.

Answer 8

It has a horrible comment. Especially coming from reverend, holly man.

Comment to the subject: I think everyone should be treated equally. Jewish people were discriminated against in last century in America, Irish and Italian people were discriminated in 19 century, Japanese people were discriminated during WW II. I am not trying to compare it to slavery by any means, just to demonstrate that society changed dramatically and we above nationality and race issues.

Obviously America has horrible history of slavery and it is a terrible and unspeakable. But the key word - it is a history. We should celebrate our progress and look forward to improve it further. We should remember the past but look forward.

Answer 9

the only people who deserve the reparations have already rotten in their graves. we didnt fight for the Civil Rights Act for money from the government.

BLACKS JUST WANT TO BE RECOGNIZED CITIZENS WHO ARE ENTITLED TO THE SAME RIGHTS AS EVERYOTHER AMERICAN.

reparations is against all we have worked so hard for.

looking back at history i am glad that i can work with white people and not be (openly) discriminated because i am a different color. I'm also glad that i can become educated and live life comfortably if i choose to

Answer 10

Reparations are intended for very specific situations. For instance, if there is a very poor cumunity in the south that can trace it's line back to slavery, then 'reparations' would consist of building a public library in that community.

Learn what you are talking about before you speak, else

Thy talketh out thine anus.

Answer 11

No,

It was official US policy at the end of the Civil War. That is why the African nation of Liberia's flag resembles ours, and why their capital city is call Monrovia.

Blacks should not receive reparations. It is a joke to give reperations. It is insulting to me as an American, and as a Black Man.