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Reparations for Slavery?
Today, even after the success of the civil rights movement, the black
American population on average has higher infant-mortality rates, lower
life expectancy, higher rates of unemployment, lower income, and higher
rates of imprisonment than the white population. Some argue that these
problems are the "legacy of slavery" brought on by society's discrimination
and racism.
Are the conditions really a "legacy of slavery"? If so, what should be
done? Some African-Americans argue today for reparations--a sort of compensation
for the free labor blacks were forced to render during 250 years of slavery.
The Idea
of Reparations
Reparations for the slavery is not a new idea. Before the Civil War ended,
General William Tecumseh Sherman issued an order in South Carolina. He
wanted 40 acres and the loan of an Army mule set aside for each former
slave family. This order was never carried out. After the war, Radical
Republicans in Congress passed laws requiring confiscation of former-Confederate
property to provide the ex-slaves with "40 acres and a mule." In 1866,
President Andrew Johnson vetoed the legislation.
The next push for reparations took place at the turn of the century.
Several black organizations lobbied Congress to provide pensions for former
slaves and their children. One bill introduced into the U.S. Senate in
1894 would have granted direct payments of up to $500 to all ex-slaves
plus monthly pensions ranging from $4 to $15. This, and several similar
bills, died in congressional committees. The pension movement itself faded
away with the onset of World War I.
During the 1960s, some black leaders revived the idea of reparations.
In 1969, James Forman (then head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee) proclaimed a "Black Manifesto." It demanded $500 million from
American churches and synagogues for their role in perpetuating slavery
before the Civil War. Black nationalist organizations, such as the Black
Panther Party and Black Muslims, also demanded reparations.
In the 1980s, a new call arose for black reparations. It was stimulated
by two other movements that successfully secured payments from the U.S.
government. The Supreme Court in 1980 ordered the federal government to
pay eight Sioux Indian tribes $122 million to compensate for the illegal
seizure of tribal lands in 1877. Then in 1988, Congress approved the payment
of $1.25 billion to 60,000 Japanese-American citizens who had been interned
in prison camps during World War II.
In April 1989, Council Member Ray Jenkins guided through the Detroit
City Council a resolution. It called for a $40 billion federal education
fund for black college and trade school students. About the same time,
a conference of black state legislators meeting in New Orleans backed
the idea of a federally financed education fund for descendants of slaves.
Shortly afterward, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) drafted a bill calling
for the establishment of a congressional commission to study the impact
of slavery on African-Americans.
The
Conyers Bill
Rep. Conyers introduced his bill (HR 3745) in November 1989. The preamble
of the bill declared its purpose:
To acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity
of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between
1619 and 1865 and to establish a Commission to examine the institution
of slavery, subsequent de jure and de facto and economic discrimination
against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living
African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate
remedies, and for other purposes.
This bill failed to make it to a House vote, but Conyers did not give
up. In every session of Congress since then, he has introduced new legislation
to establish a commission to study the issue and make recommendations
to Congress. While none has succeeded, Conyers vows to keep trying.
Throughout the years, people have proposed different reparation plans.
Some, like Robert Brock, a Los Angeles campaigner for reparations, argued
for direct payments to descendants of slaves. "The government owes us
money on a number of different fronts," the 66-year-old black activist
declared, ". . . for labor, for loss of culture and of humanity."
Some supporters of reparations, like journalist Ron Daniels, proposed
government financing of a national fund to develop educational and economic
opportunities for the entire African-American community. Daniels argued
in an editorial that "America must own up to its responsibility to make
a damaged people whole again."
Others, such as the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
(N'COBRA), advocate a broader approach. They believe that government could
satisfy the call for reparations by a variety of means, including land,
ownership of companies, stock, money, and aircraft. The group also calls
for a method of self-government for American blacks to give them autonomy.
Just as advocates are not unanimous about the form of reparations, neither
are they united on the amount. Some favor direct payments to slave descendants
ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 or more. Others, like N'COBRA, believe
a final amount cannot be determined until more study has been done to
determine the harm slavery has caused blacks. But they suggest the total
amount could be in the "trillions."
Reparations,
Pro and Con
Many people and groups have voiced their opposition to the whole idea
of slavery reparations. Major arguments against reparations include:
- There are no black slaves living today. Slavery ended more than 160
years ago at the cost of several hundred thousand lives lost in the
Civil War. It is unfair to ask American taxpayers, many of them from
families that came to the United States after slavery ended, to pay
for the wrongs of slavery.
- The problems faced by African Americans today are not the "legacy
of slavery" or even racism. Many blacks have succeeded very well in
American society. The problems of poor African Americans are caused
by social ills within the inner city, such as the breakdown of families,
high crime rates, and dependence on welfare.
- Federal and state governments have already spent billions of dollars
on social programs such as welfare, subsidized housing, health care,
employment development, affirmative action, and education. These programs
have benefitted African Americans.
- African Americans, particularly the young, need to overcome their
problems through their own efforts and not depend on more government
handouts and benefits.
- Reparations would be too expensive, depriving the country of the opportunity
to fix the Social Security and Medicare systems and meet other budget
needs that benefit all Americans.
- Any reparation plan would lead to unfairness and huge administrative
costs. Who would receive reparations? Descendants of slaves? All blacks?
Would well-off African Americans receive payments? If a fund were set
up, who would administer it? Would those unhappy with the plan call
for even more reparations or file lawsuits?
Advocates for reparations reject these arguments. They contend:
- The claim for reparations is not against white Americans or even individual
Americans. It is a claim against American government and society, which
has continued from the time of slavery. As all members of society share
in society's benefits, they also must share the burdens in the form
of taxation. Through slavery, African Americans were terribly wronged
and modern blacks were robbed of their inheritance. Further, blacks
face racism every day. They deserve to be compensated.
- The problems faced by many blacks today come from slavery and society's
ongoing racism. Blacks were uprooted from their homes in Africa and
brutalized in America by a system that destroyed the family structure
and degraded the individual. When slavery ended, African Americans owned
nothing. Isolated and discriminated against, they were denied education,
contacts with society, and economic opportunity. Compared to whites,
blacks remain in a disadvantaged position and will remain so until they
receive compensation and society's racism ends.
- Welfare, subsidized housing, affirmative action, and other previous
efforts to address socio-economic problems of the black underclass have
been too little and too late. They failed because society has failed
to come to grips with the central problem--its own racism and discrimination.
In some cases, social programs, though well-intentioned, actually increased
black isolation and further degraded the black community. In addition,
these programs benefitted other groups, not just blacks. By doing so,
they failed to address the unique claims based on slavery that African-Americans
have.
- Reparations will not promote dependency. Instead, they will give individual
African Americans and the community as a whole a chance to create their
own economic base and become self-reliant.
- The cost of reparations may be great, but a debt is owed and must
be paid. The moral claim for reparations at least equals that of any
other government program. America is a rich country, and if the will
exists, the money can be found.
- Just as it is too early to decide how much is due in reparations,
it is too early to agree on how to distribute the reparations. Fair
methods can be worked out once society acknowledges its obligation to
provide reparations in the first place.
While it is unclear whether those advocating reparations for slavery
ever will be successful, it is likely the debate will go on.
Points of
Inquiry
- After the passage of the 13th Amendment following the Civil War,
should the former slaves have been granted reparations?
- How are reparations for black slavery similar and different from
the following:
a. reparations paid by the U.S. government to the Sioux Indians for
lands illegally confiscated in 1877?
b. reparations paid by the West German government to Jewish survivors
of Nazi concentration camps?
c. reparations paid by the U.S. government to Japanese Americans
interned unconstitutionally in prison camps during World War II?
- Do you agree or disagree that many problems faced today by the African-American
community are the "legacy of slavery"? Why or why not?
Return to Reparations for
Slavery Guide
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