Slave Reparations

[DOVE1920]

Well I have given much thought on the issue. And there are many things to take in to consideration. While other groups (Jews and Japanese Americans for example) have been given reparations there were MANY stipulations put on the money they were given. Here are some things that have to be taken into consideration:
1. There are no living slaves in the U.S. So how do you decide who gets money? Does ANYONE with African ancestry get money?
2. How much money? Over a period of time or a lump sum?
3. Where does the money come from? Do we make all taxpayers pay for reparations? Or just White people?
4. What happens when every gets their reparations??? Do we really think America will change? If anything it will make people even more upset...
Personally I don't think reparations is the answer. Our situation is a lot deeper and complex than that. However, I haven't come up with an answer....

[PrettyKitty]

How do u feel about this? Should we be given reparations for slavery? Or should we just let it go?

Make sure you peep Soror Poole representing up in the front!

Slave Reparations

Debating the Wages of Slavery
Paying African-Americans reparations is an idea as old as the republic. So why has it suddenly become the hottest civil-rights issue of the day? The anatomy of a crusade

By Vern E. Smith
NEWSWEEK


Aug. 27 issue — How many of you have heard of reparations?” activist-attorney Adjoa A. Aiyetoro asks a crowd of 200 African-Americans gathered at Agape Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago on a recent Saturday afternoon. About 10 hands go up. Undeterred, she explains the concept: in recent years, Holocaust victims, World War II-era Japanese-Americans and Aboriginal groups in Australia and New Zealand have all been successful in extracting compensation from governments and corporations for the legal and moral wrongs committed against them. Are the descendants of America’s slaves any less deserving of restitution? The crowd erupts with shouts of approval and applause.

[mdstudent]

Originally posted by DOVE1920:
Well I have given much thought on the issue. And there are many things to take in to consideration. While other groups (Jews and Japanese Americans for example) have been given reparations there were MANY stipulations put on the money they were given. Here are some things that have to be taken into consideration:
1. There are no living slaves in the U.S. So how do you decide who gets money? Does ANYONE with African ancestry get money?
2. How much money? Over a period of time or a lump sum?
3. Where does the money come from? Do we make all taxpayers pay for reparations? Or just White people?
4. What happens when every gets their reparations??? Do we really think America will change? If anything it will make people even more upset...
Personally I don't think reparations is the answer. Our situation is a lot deeper and complex than that. However, I haven't come up with an answer....

I have to agree with you DOVE1920. In the cases where the United States or other countries have given minority groups some type of compensation for wrongs done to them, the money was given directly to those people who the acts were committed against. The question is where do you draw the line. Do biracial or multiracial people also receive reparations? Do those people who are considered white now but have ancestors who were slaves receive money? Slavery is something that should not be swept under the rug or forgotten, but reparations is not the answer. I think there are many more important issues we in the black community need to deal with, like how do we keep our young black males alive long enough to become productive citizens? That is the type of issue I'm worried about. Not how much money I should get because of the blood, sweat, and tears that poured out of my ancestors bodies. They were the ones that did the work and I am reaping the rewards of their hard work by being able to attend college and pursuing my dreams. As far as I am concerned, I have received my compensation.

[jetsetter1913]

Greetings All,
Last year, I took the Black Power Movement at my University, and towards the end of the semester, this issue was discussed. I had a classmate who wrote an in depth paper on this topic. In class she discussed, that Affirmative Action was chosen as an alternative to reparations. What do you think about that?

Also the notion of money given out to African Americans is not really an option for those on the fore front of this issue. Advocates are looking at options like free college educations and/or not having to pay taxes for decedents of slaves. The qualifying scale would be like Native Americans use: if you are a certain percentage then you can choose to take advantage of those benefits. Then the issue would be researching your history to see about your slave ancestors.
What do you think about that? I am interested in your comments. This is an interesting topic.

[PrettyKitty]

I feel that reparations should be made in the form of educational grants and business grants. I believe that it is way past time for the US to own up to and apologiZe for the things that they did wrong back then. It was a long time ago, but Blacks are still feeling the after effects of slavery today. As far as how you determine who gets what. I believe that if you are at least 25% Black then you should receive something...

[sweet angel]

this is kind of a difficult topic because as everyone said, there are no living victims...I tend to agree with giving out grants and scholarships, but how about providing more money to predominately (sp?) african-american cities for improvement...that way the money at least goes to the communities. We were forced to live in poverty for so long, that our communities suffered...they should help build us rebuild. I'm still trying to figure out where the money should come from or how much it should be...who knows

[DOVE1920]

Originally posted by sweet angel
but how about providing more money to predominately (sp?) african-american cities for improvement...that way the money at least goes to the communities. We were forced to live in poverty for so long, that our communities suffered...they should help build us rebuild

I'm glad that you mentioned this!!! After the riots of the 60s and prior many predominately AA communities were left in shambles. Whites were moving to the suburbs so there was no governmental incentive to rebuild the inner city. I definetly agree that at least some of the money should go to community development and economic empowerment!