Jump on the Reparations Bandwagon!
In These Times senior editor Salim Muwakkil:
The national movement to gain reparations for the descendents of enslaved Africans was a fast-rolling bandwagon until slowed by events of 9/11. Well, it’s accelerating again.
In truth, it’s been picking up momentum since Hurricane Katrina blew the cover off this nation’s well-camouflaged race/class divide. The distress revealed in that storm’s wake moved even President George Bush to urge redress of poverty’s racial disparities. He quickly moved past that urge, but the national conversation continues.
As I see it, the question of reparations for racial slavery and Jim Crow apartheid is one of the nation’s most substantive issues. It’s also one of the most disparaged.
Editorials like this one give me solace, and by my estimation they’re getting more frequent. If you’re into emailing or IMimg links to fellow political junkies, be sure to get this one out.
Marse Arse says: “I ain’t nevah heard a payin’ no n––––– fuh no work!”
Michelle & Jesse were not reached for comment.
Marse Arse?
Comment by LA — August 22, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
I think the vehemence alone with which such proposals are “disparaged” should tell us all we need to know…
Comment by teh l4m3 — August 22, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
It would be a funny skit to film a white guy going up and knocking on the doors of African-americans and when they answer, he offers them a $20 bill as his contribution to the slave reparations they owe and to see what their reactions are to him: maybe some will take the money, other will tell him to fucking get lost and slam the door in his face etc.
Comment by Tommykey — August 23, 2006 @ 1:47 am
Well, I’ve always thought that this proposal was wrongheaded, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s impossible to calculate the amount owed. Let’s say a person has several slaves in his family tree. In addition, he has a few African-Americans who arrived after 1865 but before 1965 in his tree, along with two slave owners. How much does this person get?
What about someone who has slaves in his family tree, but who appears to be white, is culturally white, and who comes from a middle class background? Would this person be entitled to anything?
Would people who attended segregated schools be given more than people who were born more recently? Would 65 year-olds who grew up in Alabama get more than 65 year-olds who grew up in Illinois?
Also, would people whose ancestors fought for the union get a break on the portion of taxes that go toward reparations? Would descendents of Confederate soldiers pay more?
And what about other groups who suffered oppression? If I have an ancestor who was an indentured servant, do I get anything? What if I can prove that my great-great grandfather owned land in California before it was taken from Mexico? Do I get any compensation? What if that same great-great grandfather fled to Mexico, but his grandson crossed the border illegally in search of work? Is it a wash?
Most importantly, though, I oppose reparations because they would permanently poison the debate about racial justice in this country. Whatever the payments turned out to be, they wouldn’t make up for the ongoing discrimination and segregation experienced by African-Americans. And whenever anyone proposed some sort of remedy, like affirmative action, the reply would be, “we already GAVE them reparations. If there’s still a wage or an education gap, it’s because they’re lazy/immoral/stupid.”
Comment by gordo — August 23, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
Excuse me but long before Arabs and rival black african tribes captured and sold blacks as slaves, the Romans, Egyptians, etc. used people of all races as slaves.
So as a white guy who is Irish can I get reparations from France? After all the Irish were slaves of the Normans who took over England and Ireland when they invaded from Normandy.
Comment by Will — September 11, 2006 @ 10:12 am
By all means, you can try to get reparations from the descendents of French slaveowners. This would likely rule out your receiving reparations from the U.S. government, though, for you have been on the receiving end of white privilege.
Comment by Ryan — September 11, 2006 @ 11:00 am
I keep hearing that such a movement is afoot but I never seem to see a link to a website or hear any details of the proposal.
I can promise you this, though: if it’s attempted there’ll be tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lawsuits and the biggest beneficiaries will be the attorneys.
Comment by Grumpy — March 16, 2007 @ 4:24 am
I fail to see how reparations are going to be fair recompense for the horrible institution of slavery. It will not erase slavery from the history books, and it will not ease the conscious of those who benefited from slavery (which, as far as I can tell, seems to be a motivating factor). It is unlikely to even greatly affect the supposed benefactors of the movement.
* What price do you put on slavery?
* How do we determine who should receive the money?
* How should we distribute the money?
* Who should pay, and who should be exempt?
The direct victims of slavery have long since passed away and although many of the problems facing black Americans can be traced back to slavery, Jim Crow laws, oppression, and racism in general, how can we say that this specific individuals circumstance in the here and now would have been better had a sequence of events that occurred over approximately 5 centuries played out differently? Wouldn’t money spent on reparations be better directed at social services, public education, health care, and other programs targeting impoverished and crime-ridden communities?
Reparations would only divide the country, once again, along racial lines. You would never get everyone to agree to such a policy, and you would undoubtedly encounter resistance from the very people who would purportedly benefit from it. For every black American who believes that reparations are a good idea, you can probably find one who finds it an incredibly offensive offer. As if the pain, shame, and horror of the victims of slavery could be erased with a checkbook. It simply will not work.
I can already see the aftermath of reparations. Every time slavery is brought up, there will be a little footnote marked with an *: “But in the year 200x, reparations were payed, and all was well”. Every time inequality is mentioned, “Ahh, yes, but you see, we payed you off, so now you should just shut-up about that”. I do not think this is the healthiest way to address social inequalities and injustice.
Comment by foobar — November 27, 2007 @ 5:04 pm