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Case of reparations analysis
Argument against slavery reparations
The case of reparations summary
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The debate over reparations to descendants of slaves contains a wide range of diverse viewpoints and involves many ethical, moral and legal issues (Bowman). To properly analyze this complex situation and form an educated opinion, one must understand the basic pieces forming the reparations puzzle. Understanding who was impacted by the institution of slavery, when they were impacted, how they were impacted, where slavery took place, and what exactly took place will help create a better understanding of both sides of the debate. It has been estimated that a half of a million slaves were shipped to the United States from Africa in 1807, the year the slave trade was abolished. However, the slave population grew to four million by 1860 (Bowman). When the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865, the bill to abolish slavery, ex-slaves still suffered from harsh discrimination. The topic of slavery and the reparations to the descendants of those slaves is a complicated one. The decision to support or deny slave reparations affects millions of people: those who will receive payment and those who will pay. The argument presented in this essay will display that reparations for slavery are not only complicated but impossible to accurately distribute. The lack of historical documentation and the impact on those who were uninvolved in the institution of slavery that will have to pay the price will display some of the many reasons why reparations simply should not happen.
First of all, reparations for the descendants of slaves are hard to justify with all the complications that follow. One objection to reparations is the large majority of Americans that are not descendants of slaves or slave owners. Numbers of Americans ...
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...nvolvement of the taxpaying immigrants who came after slavery was abolished only begin to describe the arguments against slave reparations. Understanding the arguments for slave reparations is essential to forming an educated opinion. No matter which side one decides to advocate, slave reparations remain a very important topic to consider due to the vast amount of people involved. The moral, ethical, and legal issues surrounding this topic will continue on for eternity. It is up to the reader to critically think and form the most well rounded opinion he or she can.
Works Cited
Bowman, Jeffery and Laura Finley., “Reparations for Slavery: An Overview.” Points of view: Reparations For Slavery. 2013. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 20 Mar 2014.
Brophy, Alfred L., “The Cultural War over Reparations for Slavery.” DePaul Law Review. 2004. Web. 26 Mar 2014.
When reading about the institution of slavery in the United States, it is easy to focus on life for the slaves on the plantations—the places where the millions of people purchased to serve as slaves in the United States lived, made families, and eventually died. Most of the information we seek is about what daily life was like for these people, and what went “wrong” in our country’s collective psyche that allowed us to normalize the practice of keeping human beings as property, no more or less valuable than the machines in the factories which bolstered industrialized economies at the time. Many of us want to find information that assuages our own personal feelings of discomfort or even guilt over the practice which kept Southern life moving
Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the article “The Case for Reparations” presents a powerful argument for reparations to black African American for a long time of horrendous injustice as slavery plus discrimination, violence, hosing policies, family incomes, hard work, education, and more took a place in black African American’s lives. He argues that paying such a right arrears is not only a matter of justice; however, it is important for American people to express how they treated black African Americans.
According to Jim Meyers, in "Righting the Wrongs of Slavery," reparations for slavery wouldn't solve anything. He claims that it would just put an even bigger rift between white and black Americans. He argues that "white bitterness would be inescapable" and that white Americans would feel as though they owned everything that black Americans obtain with the reparations. He also poses the questions that many of the articles for and against reparations pose: Who will receive these reparations and who will have to pay them? Is it just based on skin color? Will all black Americans receive reparations even if they aren't descents of slaves or will they look at every Americans genealogy to discover who is and who isn't? What about white Americans who aren't descents of slave holders? Will Irish immigrants who came to this country in the 1920's have to pay these reparations? It's really hard to draw the line. The battle seems like a hard one to win when there are so many variables that can't be ignored.
Franklin, J., Moss, A. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. Seventh edition, McGraw Hill, Inc.: 1994.
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slavery was cruelty at its best. Slavery is described as long work days, a lack of respect for a human being, and the inability for a man or a woman to have gainful employment. The slaves were victimized the most for obvious reasons. Next on the list would be the families of both the slave and slave owners. At the bottom of the list would be the slave owners. Slavery does in fact victimize slaves, slave owner and their families by repeating the same cycle every generation.
In “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates sets out a powerful argument for reparations to blacks for having to thrive through horrific inequity, including slavery, Jim Crowism, Northern violence and racist housing policies. By erecting a slave society, America erected the economic foundation for its great experiment in democracy. And Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history. Paying such a moral debt is such a great matter of justice served rightfully to those who were suppressed from the fundamental roles, white supremacy played in American history.
Reparations For 246 consecutive years, blacks have been kidnapped, whipped to death, mutilated, and raped. From 1619 to 1865, these generations of slave families were living as property rather than human beings. History would agree that the crimes done against these set of selected people do not compare to those of other races. Many people don’t know that there were sex slave farms that practiced a process known as “buck breaking”.
This book achieved its goal by reflecting the past and history of American Slavery. We can see through much detail what America was and has become throughout the era of slavery. It was the Colonial era that America began to see what true slavery would soon become.
Slavery was a practice throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and through slavery, African-American slaves helped build the economic foundation of which America stands upon today, but this development only occurred with the sacrifice of the blood, sweat, and tears from the slaves that had been pushed into exhaustion by the slave masters. A narrative noting a lifetime of this history was the book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka in what is now known as south eastern Nigeria, later he was shipped to the West Indies, he then moved to England, and eventually purchased his freedom (Equiano). Olaudah Equiano, with many other millions of slaves, faced many hardships and was treated with inconceivable injustices by white slave masters and because of the severity of these cruel and barbarous occurrences, history will never forget these events.
In an article by ABC news it was written that “there’s no disputing that African American suffered centuries of enslavement. What’s far less certain, however is what kind of debt is owed to the descendants of those slaves.” They also said “many group of influential lawyers and scholars have profited from slavery.” This goes to show that the people responsible for the enslavement of hundreds of people are profiting from slavery, and that if they did want to pay reparations, they’re unsure how to give it. The article then goes to mention other cases of reparation that have been paid like Germany paying $60 billion to holocaust survivors, and the united states paying $20,000 to over 100,000 Japanese Americans sent to internment camp during world war
Reparations Although the talk of reparations of slavery has been in discussion for over a hundred years, it is beginning to heat up again. Within these discussions, the issue of the form of reparations has been evaluated and money has been an option several times. However, reparations in the form of money should not be obtained for several reasons. Firstly, it is not a solution to the problem, secondly monetary reparations have the ability to worsen discrimination, thirdly, who gets paid, and how is it regulated, and lastly, the money can be misused.
The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
When one thinks of slavery, they may consider chains holding captives, beaten into submission, and forced to work indefinitely for no money. The other thing that often comes to mind? Stereotypical African slaves, shipped to America in the seventeenth century. The kind of slavery that was outlawed by the 18th amendment, nearly a century and a half ago. As author of Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People, Kevin Bales, states, the stereotypes surrounding slavery often confuse and blur the reality of slavery. Although slavery surely consists of physical chains, beatings, and forced labor, there is much more depth to the issue, making slavery much more complex today than ever before.
Knowles, H. J. (2007). The Constitution and Slavery: A Special Relationship. Slavery & Abolition, 28(3), 309-328. doi:10.1080/01440390701685514
Slavery has been a part of human practices for centuries and dates back to the world’s ancient civilizations. In order for us to recognize modern day slavery we must take a look and understand slavery in the American south before the 1860’s, also known as antebellum slavery. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines a slave as, “a man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another” (B.J.R, pg. 479). In the period of antebellum slavery, African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities and towns, homes, out on fields, industries and transportation. By law, slaves were the perso...