Should African Americans Receive Reparation

Racism and hate have played a major role in United States history. These words have been the fuel behind slavery, inhuman treatment, and genocides. The Kosovo, Native Americans, Japanese, and African Americans are some of the prominent races that have been affected by racism and hate. The U.S. have given reparations to the victims of Kosovo, Native American, and Japanese, but no reparation have been given to African Americans. For five hundred years, the U.S. forced African Americans into slavery. As an African American woman in 2013, the question “ What ever happen to reparations for African Americans?” lingers in my mind. Don’t we deserve reparation just as the Native

Reparation is a term defined as “the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.” How does this exactly apply when we’re talking about discrimination and segregation? Ta-Nehisi Coates presents “The Case for Reparations” to illustrate the need of a reparation to African- American citizens. Coates explains three major concepts in his paper. He emphasizes how African- American citizens have helped create wealth, displays how the government has actually restricted African- American citizens from owning homes in history, and presents a series of compelling stories from people still suffering discrimination and segregation today. In this paper, I will defend “The Case for Reparations” in agreement with Ta-Nahisi Coates.

The United States government should pay reparations to African Americans as a means of admitting their wrong-doing and making amends. The damages African Americans have sustained from White America’s policy of slavery have been agonizing and inhumane. Therefore, I am in favor of reparations for African Americans. The effect of slavery has been an enduring issue within the African American community. Many of us are cognizant of the harm racism brought to the African American race, conveyed through slavery, racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans suffered many atrocities, but the greatest damage done to them was the destruction of they’re original identity. African

Reparations for slavery have been a topic among scholars and regular people for years now. During the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War many freed slaves were promised 40 acres of land, as a form of reparations.(Staff www.The Root.com) However, this became an empty promise and nothing was enforced to help African Americans become socially, economically, or politically leveled with white Americans since. African Americans were enslaved to work for big corporations and never received any form of wages after the abolishment of slavery. Businesses that thrived off slave labor continued to succeed after the Slavery Abolition Act, while freed slaves were stuck without any assets to properly function in society. To

I agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Argument for Reparations, the black people of today necessitate a form of Reparations that includes the full realization and respect of the extent of damages waged against African Americans all across America. So many problems stem from the fact that the struggles of African Americans in this country are trivialized, debased, and mocked. People need and must understand the extent of slavery in this country and how it is at the base of everything American. Simultaneously, the concept white guilt must be excised out of the society, there is nothing to be guilty of you are playing an active role on disassembling the power system at play destroying so many black lives instead of profiting from it.

For years African Americans descent were slave by the United States. During these rough times, Africans faced painful hardships and lost their true identity. Later on in 1863, president Abraham Lincoln announced The Emancipation Proclamation where the slaves were finally "free". Although this freedom, many Africans were still considered slaves to many white Americans. Whites made African Americans believe that if they stayed, they would be paid and live a much better life rather than leaving with empty hands and starting off from nothing. Though this, Africans were still betrayed by the whites even though they were already considered free. Taken this into consideration, there’s one question that has remains for years, and that is whether or not black Americans should be paid for the reparations of their hardships. This had been a commonly topic for years with two sides to the story. Many agree with the idea that the United States should pay for reparations because Africans were promised goods for their hard work. And on the other hand, many believe that the United States shouldn’t pay for reparation because slavery ended years ago and it is unfair to take money from American taxpayers where many came to the United States after slavery ended. The author of The Case for Reparation, Ta-Nehisi Coates goes into deep details on how the U.S should be marked responsible for paying for reparations. And writer Kevin D. Williamson goes against Coates own essay in how the U.S shouldn’t

As the country began to recognize that wrongs must be righted the idea of reparations for African Americans started as early as the Reconstruction Era. Around the time of the Reconstruction Era, the first call for reparations was mainly for the purpose of punishing the South, in hopes of hindering the Confederacy. Post the

If the United States government were to support the reparations to the descendents of African American slaves it would be an admitting of their responsibility. This is an issue that the United States government does not want to bring back to the forefront. To them, slavery is an occurrence in history such as the Vietnam War, which is not easy to tell about without editing. What is done is done, and bringing up possibilities of any type of reparation would stir up a negative outlook on government, even if trying to make amends.

The article, “The Case for Reparations”, presents itself with a commendable representation on how the need for reparations is essential when combined with the brutal history of slavery and progression of blacks in American Society after slavery. Ta- Nehisi Coates argues that the relationship between racial identity and reparations is based upon America’s debt to blacks for the countless years of injustice. With this he demonstrates how white supremacy has ultimately used impractical measures to maintain what they consider social stability for those who were not African American.

Reparations should not be paid, because they will be seen as a final payment. The general population would feel that reparations would be the ultimate closure, and that African-Americans are not owed further. Lawrie Balfour at the University of Virginia in 2005 stated that “the closure afforded by reparations means that no more will be owed to Blacks than is owed to any citizen under the law. Given the depth of societal denial about the significance and effects of slavery and the pervasiveness of antiblack racism, it is unlikely reparations alone could accomplish so much”. This means that while reparations will not ever be able to compensate for the full suffering of African-Americans, paying them to African-Americans will not completely put behind racism, and it is unlikely the problems that will still exist will be further addressed. This is supported by Glen Loury, director of the Institute of Race and Social Division at Boston University, who says there would only be a short term victory for African Americans. “It will undermine the claim for further help down the road, because the rest of America will say, ‘Shut up: You’ve been paid.’” This is harmful, because it allows other Americans to disregard and put behind the past. Additionally, any further problems that are still going to exist will be ignored, due to the perception that all the harm has been addressed and African-Americans have received compensation for these wrongs. Forgetting these problems can cause them

We often hear the term “reparations” when it comes to the US Civil War, with the promised 40 acres and a mule being top of that list. However, have you ever wondered where that came from? Did the U.S. government actually make that promise, only to back out later? Perhaps 40 acres and a mule would not have been enough to resolve the racial problems that the U.S. faced, but at least everyone would have had an equal opportunity to make a good name for themselves. While 40 acres and a mule could never repay former slaves for all the suffering they were faced to endure, it would have given them a chance to make a living.

One of the main issues that Americans have been debating about for years is whether African Americans should get reparations for enslaving some of their ancestors 200 years ago.

According to Google, the word “reparation” is defined as the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. Reaching the twentieth-first century, many reparations to address the dreadful economic costs of slavery and racial discrimination have been proposed for African-Americans in the United States. From monetary payments to opportunity-based rewards, these compensations have been proposed in a variety of forms. Although the government today issues a wide range of tangible reimbursements, the “intangibles” of slavery and racial injustice of African-Americans can never be reparated.

He looks at the idea of reparation with a critical eye as a form of social justice. Walter suggests that part of reparation is the recognition of the erasure of Black history and the lack of acknowledgement of contributions of Black in forming American identity and democracy. Although reparation will provide a form of monetary relief to descendants of enslaved men and women, it will not elevate their material status. Reparation will rectify moral and legal wrongs in which racial integrity is violated(Walter,14). Walter insists that more than anything reparations are acknowledgement of the atrocities done to Blacks and acknowledges the effects of it in Black America. Reparation is necessary to provide a sense of justice to the Black community for being oppressed and taunted as inferior for the past centuries.

Before I determined my opinion on this matter, I wanted to further educate myself on what “reparations for slavery” exactly meant. I learned that this concept was the idea that some form of payment should be owed to the descendants of African Americans whose ancestors were once enslaved peoples. After getting a better grasp on this concept and reading these three articles, I then formed my opinion on the idea of reparations for slavery.