Should Reparations Be Paid For African Americans?

Culturally believed to be inferior that slavery had ingrained in American culture, African American’s were segregated and prejudiced against. Reparations to African Americans must do more then merely give out money as an apology for past wrongs committed. It has to be Cultural Revolution. It must seek to eliminate any beliefs of the inferiority African Americans.

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

Of those was the whole idea of reparations for blacks, which is great, but honestly the past should just be the past. I personally think to bring up the past is to hurt those in the future. Don’t get me wrong; I see the benefits that could arise from the case like closing the wealth gap. However, getting society on board would be much harder now than it was in the early economy. There is nothing that could fully repay the African Americans, not even the land in which they are owed. You can’t bring back what they really want, which are the family and friends that have been lost. You can’t heal the pain that they have endured along the way. So there is no need to bring up all the memories that would most likely lead to riots and for everyone to show their true colors for something that will probably never happen. Like Coates said, “The idea of reparations threatens something much deeper America’s heritage, history, and standing in the world.” (Coates, 2014) You cannot correct what has already been done all you can do is move forward even if it means moving forward without the idea of

In Charles P. Henry’s ethnography, Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparation, the author attempts to provide a detailed description of how America failed to compensate African Americans for the damages and injustices of slavery. Henry delivers a summary of the racial compensations and challenges the idea of why reparations are being rejected. Charles P. Henry examines the reluctance of confronting the political, social, and historical debate over compensation concerning race in America. Henry provides a current political outlook of political efforts to implement reparation to the African American communities as well as comparison of other races. Henry discusses the effective apology that the U.S government ought too make for the slavery

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.

In “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author begins his article with this quote to ensure that his audience has a different perspective about the case for African American reparations. There is no denying that since the inception of the United States of America, African Americans have faced serious discrimination and injustice, which may in fact entitle them to reparations. Some African American communities of the present are still experiencing the negative effects of slavery, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction racism. These negative effects are evident in Chicago’s North Lawndale, where the almost all-black community still suffers from the injustices committed by contract sellers when African Americans would try to purchase a home (Coates). In his article, Coates claims that African Americans deserve reparations because they inherit an “ecologically different” type of poverty compared to whites as members and are haunted by their history of impoverished ancestors (“The Case for Reparations”). The author’s premise is flawed because poverty is disadvantageous to all groups it affects, not just African Americans. Thus, one cannot justify reparations because African Americans have a different type of inherited poverty. There are

In the Atlantic article by Ta-Nehisi Coates titled “The Case for Reparations, Coates argues that the reason why the United States was able to grow and acquire most of its wealth can be directly tied to the enormous losses people of the African-American community have suffered since the use of slave labor in America. Historically, African-Americans have always been discriminated against. Even today, African-Americans continue to be excluded from the system, while the nation, primarily non-blacks, continues to reap the benefits. Moreover, Coates affirms that the nation needs to acknowledge these truths and should provide reparations for the African-American people. Merriam-Webster defines reparations as “the act of making amends, offering expiation,

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.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

Slavery has been entwined with American history ever since Dutch traders brought twenty captive Africans to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Slavery in America is a subject with minimal truths and stories rarely told. The public school system excludes the fact that eight of the first twelve American presidents were major slaveholders. Emancipation brought freedom, but not approximation. The civil rights movement killed Jim Crow, but shadows remained. Affirmative Action created opportunities, but racism continues.

Should African Americans be allowed paid reparations for slavery? Reparations are considered the “making of amends” for a wrong act or deed that resulted in the damage of an individual's morals or values, usually by the compensation of money. The idea of slavery has been active in America since the 1600’s, and still continues to “legally” exist in regards to unfair work labor against African Americans and those of a Hispanic descent. Slavery consists of the physical and mental deconstruction of an individual's value and the uplifting of power to the one who is in control of that person’s state and his or her stance in humanity. Back then, slave owners were not pressured to reward their slaves with money or personal benefits in the result of their hard work. African American slaves were brought as property, being that they worked against their will. Nowadays, “legal” slavery is present and known as the unfair payment towards African Americans; including the uncompensated labor demand for inmates. Reparations for slavery is an opportunity for America to give blacks the respect that we deserve as humans.

Nevertheless, several would disagree with the statement: African Americans should receive reparations from the U.S government for slavery. For example, according to the article “Americans Debate Reparations for Slavery”, it states “Walter Williams, an economics professor at George Mason University, … infuriates many people by suggesting that in the long run, African-Americans have actually benefited from the legacy of slavery (2)”. In addition to the source Williams, who is African American himself, states “Almost every black American’s income is higher as a result of being born in the United States than any country in Africa… most black Americans are middle class (2)”. This quote demonstrates the belief of Williams opposes the idea of reparations from African Americans because the benefits that are acquired from living in the U.S. According to the article “Black Wealth in America Hardly Exists” it states “…it would take 228 years for the average black family to amass the same level of wealth the average white family holds today.

African Americans, however, deserve reparations for the hardship and maltreatment during years of slavery and the decades of disenfranchisement afterwards.