Slavery And Segregation Of 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 article “The Negro Digs Up His Past’’ by Arthur schomburg on 1925, elaborates more on the struggles of slavery as well as how history tend to be in great need of restoration through mindfully exploring on the past. The article, however started with an interesting sentence which caught my attention, especially when the writer says ‘’The American Negro must remark his past in order to make his future’’ (670). This statement according the writer, explains how slavery took away the great deal freedom from people of African descendant, through emancipation and also increase in diversity. The writer (Arthur Schomburg) however, asserts that “the negro has been throughout the centuries of controversy an active collaborator, and often a pioneer, in the struggle for his own freedom and advancement” (670).

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

Within “Was I Entitled or Should I Apologize? Affirmative Action Going Forward, ”After explaining conservative counter arguments, Allen firmly states her feeling about affirmative action when says, “They say affirmative action is wrong. Personally, I do not agree with them” (254). Although Allen supports affirmative action, her essay centers around her struggle with guilt that she feels for being on the receiver’s end of affirmative action. Through this portrayal of guilt, she produces compassion from the reader. As she describes, this guilt occurs because of some popular arguments against affirmative action. Some believe that affirmative action is “divisive in relation to the social and political scene in America,” hasn’t’ created any lasting progress, benefits only African Americans, affects individual’s self-esteem, and most importantly, as she states, “Violates ideals of colorblind policies, offending moral principles of fairness and constitutional principles of equality and due

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

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

For many years the United States has committed atrocious and discriminatory acts against African Americans. In a seemingly more “equal” society today many are wondering what debt is owed to the descendants of African Americans. According to Alfred Brophy of University of North Carolina, reparations are defined as, “programs that are justified on the basis of past harm and that are also designated to assess and correct that harm and improve the lives of victims in the future.” Throughout this paper I will be discussing whether reparations should be paid to African Americans. I will evaluate the question through legal, moral, and political lenses. I will evaluate the start of the movement of reparations while also taking into consideration how reparations have been given in the past. I will also explore new forms/types of reparations that can be given to African Americans. I will also determine the short and long term impacts the implementation of reparations would have on African American society and the society in its entirety.

As David Blight says in his novel, Race and Reunion, after the Civil War and emancipation, Americans were faced with the overwhelming task of trying to understand the relationship between “two profound ideas—healing and justice.” While he admits that both had to occur on some level, healing from the war was not the same “proposition” for many whites, especially veterans, as doing justice for the millions of emancipated slaves and their descendants (Blight 3). Blight claims that African Americans did not want an apology for slavery, but instead a helping hand. Thus, after the Civil War, two visions of Civil War memory arose and combined: the reconciliationist vison, which focused on the issue of dealing with the dead from the battlefields, hospitals, and prisons, and the emancipationist vision, which focused on African Americans’ remembrance of their own freedom and in conceptions of the war as the “liberation of [African Americans] to citizenship and Constitutional equality” (Blight 2).

Although Coates does not offer any particulars regarding an immediate solution for reparations and how they should be administered, he does seem to make some suggestions. Coates implies that improvements in educational opportunities through scholarships, affirmative action, and increased funding can serve as reparations. Expanding healthcare access for black Americans is another way of providing reparations. Moreover, monetary compensation to generations of African-Americans affected by discrimination can be given as reparations. Most importantly, Coates argues that the prospect of reparations should be at the very least discussed. Approving Congressman John Conyers Jr.’s HR 40 bill would open up that discussion. Whether reparations are given or not, Coates stresses that the United States cannot continue to claim to be the example for liberty, freedom, or a democracy if it continues to refuse to recognize the damages that have been imposed on blacks for the gain of the nation (Coates, 2014). The issue with discussing reparations seems to lie in not knowing how much reparation is enough, or how much and to whom they will be given

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.

Burkett ‘8 (Maxine Burkett- Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School.- 2008- “Reconciliation and Nonrepetition: A New Paradigm for African-American Reparations” P.

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.

Chace (2012) continues to state the various disconnect that the comments made by President Johnson has on current practices by once advocating the intent to give back to a race that had lost so dearly, is now not viewed the same. After these past fifty years, today’s realties are quite different. Restitution seems much less the focus of such affirmative action policies than in the past.

John, Jeninne Lee-St. “Should States Apologize For Slavery?” Time. Time Inc., 2007. Web. 11 Dec.