Ta-Nehisi Coates Case For Paying Reparations Analysis

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

It is important to note that in the event that it cannot be determined whether a

black people in the U.S. has lessened, there are still huge ramifications that plague black

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 Americans no longer have a native

The money would theoretically lead to the creation of programs that would improve African American communities crippled with economic difficulties and gang violence. Overall any money to African American as reparations “would represent America’s maturation out of the childhood myth of its innocent into a wisdom worthy of its founders” (Coates).

For over 435 years, black African American has battled the fight for reparation. Being brought and sold, beaten and lynched as if we were animals to white people. “Hebrew man, and or, Hebrew women, had to serve six years to their master before they could be let free on year seven.” And “between 1882 and 1968, more black people was lynched in Mississippi than in any other state.” Black people didn’t have the choice of making their own decisions. Everything was decided by white people even if you were deemed to be free. If black people derogated from their arrangements it was “at the risk of grave injury or death. Refusing to work meant arrest under vagrancy laws and forced labor under the state’s penal system.”

Rogerick Kirby Professor Leigh Campbell-Hale American History TR 11:00 A.M May 3, 2017 Learning from Our Past and Building a Promising Future “By our unpaid labor and suffering, we have earned the right to the soil, many times over and over, and now we are determined to have it” (ANONYMOUS 1861). African American’s ancestors have paid the way for blacks to rightfully gain reparations from their cruel, barbaric, and ruthless past from slavery. African Americans, also referred to as blacks have been stripped of their civil rights and their equality as human beings and nonetheless have been lied to of the definition of freedom. In the article “The Case for Reparations” the author Coates explains that African Americans and other races that have

African Americans have witnessed much discrimination throughout the years. The issue of reparations for all African Americans is argued by one scholar and a credible newspaper. The debate about reparations started with the agreement side from the opinion of Robert Allen. He stated historical aspects that showed the crusade that many African American leaders started to get a compromise with the government. Allen continues to research the problems of African American involving with financial worth in America throughout history. He even goes as far to say that “Reparations provides a framework for the redistribution of wealth within the existing political economy.” The opposition of the debate was from the writers of The Economist. They defended their argument with a policy that focused on the difficulty of identifying the victims and past perpetrators. The writers also brought up the fact that corporations involved in exploitation of slaves made amends a long time ago and cannot be responsible for the predicament of African Americans. This debate has heightened over the years as new forms of oppression of African Americans have appeared in recent years. In my view of the debate, Robert Allen has the most logical argument over the writers of The Economist about the need for the government to make reparations for African Americans as way for racial equality.

He argues the point that the nations are indebted to the black population after all the hardship we have put them through. This type of conversation probably will never take place. I think the more educated that the American citizens are about slavery and racism will help to make a healthier life for all people. One of the differences I realize between “The Case for Reparations” & “Between the World and Me” is that in “The Case for Reparations” Coates talks less about himself and more about other black families living in Chicago. He portrays Chicago as a person rather than a place.

Blacks in America have been at an disadvantaged for centuries. This disadvantage can be viewed as a result of unpaid wages of past enslaved ancestors and laws prohibiting blacks from inheriting wealth. The unpaid wages of the enslaved in america would be in the trillions. Based on the laws in America, this is considered grand theft on a unparalleled level. So the basis that the ancestors of enslaved people deserve reparation as compensation by the U.S. Government.

The debate about if the United States should pay African America reparation for slavery has been going on for around one century since the Civil War. From 1525 A.C. to 1865 A.C., 12.5 million Africans were put on ships and taken to the New World. For centuries, African Americans suffered. They worked as slaves, they got no payment for their work, and they were tortured. Therefore, whether the slave reparations should be paid or not has become a controversial topic. If people can view the history from a fair and equal perspective, they will find out that paying slave reparations is not only reasonable, but also necessary.

The topic of reparation is highly controversial debate, depending on who receive compensation in terms of ethnicity, race, or cultural heritage. For instance, several Native American tribal communities have received reparations for almost a complete eradication of their race by early American settlers. Jewish holocaust survivors have received reparations for the genocide of millions of their people during World War II by the Nazis. Also, Japanese Americans have been compensated for the forced internment they were subjected to during the Second World War by the United States government. However, African American has not been compensated for numerous wrongdoings they have encountered throughout American history. Should reparations be compensated to African Americans? This question sparks intense debates for those in favor and the opposition.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer of “The Case for Reparation” argues the same in his piece. He states on the idea of how the government should be responsible for the discrimination against African Americans. Since they were held to be less than whites, Coates states how those African Americans who want to chase the American dream should be backed by the government, in other words, whites American should be may responsible for returning back African Americans

To begin, eligibility and responsibility for reparations are an issue. Most African Americans are not direct descendants of slaves. To illustrate, the article, “What’s wrong with Reparations for Slavery” confirms that a subgroup of African Americans who immigrated after slavery makes up three to five percent of the African American population(Spath). Would these subgroups and immigrants receive reparations too? Would they have to pay reparations for others? Questions unanswered about eligibility show that reparations are a lost cause. Many citizens in America immigrated after the Civil War. For instance, the Migration Policy Institute show how

America is regarded as a place of freedom, a place where everyone is treated the same and have equal rights. However, this freedom did not always apply to everyone and even now this freedom is incomplete. To this day these people are still suffering from discrimination, but there are groups and movements trying to amend this. Though America has prided itself as a country of freedom, the path to freedom for marginalized African Americans is treacherous and incomplete because of slavery, racism, violence, and segregation, but has made much progress.