Reparations
There’s talk in a few circles about reparations to be paid to the descendants of African Americans whose ancestors were slaves in the US. Cities in California and the state itself are considering reparations to descendants of slaves.
The dictionary defines reparation as: 1. The act or process of making amends for a wrong. 2. Something done, or money paid to make amends or compensate for a wrong. 3. Compensation or remuneration, as for damage or economic loss, required from a nation defeated in war.
The use of reparations can be traced back to ancient times. Ancient China, Greece, and Rome all had the practice of forcing their conquered peoples to pay large sums of money to them after being defeated in war.
Last century, following WWII, Germany was forced to pay reparations for the economic losses suffered by victims of the holocaust. Most of the money went to the then, new state of Israel.
On the US front, Native Americans received cash compensation for forfeited and stolen lands, with this compensation coming from the government.
There are several other notable reparations packages in our history including for the Tuskegee Experiment where a study of untreated syphilis in 399 black men between 1932 and 1972 resulted in a 1974 settlement of $10M.
In 1948 Congress passed a bill totaling $38M to compensate 120,000 Japanese citizens (and immediate descendants) for losses incurred during their forced interment during WWII.
You will note in the cases cited; compensation/reparations went directly to the people involved in the injustices with some adding provisions for the immediate offspring of those whose rights were violated. And it was done in a timely manner.
The latest efforts, especially in California, to compensate descendants of those who were enslaved between 300+ and 150 years ago are without precedent.
No one would question the fact that slavery existed and was allowed in this country. No doubt it was an extreme violation of our Constitution and the civil rights of those affected.
But the context of reparations for slavery in this country is different than any previous reparations packages.
First, slavery existed only in the South until the 1860s – not countrywide and certainly not in California.
Second, the country experienced a bloody civil war because of it and to end it.
Third, 16 countries besides the US had slavery. Unfortunately, it was accepted. These countries span both Europe, Asia and Africa. While those countries eliminated slavery via means other than war, none of those countries have paid compensation to their slave population.
Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order to compensate those blacks freed by the Civil War by granting 40 acres and a mule. That order was later rescinded by Andrew Jackson.
The proposition now is to compensate the direct line descendants for the injustices suffered by their ancestors. It can stand little critical examination or thinking.
The facts are the logistics of identifying direct descendants of black slaves who first arrived in America beginning in 1619 would be complicated and certainly imprecise. For example, what percent of each of those descendants DNA is traceable to those enslaved? How is the original DNA identified? Assuming that any of those things were possible, are they then compensated based on that percentage?
Here’s another wrinkle. Some blacks are not the only descendants of slaves in America. I have heard no discussion for reparations to the descendants of some 300,000 white slaves imported by the British to the colonies beginning in the 1500’s up to the Revolutionary War.
Recent polls have shown a full two-thirds of Americans are opposed to cash payments to the descendants of slaves. The sense is strong that the generation that would be paying for it had nothing to do with what was done in the past – along with the fact the people who would be paid had nothing to do with it either. I emphasize “the past” in this case is a long time and many generations ago.
Currently the country is as divided as it’s ever been with all rhetoric around the ‘victims’ of oppression we’re told exist. Our President has said repeatedly the country is racist with white supremacy as its biggest, basic and systemic problem.
Putting our great progress on eliminating racial discrimination the last 50 years aside, the idea of national reparations to descendants of centuries ago slaves should have no future.
It would only serve to further tear our nation apart, perhaps irreparably.
If we want to do something for African Americans, let’s ensure they have access to a quality education.
Let California force non-blacks pay reparations to black Californians if that’s what the voters there want to do.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery
https://time.com/5653369/august-1619-jamestown-history/
https://www.lincolninstitute.org/the-case-against-reparations-for-slavery/
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/27/1164869576/cities-reparations-white-black-slavery-oppose
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question: What was the first state? Answer to last week – the villain of Peter Pan: Cpt Hook.
In the news last week:
The Belmont Stakes was run yesterday and won by 8-1 long shot Arcangelo, trained by the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. The beautiful horse beat out his more favored contenders with a late surge in the 1 ½ mile contest.
Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting oil production by another million barrels/day.
The weaponization of the DOJ continued with the indictment of former president Donald Trump on alleged classified documents found in his FL home. I presume next week President Biden will be indicted for similarly marked documents found in his garage. Not! That’s not how this works. He’s a Democrat.
Smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires affected millions in the NE and even farther down the eastern half of the US. Climate change advocates are blaming the climate when lousy forest management is obviously the culprit. Note the Canadian wildfires and most of those in CA occur on public land, not private land where underbrush is kept under control.
NYC has joined several other cities in a lawsuit against Hyundai & Kia for not including engine immobilizers on some models – making them more vulnerable to theft. The city says thefts of those cars is putting a strain on the resources of its police dept. Good Luck, I guess, because the cars are apparently compliant with federal anti-theft requirements.
Voters in all 12 eastern Oregon counties approved a proposition to secede from the state and join Idaho. The more populous 5 western counties run Oregon government and eastern residents apparently feel their values and needs are ignored. Such a move would require the approval of both state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.
