Reparations for Slavery

[Meshavrischika]

Reparations for slavery is a movement in the United States, which suggests that the government apologize to slave descendants for their hardships, and bestow on them reparations, whether it be in the form of money, land, or other goods. There is also a newer movement to secure reparations, particularly from Western, ex-colonial powers, for Africa and African nations.[1] (from Wikipedia)


Do you feel this is moral/ethical? Why or Why not?

 

[flicka]

It's history and I don't think reparations for things done before any of us were around makes much sense. We would all be entitled to something if we want to get down to it...every group has been wronged by someone.

 

[Jacey]

"Is that not respirations?"

 

[Meshavrischika]

I'm kind of on the fence really. I don't think that people who did not actually DEAL with slavery (i.e. anyone not ever a slave) should get a penny, but possibly those that did suffer (if any are left) MIGHT be entitled to it (like someone in jail for 20 years on a conviction due to a corrupt D.A. or something would deserve compensation)

 

[cantata]

It's likely that people who come from slave backgrounds are at a disadvantage financially, so arguably there may be some value to this.

 

[Meshavrischika]

It's likely that people who come from slave backgrounds are at a disadvantage financially, so arguably there may be some value to this.

but people who were Irish Catholic and persecuted when they came to the U.S. (all be it not in the same way - governmentally) for their race/nationality are likely poor as well (in some cases - and in some cases not but that holds true for descendants of slaves as well)

 

[cantata]

but people who were Irish Catholic and persecuted when they came to the U.S. (all be it not in the same way - governmentally) for their race/nationality are likely poor as well (in some cases - and in some cases not but that holds true for descendants of slaves as well)

Well, if reparation is extended to one persecuted group it should obviously be extended to another.

ETA: Of course, slaves were brought to America whereas Irish Catholics came of their own volition, so if you wanted to make a distinction I guess that's how you could do it.

 

[stan1980]

ETA: Of course, slaves were brought to America whereas Irish Catholics came of their own volition, so if you wanted to make a distinction I guess that's how you could do it.

Exactly. There is a big difference.

If you ask me, i think we need to draw a big line across it all and move on. I could be persuaded that some sort of compensation might be necessary, but to be honest my instincts are to move on.

 

[Meshavrischika]

Well, if reparation is extended to one persecuted group it should obviously be extended to another.

ETA: Of course, slaves were brought to America whereas Irish Catholics came of their own volition, so if you wanted to make a distinction I guess that's how you could do it.

I appreciate the forced coming... but really... was coming here so horrible in the long run? and can you say they would have been better off in Africa? (look at the state of most of the countries there - after all, normally it was Africans who kidnapped them and sold them initially anyway??!!)

 

[The Nihilist]

My family didn't come to the U.S. until the 1920's. I owe no one to anything concerning slavery, and I'll be pretty unhappy if my tax dollars are used that way.
Besides, a lot of people died to end slavery. I know that the descendants of African slaves have gotten a raw deal, but concerning slavery alone, I feel like that's already been paid for.

 

[Adivi]

I appreciate the forced coming... but really... was coming here so horrible in the long run? and can you say they would have been better off in Africa? (look at the state of most of the countries there - after all, normally it was Africans who kidnapped them and sold them initially anyway??!!)

While I disagree with the concept of paying descendants of slaves monetary reparations, I find this argument to be highly specious. None of the people who were kidnapped and sold to slavery in America would have received the 'benefits' of being brought over here. Further, I don't believe that the ends would justify the means in this case; the fact that they and their descendants for several generations were all treated as property is so horrible that these alleged benefits are certainly not justified.
However, I am in favor of affirmative action and other similar programs to give disadvantaged minorities an edge in order to bring them up to socioeconomic parity with whites. Otherwise, due to systemic anti-black bias (which may even be unconscious), they'll never manage to bring themselves up.

 

[Bombila]

I appreciate the forced coming... but really... was coming here so horrible in the long run? and can you say they would have been better off in Africa? (look at the state of most of the countries there - after all, normally it was Africans who kidnapped them and sold them initially anyway??!!)

Good grief - are you entirely uneducated in the history of colonial Africa? Are you unaware that without the invasion of Africa by colonial European powers, and the artificial division into countries, and the countless atrocities and wars visited on African people by those powers, Africa may have become an entirely different kind of place than it is today, with a different history, a different division into nations, and very possibly a much better place?

Africans were not permitted to develop nations in their own time, making their own mistakes and reaching their own solutions. They were deprived of the right to seek their own destiny. That some Africans bought and sold slaves is a minor point.

Of course coming here was horrible!

 

[Meshavrischika]

I'm not advocating what happened, I'm just saying that sometimes bad things happen and there is SOME good that comes of it in the long run is all.

If you really want to discuss socioeconomic disadvantage talk to any woman who does the same job as a man and gets paid less... (and I don't advocate paying women anything because they're women- that's not what I'm saying).

I just feel handouts like that to people who did not suffer the immediate effects of slavery is exactly that, a handout... and will not do anything to benefit them as human beings in the long run.

 

[Meshavrischika]

are you entirely uneducated in the history of colonial Africa? Are you unaware that without the invasion of Africa by colonial European powers, and the artificial division into countries, and the countless atrocities and wars visited on African people by those powers, Africa may have become an entirely different kind of place than it is today, with a different history, a different division into nations, and very possibly a much better place?

none of that being a U.S. issue.... but a European issue

and...

Europeans or Arabs in Africa very rarely mounted expeditions to capture slaves. Lack of people and the prevalence of disease prevented any widespread gathering of slaves by Europeans and other non-Africans.

It was far easier and more common to make use of existing African middlemen and slave traders (Fage, J.D. A History of Africa)

 

[acropolis]

The people guilty of slavery in the US are long dead. It wouldn't be ethical to take money from people who had no part in it and give it to people who did not suffer the crimes themselves.

 

[Domenico]

If reparations are paid (and in my mind they should be, but I'm not from the US) they should be paid not to people but to communities, with efforts put in place to avoid the misspending of money.

Here, reparations have long been paid to Maori tribes whose land the settlers stole. Theyre paid to the iwi, and the money has mostly been used to benifit the entire population.

 

[Braunwyn]

If reparations are to be given in any sense, then it should be in the way of education to the needy imo. Does this need to cost the tax-payer a dime more? Of course not but that would be contigent upon a gov. that knew how to manage money and ours does not.

 

[Lynden1000]

I wonder how the concept of slave reparations is viewed by financially successful African-Americans who are descended from slaves?

Presumably their tax dollars would be footing the bill to pay other descendents of slaves.

 

[CCGirl]

I am a proponent of reparaions being paid to all former colonies that were raped and pillaged by the "West".

 

[sbvera13]

No.

Should a child be held responsible for the crimes of the father? This is merely the reverse. The descendants of slaves are today too far removed from the crime to warrant any form of reparation for the injustices done to their ancestors. It's pretty cut and dry. If slavery's descendants deserve reparations, then slave owner's descendents deserve prison.

How far back do you want to take this anyway? Do Catholics owe reparations to the descendants of pagans for the Inquisition? Do Christians owe reparations to the descendants of the Saracens for the Crusades? Do the Norse owe reparations to the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons for the Viking raids? Really, once you start holding people responsible for actions commited beyond the current generation, where do you draw the line before it becomes completely ridiculous? There's no way slavery reparations are justified nearly 200 years after the event.