Arguments For & Against US Slave Reparations, with Commentary

It’s a hot topic, no two ways about it, but if you want to consider two ways, we’ll detail them for you here. These are some of the strongest, most widely held points of contention about Slavery Reparations in the United States. In answer to the “should we offer slave reparations” question, some might suggest there isn’t a yes or no answer, but I can think of two yes or no answers right off the top of my head.

Some say, with some regret, that the arguments for reparations are ineffectual and do not justify any action, which is pretty insulting. This may be all the more reason to couple the legislation with another powerful, but likewise half-supported movement; that of the legalization of marijuana. The arguments against reparation are based on half-truths, faulty assumptions, and the idea that white people would somehow be “forced” to pay for it, rather than that an agreeable third solution may be reached.

Here are some of the most prevalent arguments, colored slightly for the sake of brevity.

1) The abduction of free African people for an eternity of unpaid slave labor and complete degradation and demoralization of all it means to be human was unjust. The slaves were never permitted even an ounce of free will, nor were they compensated for their lives or labor, and the government should now make up for this unimaginable legacy of doing wrong.

To this the argument in reply is: There aren’t any former slaves alive today. If there were they would be owed something, but because we shuffled them off to the sidelines and let them die without compensation, there is no reason to go back and make it right. The descendents of atrocities do not deserve compensation in any way, even if they are still living under the shadow of their brave forefathers in a cloud of disrespect and second class citizenry. We don’t pay descendents of holocaust work camps for the labor they gave, so why should we repay black descendents for stealing their parents’ labor, lives, identities, hopes, dreams and entire blood lines in practical perpetuity.

2) The institution of slavery in this country has had a holdover effect keeping black Americans in poverty to this day.

To this the argument in reply is: Blacks do not have a monopoly on living in poverty in this country, even though studies have found that even having a black name can cause your rental or employment application to be thrown in the garbage without consideration. It’s not a monopoly, but they are cornering the market a bit.

According to the latest census data, approximately 30% of blacks and whites live in poverty, so this justifies a failure to make right by an entire race wronged in historically unprecedented ways for such a very long time. Hispanics unfortunately have an even higher percentage living below the poverty line, even though they are largely first-generation immigrants, rather than the offspring of those who were here alongside the founding fathers, whose white brethren have succeeded in very different ways.

Current day disadvantages can’t be attributed to a despicable institution that was ended 150 years ago, nor the discrimination that has been in place, much of it by law, the rest by simple fact, ever since. The government should do something, but creating a policy only to benefit African Americans would be every bit as unfair to white people as slavery was to the blacks, as ridiculous as that may sound on its face (and be in its heart.)

3) Affirmative Action laws passed in the 1960s were explicitly intended to substitute for reparations, even though police profiling, conviction rates (especially in light of subsequent DNA acquittals,) prison populations, and bias in death sentencing might disagree.

To this the argument in reply is: If blacks have been given what’s due, why there is still such great inequality in health care, education opportunity and infant mortality rates is just a magical unicorn’s coincidence. Further, most states have repealed their Equal Opportunity Act provisions, like in the state of Washington where it was put to a majority vote, so obviously racism is a thing of the past. Unsurprisingly, the 90% white majority in the state of Washington chose not to continue Affirmative Action, which surprised no one, and black enrollments in public colleges fell off precipitously.

4) Slavery was an unbelievable wrong imposed on a single race, specifically black Africans, by another race, specifically white Americans, enforced by its police, justices, and militia.

To this the argument in reply is: Slavery could not have existed without the complicity of the tiniest minority of wealthy, corrupt, well protected black Africans who supplied most of the human livestock that were sold into this terrible, inhumane condition. It was not just whites that kept this social system going for over 200 years, so nobody should be held responsible, even the people who admittedly were.

In addition, there were over 200,000 white Americans that paid the ultimate retribution during the Civil War, when they gave their lives to end slavery, kind of in a roundabout sort of way, if you count other people involved in unrelated ways during the same time period, even though the war was about almost anything but slavery (as the Mason-Dixon line might convince you,) and even though most thought they were protecting their lives and homes, not the lives of men of color, free or otherwise. The reparation debt owed to slaves was paid a long time ago when the North won the Civil War and freed them coincidentally, even though no one actually paid anything, and no repayment was received, save for regaining only the first ounce of humanity in the form of being elevated from “property” to “3rd class citizen,” which should be enough to make up for any wrong, no matter how terrible.

CONCLUSION:

We’re not talking about taking money out of white hands and placing it indiscriminately into black hands, as is the fear of our greatest, most vocal detractors. We’re talking about a system of voluntary taxation in trade for an optional commodity, with the revenue directed specifically to foundations for the advancement and improvement of the lives of African Americans, to once and for all elevate them up only to the class and standards enjoyed by white Americans. This is not offering a handout, this is finally giving the hand-up that has so long been deserved.