Reparations Slavery began in America when the first African slaves brought the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Through 250 years of enslavement, African Americans feel like reparations, which are amends for a wrong doing, by paying money or helping those who have been wronged, should be in recognition. “The Case for Reparations” by Ta- Nehisi Coates provides the malevolent, segregated history of the Negro population in the United States. Coates explains all the political and economic issues that Negroes have faced and still endure. White America has left the Negro population at an unfair advantage socially, economically, and politically. “The Case for Reparations” gives backgrounds of African American lives and the struggles …show more content…
“The average per capita income of Chicago’s white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods” (13). Coates also displays images to get the message across. The pictures along with the captions explain the types of suffrage Negroes went through, mostly all negative messages. Coates states, “Negro poverty is not white poverty,” (41) basically explaining that African Americans have a worse chance off in poverty than whites would. According to Coates, “Some black people always will be twice as good. But they generally find white predation to be thrice as fast” (44). Belinda Royall, suffering from the Middle Passage, petitioned for reparations and documents stated from Quaker Robert Pleasants that, “The doing of this justice to the injured Africans would be an acceptable offering to him who ‘Rules in the kingdom of men” (19). These sources were also very beneficial to Coates argument. Coates also claims that America began in African American plunder and white democracy. African slaves entered colonies as “aliens” and during next 250 years, Americans enforced to reduce black people to a class of untouchable and white men …show more content…
Miller, “Reparations arguments demand that we account for and acknowledge the fact that our nation's institutions were founded upon discrimination”. There can be no amount of money that can be paid for the suffering slaves endured in the past. Could the African Americans who were actually enslaved be able to replace the amount of family members slaughtered, children lost, or replace the amount of lashings across their back? Coates states, “Reparations could not make up for the murder perpetrated by the Nazis” (54). Coates wants reparations, but understands the mistreatment and suffering between the Holocaust and slavery to be comparable. William Darity Jr. states, “Also a reparations payment in the absence of productive capacity owned by blacks is found to have no final positive impact on black income. There was even a promise that was broken back when slavery and segregation were still undergoing. William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 issued on Jan. 16, 1865 that former slaves were entitled “40 acres and a mule.” How could America go back on this promise? In the past, the reparations would have been appropriate, but now it is too late. Imagine that the promise was actually enforced and the former slaves received possession of the land. The slaves would have possessed the opportunity of self- sufficiency economically, to build and pass on wealth. Americans did not realize the severance of the promise, regarding the overwhelming 3.9 million
Despite previous and ongoing efforts, some survivors and the descendants of those survivors still face the long-term impacts of the massacre, highlighting the additional need to prevent any similar situations. One survivor, John Alexander, explained that “… when I’m asked whether I favor reparations, I say yes, I certainly do!” Alexander then goes on to explain that since the Japanese Americans “got reparations for their suffering during World War II, we black survivors deserve it for our suffering in 1921”, which could not be truer. America must continue to recognize its mistakes that were made in the past and pay reparations to those that deserve
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
Coates often applied information from historians to prove his point. Coates use the speech of the senator “The two great divisions of Society are not rich and poor, but white and black.” (Coates 18). The African American doesn’t have freedom and rights in America. This show that in America race is more important than the economic status of a person.
This combination helped to define the chattel slavery in the United States. Despite the cheap labor provided by the African slaves they were still being mistreated. Racial segregation and prejudice existed at the time and Africans were segregated from the rest of the community. They were mistreated and made to do hard labor with little pay or none at all. The slaves began to defy the white’s rules and hard labor (Davidson, 56).
Therefore, shouldn’t the descendants of former slaves be compensated in some form? Consider this; in the 21st century wrongfully accused inmates are monetarily compensated. The accused could have spent decades imprisoned, however, if/when found to be wrongfully accused they are offered some type reparation. That same principal should be considered if deciding whether or not descendants should be compensated for the free labor and whippings their ancestors were forced to endure. Often times, the whippings were so severe that their flesh would often be exposed.
Many people forget that African Americans in this country have been enslaved for longer than they have been free. Coates reminds his son to not forget their important history and that they will continuously struggle for freedom over their own bodies. They must learn to live within a black body. These struggles can be seen in the racial profiling and brutality among police officers in cases such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and countless of others. He goes on to describe his childhood and how fear was the root of black existence.
Without the American culture questioning the fact that slavery has caused pain for many people, how would we be able to determine whether or not it is possible to mend supposed pain? Or better yet, how do we as a country restore this pain? Is it fair to say that ancestor’s of American slaves have had troubles resulting directly from the actions of slavery? If so, would that not be justified reasoning for the ancestors themselves to deserve reparations? Due to the hardships and struggles enforced upon the African American culture, wouldn’t it only seem fair that they be compensated in some way for their services rendered unwillingly?
Germany’s unconditional surrender after WWII resulted in immediate reparations, but the U.S. never faced a similar situation (“Zusammenfassung…”). As years have gone by since the existence of slavery, the case for reparations has become weaker. Since the U.S. Census does not track the descendants of slaves, it would be difficult to know who should receive such reparations. Furthermore, the cost would be immense – one estimate by Harper’s Magazine puts the amount at $97 trillion based on the amount of forced labor hours between 1619 and 1865 (Olson). Mainstream politicians oppose the idea, including President Barack Obama and democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders.
If we as American citizens, are entitled to ancestral property and rights, inherit with it, all the debts and other obligations owed by them, just the same. Or in other words, to choose one, and not the other, would indeed be deemed as “patriotism a la carte.” To quote Coates, “One cannot escape the question by hand-waving at the past, disavowing the acts of one’s ancestors, nor by citing a recent date of ancestral immigration.” (Coates, ) As for adopting ways to ascertain the kind or amount of compensation due as reparations, and the ways and methods of going about the same: Coates is, as supported by the text in his article, a strong advocate of Conveyers’s bill, later termed as ‘HR 40’, the “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act.”
As white people do you ever ask yourself if your race does not play a part in our perception? I get it that being black gives people an intimate knowledge of the affects that reparations would give to them and the role it would play in their lives, but do any white people ever ask if a myopia (if you don 't know what that means is a condition of seeing things clearly up close but relatively blind to the far things) and a certain amount of privilege changes your point of view? Reparations aren 't about "white people" paying blacks for stuff their ancestors did. They 're about the United States of America compensating for depriving a piece of its population of human rights for generations, through slavery, forced segregation and Jim Crow.
After the British and French war, Peters’s family, hundred members of the Black Guides and Pioneers evacuated from New York to Nova Scotia. However, “in Nova Scotia the dream of life, liberty, and happiness became a nightmare. Some 3,000 ex-slaves found that they were segregated in impoverished villages, given small scraps of often untillable land, desprived of rights normally extended to British subjects, and reduced to peonage by a white population whose racism was as congealed as the frozen winter soil of Nova Scotia.” (Nash 7). At this new place, African Americans were treated really badly.
Analyzing “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates The past is the past, but sometimes the past comes back and bites us on the butt. In Ta-Nehisi Coates’s article, “The Case for Reparations”, Coates describes the wrongful acts done by white supremacists towards African-Americans. Throughout his article, Coates provides strong logos and pathos to his argument. The one issue that he fails to discuss is ethos or credibility towards his argument.
The African – American 's Assimilation into White America America is often considered the land of opportunities, a place where people can have a fresh start, a clean slate. America is a land that is made up of immigrants. Over the centuries America has been a place where people dream to live in, however the American dream wasn 't as perfect as believed; there were issues of race inferiority, slavery and social inequality amongst other problems. When a person arrives into a new society he has a difficult task ahead of him- to assimilate into that new society- which includes the economical, cultural, political and social aspects. In the following paper I will discuss how the African American, who came as slaves to America, has fought over the centuries to achieve equality in a white society that discriminated them.
Reparations for slavery is an ongoing debate, the idea that descendants of Africans who had been enslaved by the Atlantic Slave Trade should receive a compensatory payment is ridicules to many. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote “The Case for Reparations”, and he argues that the idea of reparations is what is important. Coates begins building his argument with personal facts and reliable sources, overall successfully creating an emotional appeal to his readers. Throughout his article he builds a strong argument arguing that we need to start considering what the nation might owe the African American population after everything that’s been done to them. Throughout his article his attempts to appeal to the readers emotions helps build his argument against reparations.
African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”