Introduction
Debate has been ranging on whether the United States should pay reparations to African Americans for slavery. Arguments have been given in support for reparations while some people do not advocate for the reparations for slavery. Reparation is a term of law that has existed for centuries. It refers to the duty and responsibility of the wrongdoing party to rectify the damage it may have caused to the injured party (Winbush, 2003). In order for reparation to be fair, it must be able to wipe out all the damage caused and its consequences so that the injured returns to the normal situation before the illegal act done had happened. Reparation influences not only the individual victim but also the wider society in which the victim lives. It helps in rebuilding the society by advocating for truth and justice to take place. Reparation may be in several ways ranging from compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and guarantee of non repetition of the illegal act. Among the most heinous acts ever committed to African Americans is slavery. Human rights advocates have been fighting for reparations to victims of slavery. Reparations for slavery refer to suggestions of giving compensation to some people in America whose ancestors worked as slaves in the United States. The compensation should be to repay the labor that ancestors provided in the years that passed long ago. This compensation ranges from monetary compensation to land-based compensation (Paul, 2001). Due to the controversial nature of reparations for slavery, no consensus has been reached to date. People have different views on the issue with some being for reparations for slavery while others are against the reparations. This paper discusses the arguments for and against reparations and concludes with a statement of my position on the issue.
Arguments for reparations
International human rights advocates have argued that the American government should pay reparations to victims of slavery. These advocates, among other supporters of reparations for slavery to African Americans argue that reparations will help rebuild the wounds of the descendants of the people that underwent great slavery during the ancient America. The supporters of reparations argue that if the slaves had been compensated for their labor during those days they worked, then it would be easier for their descendants to control a larger share of the United States’ social and financial wealth. The emancipated slaves did not only fail to receive their share of profits from the American government, they also failed to receive small amounts of compensation due to them from the government during the reconstruction period (Schuck, 2001). Most of the wealth accumulated by the United States was made from the efforts of the Black slave trade. Americans exploited the African slaves to make wealth for them in their country and hence the country ended up accumulating great amounts of wealth. Therefore, it would be unfair not to compensate the descendants of African American slaves that worked to ensure the accumulation of wealth. Reparations in this case would be useful in correcting the imbalance that exists in the current society between the descendants of the African American slaves and other Americans. The U.S. Department of Commerce has established that the black slave trade contributed trillions of dollars to the economy of the United States (Gifford, 2005). Therefore, it would be inhuman for the American government not to pay reparations to the families of the African Americans that worked in the slave trade to bring the economy to such great heights.
Another reason in support for America to pay reparations to African Americans for slavery is the precedent that has been set before on other similar cases of atrocities. For instance, during the Second World War, many people from Japanese were injured and the America government apologized for the atrocities and compensated each survivor a total of $20,000 each. This amount of money was for compensation of loss of property and freedom denied during that period. This act set a precedent for other similar cases in the United States. Native American tribes currently have land that they have possessed because of several treaties passed by the United States government for their protection. In addition to the United States, governments of other countries such as Germany have decided to pay reparations to survivors for past atrocities committed to them. Therefore, these measures taken in the past have assisted in setting a precedent for other similar cases. Thus, it goes without saying that America should pay reparations to African Americans for slavery.
Since the American government has been paying reparations for other atrocities committed to survivors, then it is only fair for the same government to pay reparations for the African American for slavery for their ancestors. According to Casey, “there never was a debate about Japanese reparations, there never was a debate about Jewish reparations and there never was a debate about Native America reparations” (2008). Therefore, she argues that there should be no debate about black reparations and the American government should pay these people their dues. It is a responsibility of the United States government to pay reparations to the black Americans because they owe them an unpaid debt of over 245 years of unpaid labor. The African Americans spent several years under the oppression of the American government and hence, it is the responsibility of this government to repay them for the grievances caused.
Arguments against reparations
In as much as many people support reparations to African Americans for slavery, several others have reasons why the American government should not pay these reparations. Opponents for reparations argue that paying reparations to descendants of slavery would be relocating injustice. This is because the cost of reparations would be imposed on other people that did not perpetrate the slavery such as some innocent taxpayers who might have contributed to the end of the slavery. The perpetrators of slavery were a very small percentage, it would be difficult to identify the direct, and indirect beneficiaries of the slave trade hence it would not be possible for these perpetrators to bear the cost of reparations (Associated Press, 2006). On the contrary, innocent taxpayers would have to bear the cost of paying the victims of slave trade, which is not fair.
Opponents of reparations further argue that it would be difficult to identify actual descendants of slaves because such a family origin is not similar with the current racial self-identification. In addition, it would be tasking to determine the true levels of victimization that the African Americans underwent in order to determine the fair amount of reparations to pay. These opponents argue that the lost wealth of slaves was dispersed and hence it not only ceased to exist but it is also untraceable and transmitted to other places. Therefore, it would not be fair for the American government to pay reparations to African Americans for slavery.
In addition, opponents of reparations for slavery argue that the African Americans should not receive their compensation based on comparative utility. Under comparative utility, these opponents argue that if the slave trade had not happened, the descendants of slave trade would be worse off in their African countries. It would be subjective and unjustifiable to say that slavery has caused the African Americans to be worse off that they would have been in their country. Opponents argue that the population of slaves in the United States increased tremendously after the end of slavery unlike in other countries where the slave population remained constant or declined (Horowitz, 2001). They argue that the treatment the blacks received in the U.S. was excellent and they even outdid the poor whites in their birth rates. Besides, each state of the U.S. had laws that protected slaves against abuse and most religious groups ensured their enforcement. Therefore, from this extensive analysis, the African Americans descendants did not receive any unfair treatment after the end of slave trade hence they should not receive reparations. If they had been in their African countries, it is evident that they would be worse off than they are now even with the reparations.
Based on the law, opponents of reparations for slavery to African Americans argue that slave trade was legal in the United States before the amendment of the U.S. constitution (Ananda, 2008). Thus, there is no legal base for repaying the descendants of slaves for crimes committed against their ancestors since in legal terms; the government did not commit any crime. Other legal professionals argue that the current government of the United States did not exist before June 1788 when the constitution of the U.S. was confirmed. Thus, the government of the United States adopted the custom of slavery, and not legally responsible to Africans enslaved by Europeans before that time. It would be impossible to figure out who was enslaved by whom and at what point in time in order to apply reparations justly from the government of the U.S. to compensate those enslaved under the American laws. According to the City journal (2008), another compelling argument against reparations is that, only a few of the Africa American descendants would qualify to be purely from the African origin. Most of these African Americans are of mixed origins between the Caucasian men and women. Therefore, it would be unfair to compensate them yet they are not entirely Africans.
Additionally, anti-reparations supporters argue that paying the reparations based on racial backgrounds would cause an enmity and injustice among the whites and the African Americans living in the same country. Most whites who may have had pity on the slaves and the injustices committed to them may develop a negative attitude towards them and start having a feeling of anger because of the payments made to the African Americans. Many opponents of reparations argue that it would only make racism worse because payments would be made to the African Americans based on some arbitrary basis. Therefore, reparations should not be paid to descendants of black slaves. Moreover, opponents argue that it is not fair to renew a healed wound. The claim for reparations payments only sends a damaging message to the community of African-Americans living in the United States because it is neither constructive nor helpful currently (Randall, 2003). It is unfair for the African American leaders to keep reminding their people of atrocities committed to their ancestors for hundreds of years ago. These kinds of messages are only aimed at burdening African Americans with an attitude of victimhood. It is not fair to make people feel that they were victims of certain atrocities because it creates enmity between the wrongdoing party and the innocent party. Therefore, the debate about reparations to African Americans for slavery should be outdated according to most opponents of reparations.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the American government should not pay reparations to African Americans for slavery. Black slave trade occurred several years ago and thus it is illogical to dig into the past to find out the perpetrators of the crime. In any case, the U.S. government through welfare benefits and racial preferences has paid over time the reparations that the descendants of African American slaves may be claiming. The U.S. government has taken these measures in an effort to redress the issue of historical racial injustices such as the black slave trade. The main aim of reparation payments is to bring healing between the white Americans and the African Americans living in the same country. Thus, if the trillion of dollars spent to amend the American law to accommodate racial differences have not brought healing, no amount of reparation payments would be able to restore the much needed healing (Horowitz, 2001).
In addition, I believe that the living standards of the descendants of black slave trade have not been affected by the slavery that ended over 150 years ago. The difficulties that these African Americans went through during slavery were easy and they overcame them all. Most of the African Americans are part of a prosperous middle class in the United States compared to the few blacks in the underclass. Therefore, in my opinion, the suffering that any descendant of slave trade may be suffering is because of an individual decision and not because of the slave trade system that ended many years ago. Thus, the U.S. government should not pay reparations to African-Americans for slavery.
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