It was on a year-long walk retracing the path of slavery between Africa and the United States that Teegrey Iannuzzi says she finally woke up.
She was taking part in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, a walk retracing the trans-Atlantic slave trade between South Africa and the American colonies. The trek began in 1998 and was organized by Leverett Buddhist Sister Clare Carter, who meant for the journey to unite people of various racial and religious backgrounds in a visceral understanding of slavery’s cost.
Iannuzzi, now in her late 40s and living in Shutesbury, was already interested in racial harmony. But she didn’t realize how much work had to be done to realize that goal until she spent month after month not walking in other people’s shoes, but right beside them.
“When a peace walker of African descent told me that a day doesn’t pass that she is not confronted with racism in her life, I was shocked,” said Iannuzzi, who is white. “But how would I know what it was like being black in America?”
More importantly, she said, Iannuzzi wondered what she could do to level racial disparities in America. Iannuzzi says she knows that she’ll never truly be able to understand the black experience.
“I benefit from this system of privilege at the expense of people of color,” she said. “I am responsible to do my part.”
For her part, Iannuzzi got in touch with some like-minded friends and co-founded Mass Slavery Apology, a Greenfield-based organization dedicated to white people making amends to black people for the suffering of them and their ancestors. The friends — Iannuzzi, Anne Keough, and Sharin Alpert — spent four years in consultation with leaders in the black community drafting an open apology to black people. The statement now resides online at www.massslaveryapology.org. Hundreds of local people have signed on to the statement.
However, the founders and current members of Mass Slavery Apology would be the first to tell you the apology means nothing without action to right the wrong — action that includes not only words but also some form of financial reparations.
Reparations would compensate black people for their forced labor, pain and oppression. A 2004 Harvard University study, Documenting the Costs of Slavery, Segregation, and Contemporary Racism: Why Reparations Are in Order for African Americans, estimates that in America black people have been cheated out of $5 to $24 trillion in wages, other compensation, and potential interest since the days of slavery, an institution that became legal in British America in the 1660s.
It’s unclear where the money to pay for reparations would come from, but most likely the taxpayer would foot the bill.
The first step to getting people to support reparations is to educate white people about how racism’s stranglehold on the black community didn’t end with slavery and that white people today are still benefiting from forced labor and segregation. Also, it’s important for white people to understand why they should care.
And this is just what Mass Slavery Apology is trying to do, bring about reparations by educating the white community about how reparations will benefit black and white people. The group holds monthly informational meetings about racial and social inequity and provides an online resource for historical information about slavery.
“Better information leads to better behavior — sometimes,” said Enoch Page, the main consultant on the apology statement. Page, who is black, spoke to the Advocate by telephone from his home in California, where he is a full-time Americorps volunteer. Prior to this, Page lived in the Valley, working with civil rights activists and teaching anthropology and education at UMass Amherst.
Page said knowledge is not the silver bullet to creating change, but it’s the best weapon civil rights activists have in the fight against racism.
“You don’t necessarily get a good return on education, but without it your chance of better behavior is slim to nil,” he said.
Page said he admires what the co-founders of Mass Slavery Apology have accomplished. He describes the women as “models of what it would be like for other white people to recognize that they have a collective debt that they owe to people of color in this country.”
Getting people to talk about reparations — let alone get a serious proposal on the table — is difficult work. Iannuzzi said MSA is often met with a mixed reaction from the public — everything from gratitude to curses.
“A common question from the public has been: ‘Apology? Why should I apologize? I didn’t create in the institution of slavery. Beside, my family wasn’t involved. My ancestors came to this country after slavery.’ ” Iannuzzi tries to remind people that white people benefit from a system that was established during slavery and has lingered in ways big and small.
“Whites get privileges and access to resources that have been repeatedly denied to people of color even long after slavery ended,” she said.
What are reparations?
The goal of reparations would be to help fill the wealth gap between white and black people through infusing wealth into the black community.
The financial disparities between white and black people are immense and block opportunities for upward mobility. For example, in 2011, white households had a median income of $50,400 per year compared to just $32,028 for blacks, according to The Racial Wealth Gap report by Demos, a nonprofit think tank based in New York.
That same year, the report states, the median white household had about $111,146 in wealth holdings, compared to just $7,113 for median black households. And about 73 percent of white households own their own home, compared to 45 percent of blacks.
Helping black people buy homes and secure better jobs with fair wages through education and policy changes would help raise the community onto a level playing field, say reparations advocates. One such policy is “red-lining,” the practice of denying loans for homeownership to people who live in neighborhoods considered too poor to be a good loan risk.
If redlining were quashed and homeownership rates were more equal in the U.S., median black household wealth would grow $32,113, and the wealth gap between black and white households would shrink 31 percent, according to Demos. Homeownership increases financial stability and grows wealth because instead of paying rent to a landlord, the homeowner is building equity.
Getting the wealth out
There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to disbursing reparations: doling out a lump sum of cash or establishing a trust that would distribute wealth over time and according to specific criteria.
The distribution of lump sums of money to black people has its pitfalls, said Dania Francis, a UMass professor of economics and Afro-American studies and co-author of the 2010 paper, “Reparations for African-Americans as a Transfer Problem: A Cautionary Tale.”
If reparations were awarded today, she said, the money would most likely be spent to pay bills, on goods or services, invested or saved. While that would benefit the black Americans who initially received the money, a relatively small percentage would flow to black-owned businesses — because there aren’t very many of them.
According to 2007 Census data, the most recent information available, 7 percent of American businesses are owned by black people, while 78 percent are owned by whites. Just about anywhere the money was spent, the cash would end up back in the hands of white America.
“Let’s say you have all these intentions of not going out and spending it on whatever. You’re going to save it or invest it. Where is that investment going to go?” said Francis, who is black. “Right back into JP Morgan.
“The whole point of reparations was to improve the relative standing of blacks in America. This wouldn’t get it done.”
This led Francis and others to study the possibility of establishing a reparations trust fund. Under that scenario, black people could apply to for the purchase of a house, to start a business, or get an education.
The trust fund idea is the more politically popular form of reparations — if any form of reparations can be called popular. For example, a recent YouGov survey found that while only 6 percent of white people surveyed thought black people deserve cash reparations; 19 percent said they would support reparations in the form of education and job training. The same survey found that 59 percent of black people surveyed were in favor of cash reparations while 63 percent were in favor of educational investments.
Don’t mention it
With reparations there are still many questions: How much money would be enough to make a difference? Who would be the recipients? How long would the program last? Where would the money come from?
None of them have answers — the U.S. isn’t even clear on how slavery and the legacy of segregation and racism have affected black Americans and the country as a whole. Study of these questions has been blocked over and over again.
A discussion about reparations in the U.S. is near impossible to have. According to a January 2014 YouGov poll, 68 percent of Americans don’t think cash reparations should be made to descendants of slaves. In this climate, Michigan House Rep. John Conyers, Jr., has introduced legislation to fund a study on how slavery has impacted the social, political and economic life of the U.S. in each Congress since 1989. And every time, the legislation has been relegated to a committee, then a subcommittee, never to be heard from again until Conyers introduces it at the next Congress.
Oppression of black people didn’t cease once President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. It carries on today. Consider:
While the chances of a white American male being imprisoned at some point in his life is 1 in 17, a black male faces a 1 in 3 chance.
African Americans comprise 14 percent of the nation’s regular drug users, but are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses.
The average lifespan of a black man is almost five years shorter than that of a white man.
Still, opponents characterize reparation as unnecessary. In his seminal anti-reparations article, Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks — and Racist Too, David Horowitz, a conservative writer and think tank founder claims that very few black people were hurt by slavery and its legacy. He says the black community was repaid for any damage a few white slaveholders may have done by welfare and other policies advanced by the civil rights movement, despite the fact that more white people have taken advantage of welfare than blacks. For example, in 2012, the most recent information available, 38 percent of households receiving foodstamps were white, while 24 percent were black.
“If not for the sacrifices of white soldiers and a white American president who gave his life to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks in America would still be slaves. If not for the dedication of Americans of all ethnicities and colors to a society based on the principle that all men are created equal, blacks in America would not enjoy the highest standard of living of blacks anywhere in the world,” he wrote. “Where is the gratitude of black America and its leaders for those gifts?”
Page, the reparations supporter, says that while western society is “terrified” by reparations, they are a necessary next step. “Reparations are in order. I do believe a serious effort to make reparations to the whole population, not just to individuals, would have a tremendous impact on African American consciousness.”
He also notes that should reparations be paid, the money would not be in exchange for black people’s silence on racism and researching slavery’s legacy.
“The problem with reparations is that it can be seen by the dominant population as pay off, and now that we’ve paid you off we don’t want to hear from you anymore,” Page said.
In this climate, members of Mass Slavery Apology say they are compelled to keep working. In addition to the statement, members organize monthly educational events exploring racial injustice. The next one will be held April 7 at the First Congregational Church in Greenfield. The guest speaker is a black mother who will discuss the special challenges she faces raising a black son in America. MSA isn’t just interested in racial justice for black people, though that is their focus. They are also interested in the shabby treatment Native Americans and Latinos receive in the United States. In May, the MSA will hold a talk about Latino history and experiences.
“White people, for our good and for the welfare of people of color, we need to recognize a debt is owed,” said George Esworthy, one of seven active MSA members. “The only lost cause is the one you give up on and the struggle for reparations has gone on for a long time. It’s persistent and under the radar and we can’t give it up.”•
Contact Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com.
I didn’t own slaves and don’t owe reparations to anyone.And all the slaves.are.dead.
That is the answer.
Life is for the living.
There were blacks in the south who owned slaves.
Will the children of those black slavers also get reparation checks?
Do whites who immigrated here after 1865 also owe money?
What about Hispanics?
Asians?
Do whites who can trace their lineage back to soldiers who fought for the Union owe money too?
Are Oprah and Will Smith also going to get reparation checks?
How about blacks who moved here after 1865? They going to get money too?
I’ve been called a teabagger, racist, cracker, sexist, homophobe quite a bit in the past few years simply because I’m white. How much money am I owed for this cultural hate?
Yo jeremy u speak some real shit. How come no one will respond to what u got to say?
Cause I made a good point?
Over 50 million white Americans have a black slave ancestor.
Paying reparations could be quite a problem for just about everyone.
The answer is a resounding NO. Nothing is owed.
do the various african tribes and their muslim cohorts, not to mention the african countries involved in the slave trade centuries ago, owe anyone anything since they started it all? and to this day, muslims enslave blacks all over the world……..asshats….
596,670 Union soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or went missing during the civil war. Most of these were young white men who had no stake in the conflict. Who owes whom?
If whites are as racist as being portrayed wouldn’t they just kill all the blacks rather than pay trillions of dollars?
Should blacks pay reparations to the descendents of the 300,000+ union soldiers who died in the Civil War fighting to end slavery? What about those of us whose ancestors didn’t arrive in the US until after the Civil War? SNAP, welfare, Section 8 housing allowances, Obama phones and other entitlements funded by whites = reparations.
The civil war was about saving the union and the bankers from Europe trying to get a footing in America to establish banks for their agenda + interest as usual.Lincoln said this over and over in his speeches.Many of the bankers went to jail for conspiring to do this.How little Americans know about the economic agenda of the civil war and the banking cartels from Europe.
The Irish Slave Trade – The Forgotten “White” Slaves.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). If a planter whipped or branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African.
The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce. Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish moms, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their kids and would remain in servitude.
Who is going to pay me?
Indeed, every time I see the topic of reparations for black slaves come up, I wonder myself if I can expect any money since im Irish and my ancestors were just as much enslaved as black peoples ancestors. Somehow I doubt it though, I think my white skin color will nufllify the fact that my ancestors were slaves.
Irish were never slaves… Goodness,
You really need to brush up on your history. The Irish were just as much slaves as Africans were. In fact they were treated worse in most cases because they couldnt work as hard, and sold for less money than black slaves.
What about the native Americans who were in America 12 thousand years before blacks nor whites touched the soil?
You need to use your resources and stop being ignorant. You’re paying them. You’ve been paying them 5 billion dollars for over 3 years now.
Suuuuure. If only those black people would have known that the slaves that they were selling to the white imperialists were *actually* going to be used as slaves, then surely they wouldnt have sold them. The black man can be forgiven for selling his brothers to be used as slaves because he thought he was he was getting paid money for his fellow brothers to be brought overseas and treated like kings…. Ya, surely everyone is buying it…..
Baws , your skin color does not disqualify you for reparations.yet you should take that up with your enslaver(Britain) like were trying to do with ours(america).with that being said geography does disqualify you from this conversation
My enslaver is just as much britain as it is the usa.
Goodness, you are so stupid.. Chattel slavery is a completely different moron
It probably comes a huge surprise to you that there were black slaveholders as well as white slaves. It must be unfortunate for you that history and factual evidence do not support your chosen narrative.
In fact, theres a good chance slavery would have never been around in the USA had it not been for the BLACK farmer who decided he wanted his black “indentured servant” to serve for the remainder of his life. That event is what gave rise to slavery in america.
LMAO.. Slavery in Africa wasnt chattel slavery, the transatlantic slavery.. Any history would tell you that. Also, if you an historian, you would realise that non whites who owned slaves were creole (a mixed of white and black). The creoles never saw themselves as blacks or whites. The saw themselves as a completely different race of people. Nice Mr. Even if black owned slaves, does that make whites less culpable? The hubris of people like yo never cease to amaze.
As for your last paragraph.. Goodness.. I never read anything so stupid in life.. Pathetic
By your logic, obama would not be considered black but “creole.” While you are correct about the existence of creoles in this country, the creoles were pretty much confined only to Louisiana. They were not a major widespread minority throughout the country as you try to portray them to be.
By the way slavery in Africa was very much “chattel slavery” which was started by the Arabs and facilitated by corrupt African tribal leaders who were complicit in the scheme even though they knew it would be their people that would suffer. And Africans werent the only ones to suffer slavery either. Millions of Irish were shipped off as slaves to the New World as well.
Unfortunately for them because they have white skin in todays politically correct world, they are typically lumped in with the slavemasters and overseers and treated as if they were slavemasters. Even though the Irish were slaves, because they happen to be born with white skin that means they are a slavemaster. Thats quite a stark contrast to the african american, who got affirmative action and thus the ability to get into Harvard without being able to read, as reparations for slavery.
LMAO… white guilt on display.. This is the crystallization of white privilege: it is the power to
bend reality in the service of one’s own will and needs. Thus, you are able to fashion a lie for yourself, one that makes you feel better
about the realities of your ancestors’ behavior.
What a surprise. You wont challenge anything I said, because you cant. Everything I said is factually accurate and verifiable. Clearly even you yourself must have trouble subscribing to the garbage spewing out of your mouth, as evidenced by your refusal to defend your own words.
You just wanna scream and cry racism at every turn because you think you will get some free shit out of it. Thats all too typical of todays black american, that entitlement attitude that everybody owes you something. Nevermind the fact that black people who cant even read or write are regularly let into ivy league schools because of affirmative action programs. Meanwhile other minorities like asians have to have near perfect grades and test scores to even be considered to get into a school like that. Thats your slavery reparations, the ability that blacks and only blacks have to get into ivy league schools with no education or the ability to get high paying jobs with no education or prior experience.
I think all blacks should return to Africa and take up the question of reparation with their historical true original slave owners, other blacks. Better yet, stay in USA, shut up, move on, get self responsible and become an interesting person to talk with.
You whites always talking about go back after the benefits that has been provided to your race in this country over the sweat blood and tears of my Black race. Lol. How about you go back to those caves you came from in the Caucasus Mountains where your ancestors ate each other and lived like savages for decades. Lol. You so ignorant.
You whites always talking about go back after the benefits that has been provided to your race in this country over the sweat blood and tears of my Black race. Lol. How about you go back to those caves you came from in the Caucasus Mountains where your ancestors ate each other and lived like savages for decades. Lol. You so ignorant.
Chattle slavery and slavery in Africa were nothing alike. If they’d known, they wouldn’t have sold you shit. White people have had the barbarism of the Anglo Saxons since the 19th century.
The only barbarians are those who believe there is a “good” slavery and “bad” slavery.
I think you have never truly studied African slavery. The Zulu and Ashanti did not treat their slaves kindly. They regarded them as sub human and were cruel owners. But slavery was not unique to Africa. It has historically been practiced throughout the world, all ages, all peoples, even now.
And you fail to realized that the Zulu and Ashanti didn’t put my ancestors in the harsh n cruel conditions that the white slave owners did. The psychological effect of those conditions still exist til this day. That’s why majority of African Americans can’t seem to get it together! That slave shit fucked my people up. Smh
Point well taken and may I also point out that Native Americans owned slaves and had for many centuries so should they pay reparations to other tribes and blacks. Time to stop all this blackmail. Face the real problem addressing most of us: Over population, global warming and leaders owned by corporations.
I would be willing to negotiate reparations with one condition: once reparations were paid, that’s it.
No more demands. No more money. No more extortion ‘racism’. No more talking about the past. No more blaming the white man for past, present, and future failures.
If I’m going to pay extortion money, the extortion has to end.
Anyone who says anything will be subject to having their money revoked.
Of course, this wouldn’t work. The next generation would claim they didn’t get theirs and it will be never ending.
365,000 died on the Union side to end slavery. In today’s dollars, the Civil War cost about $102B. Does that count as a downpayment?
If a specific white American held his black neighbor in slavery then certainly he owes reparations. Next question…
Little surprised there’s no one commenting yet on the pro-reparations side.
Leave it to America to not want to acknowledge the effects 400 years of oppression has on those descended from the severely oppressed. Germany has kicked out 102 billion to holocaust descendants with no questions asked over a 7 year act. Native americans just got a 5 billion dollar settlement from the federal government 3 years ago. Japanese get a settlement immediately after being released from internment camps. WHITE PEOPLE: Your ancestors’ wealth– your wealth– comes from the relentlessness of people who got paid NOTHING. Freed from slavery with nothing while they’d already handed your great-great grandfather’s lazy ass EVERYTHING. The industrial revolution WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED if slaves hadn’t done what they had. Think about it. Own up.
How about some thanks for those that fought for slave’s freedom instead of being greedy and asking for yet another hand out. Not every person’s ancestors in this country owned slaves. Mine didn’t. At least two of my ancestors died fighting the South in the civil war. So I don’t owe you or any other person any “reparations.” Not one thin dime, and no guilt whatsoever.
Pathetic..
Your debate/communication skills are astounding. Care to elaborate on what is “pathetic.”
Well dont you understand what pathetic means? Look at your argument. I am not debating you.., it would be a waste of time to even attempt ot engage you in a debate. Pathetic
I didn’t present an argument. I stated fact. And you’re right – it would be a waste of time debating because you obviously don’t know how to. Good day to you.
then get off this forum ludicrous human.
Because your argument are pathetic… When you meant a white person like yourself, it is better to ignore them,, rather than even attempting at arguing with them, is a waste of my time
Im white, im Irish, and my ancestors were slaves. Am I owed money too? Or does my white skin disqualify me from receiving reparations?
“…black people have been cheated out of $5 to $24 trillion in wages, other
compensation, and potential interest since the days of slavery…”
Which is approximately the range of what Black Americans have received in Great Society, welfare and other transfer payments since the 1960s.
I think it will he hard to convince an unemployed “white” person that he owes reparations for slavery while Deval Patrick is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because he is so “talented.”
The reparation proposal is racist. If you are black, you get money. It is not well thought out. If you are a tax paying decedent of slaves, you pay money. The main winners would be those in the bureaucracy that would oversee the fund.
In anticipation of denials that the Civil War was about slavery the Constitution of the Confederate States of America ( http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp specifically prohibited a state from interfering with the right the own “Negro Slaves.”
I did not inherit my Great-great grandfathers farm on Scenic Wright’s Mountain (Bradford, VT) because he contracted TB while in the Union Army and could not run the farm. I had another great-great grandfather who was a poor laborer who was in the Union Army. There was no massive slave rebellion against the Confederates. There was no massive organization of former slaves to protect the gains from the Civil War. The reparations advocates would have my family pay yet again. And some of the payees would be recent immigrants from Africa, descendants of African slave traders who sold the slaves bound for the USA.
My great grandfather was in the army of General Lord Kitchener, who came to Sudan to defeat the Mahdi, a slave trader who had many African followers. Now that the British have left slavery is once again taking hold in Sudan.
After the Civil War the Southerners were stupid and fought to prevent Afro-Americans from voting. All they had to do was nothing. Here in Springfield various groups practically beg them to vote. One can vote in the Library, City Hall, etc. Some organizations have people sworn in as registrars of voters. Yet the Afro-American Demographic has a very low rate of voter registration. Only about 40% of those eligible in Springfield are registered to vote. And that does not mean that they will actually vote. Most of them will not vote. And when they do vote, they help elect politicians that ship jobs from the USA like most voters. And I am suppose to pay them reparations?
We now have laws that require everyone to go to school until they are 16 years of age. And we have a busy bureaucracy which attempts to enforce the law. Yet people are skipping school. They are not applying themselves to their studies. One can see them on the streets on a daily basis. Who’s fault is that? It is not the tax payers who built the school and pay the teachers.
If we are going to be paid based on what our ancestors did I think descendants of slaves should send me $10 per week in reparations .
If reparation is the answer there is a practical, bipartisan course. http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2010/07/15/reparations-for-republicans/
It was suggested that the United States of America owes
Black people who may or may not be descended from people who were held as
slaves for their labor, etc. I swear that I have never held any person as a
slave, nor have I profited from the labor of any slaves, because there have
been no slaves in the U.S.A. in my lifetime. If the descendants of slaves are
due anything for their labors, etc. then they should look to the people who
owned them; oh no, the people who were slaves aren’t alive any more. Come to
think of it, the people who owned the slaves aren’t alive anymore either. So
why is this issue coming up? The people who might have legitimate claims are
dead, and so are the people who might have owed those claims.
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to hold responsible the ones
who initially enslaves the Blacks who were sent to the U.S.? There were people
in Africa who made a regular business of putting people into slavery and
selling them to traders. Those people made money hand over fist. Why doesn’t
someone track down their descendants? Then there were the traders who made
plenty of money buying and selling people. I wasn’t one of them, but there
might be some money there. I believe that Brown Brother, Harriman were big into
financing slave traders; has anyone tried to get them to pay?
While we’re looking at paying people compensation because
their ancestors were slaves, how about me? Some of my ancestors were serfs within
the last few hundred years, and if we go back further almost all of them were
serfs during some periods. I’m willing to settle for a hundred million myself.
Is anyone willing to pay?
Dude peter. I seriously could not help but literally laugh out loud as I read your post. I could not have worded it better myself. Props.
All who opposed that “you” don’t owe my people any reparations are fooling yourselves. Simply put all of your white brethren are still alive to pay! Jp Morgan Wells Fargo Koch etc! Etc! These Corporations has benefited from my ancestors in this country for many years. Over the decades all they did was changed the names, but currently descendants of white slave owners. So yes! The pay out is definitely there to give out. The US gave reparations to the Jews Indian & Eskimos etc! Millions! African Americans $0! On top of that the white race stoled inventions that my ancestors invented and profited off them til this day! I can go on forever but I’m leave it right hear I dare the opposition challenge me on this level when it comes to the Black Man/Moor. Just remember this white can’t make no colors! But Black can make all colors!!!
If someone took something from you, then bring criminal and/or civil action against that person, but don’t go looking for a handout just because some ancestors had something taken from them centuries ago. Did anyone who is alive now enslave you? If so, then take legal actions. If everyone whose ancestors were abused by someone expected something, then the courts would be filled with legal actions against rotten bodies.
I didn’t enslave you, so I am not responsible for that, and I didn’t enslave any of your ancestors, so I am not responsible to pay reparations for that.
By the way, Black is the absence of color.
If someone took something from you, then bring criminal and/or civil action against that person, but don’t go looking for a handout just because some ancestors had something taken from them centuries ago. Did anyone who is alive now enslave you? If so, then take legal actions. If everyone whose ancestors were abused by someone expected something, then the courts would be filled with legal actions against rotten bodies.
I didn’t enslave you, so I am not responsible for that, and I didn’t enslave any of your ancestors, so I am not responsible to pay reparations for that.
By the way, Black is the absence of color.
All who opposed that “you” don’t owe my people any reparations are fooling yourselves. Simply put all of your white brethren are still alive to pay! Jp Morgan Wells Fargo Koch etc! Etc! These Corporations has benefited from my ancestors in this country for many years. Over the decades all they did was changed the names, but currently descendants of white slave owners. So yes! The pay out is definitely there to give out. The US gave reparations to the Jews Indian & Eskimos etc! Millions! African Americans $0! On top of that the white race stoled inventions that my ancestors invented and profited off them til this day! I can go on forever but I’m leave it right hear I dare the opposition challenge me on this level when it comes to the Black Man/Moor. Just remember this white can’t make no colors! But Black can make all colors!!!
i think a lot of people are missing the point of reparations for the U.S. black community. it’s to level the playing field which has been severely altered not only by slavery, but also by jim crow, segregation and good ol fashion racism. whether you or your family held slaves, if your skin is white and you live in America you benefit from the legacy of slavery, segregation, and racism – that’s the whole point of these ugly institutions, after all. yes, there have been other atrocities over the course of human history, but that’s not what the article is about.
But most white people miss the point about reparation.. Personally, I think the opposition to reparation is due to lack of respect that whites have for the humanity of black people. To them, people they think (consciously or subsciously) are inferior will never have their right for justice recognised
wrong: study what happened after the civil war. There were massive reparations for blacks. You seem to be one of the whites who know very little about true history. What about the almost 50 percent of slave owners who were blacks. Read real history, don’t create false history. I am not a racist or nazi, just a historian who hates people who bastardize true history for their own means, gains and just stupidity and to prove they are ‘good people’.
Try getting an education and read history for what it is before sounding so liberal. To find anyone with slavery roots as owners would be a task unless you were black. Try looking at the white slavery that enslaved whites for hundreds of years. Hey how about the 2% white slave owners compared to 43% of the free blacks with slaves. How about indentured servant children ignored by people as yourself into the late 1880’s. Try learning the truth about slavery and read a great works of it’s history; “white slavery, African slave traders and the hidden history of slavery” Read it or shut up. The reading is objective slavery world wide. Whites were last to use slaves and first to outlaw it. Whites move on while the sad blacks today who never saw a slave and probably not their GGG grandfathers either. Whites moved on . Whites benefited from slavery today?? You are truly an ignorant leftist person. To compare Jim crow and slavery to today’s culture is to show your wanting a fight. Blacks sold blacks into slavery and their offspring are fortunate for it. I will not explain this until you read and learn otherwise you are wasting my time. We owe black nothing and that is it.
The playing field is already more than level; without ‘white racism’ and whites, blacks create a Haiti, a Jamaica, a Botswana at best. They owe whites, big time.
The playing field is already more than level; without ‘white racism’ and whites, blacks create a Haiti, a Jamaica, a Botswana at best. They owe whites, big time.
Excellent. My debt is paid. Burgled by blacks of grandmother’s engagement ring, my navy and high school rings, a silver 50Cents piece various other items of furniture and clothes, cutlery and crockery. My family are Puritan from the North-east never owned slaves. Deduct from the $5B owed.
I just want to say that my family,yes, Probably did own slaves (since I live in the south), yet in the past 4-5 generations none of us have been anywhere near the upper class as it stands right now my close family (mother step-father [haven’t seen my real father for about 5ish years], sister, and myself) is basically broke constantly having to move from apartment to apartment with no money saved back in the bank, if a tax was imposed upon those whose families owned slaves we’d probably be truly broke with nothing to our name. I also have to agree with TruthBeTold’s comment on the situation.
Note: your family more than certainly didn’t own slaves. Only 2 percent of southerns owned slaves. Most southerns were rather poor and came from indenture slaves themselves. 50 percent of slave owners were actually black themselves. Before you go creating this false history about all white southerns owned slaves, study real history.
very true! The ones that can claim slave ownership are the blacks themselves.
People won’t like my comment, but most of it is from a discussion with my neighbors. They are awesome for one. They are black conservatives, and honestly they are far better off than most whites I know…
Reparations aren’t meant to bring them to the median white level. They are meant to bring the damaged folks/society, back to an equal living environment/way of life, that they’d be at, had they not been damaged by us. They have that now.
Giving money won’t change anything. Give an inch, take a mile.
Tell you what though, stop encouraging the letting in of immigrants who can’t pay their way, and help would be easier to obtain. But instead it’s pay blacks, then pay Hispanics, pay Japanese, etc. We’re already in debt to our necks, where will the money come from? My family loses 1/3rd of our income to some tax or another as it is, and we barely scrape by. We won’t be able to put our one kid through college without loans. We can’t go on vacations. My husband works 6-7 days a week to make up some of the lost wages from tax. We can’t do it. Guess why many white families never got out of poverty?.. Some were brought here just like black folks. Some were killed fighting for them. Of course some were killed fighting against as well. My great great great great grandfather was murdered by the confederates, as was his brother and uncle. Others had their homes burned down, with the men dead. No men to take care of 5-7 children. Where is that in our history books?
Don’t tell me I’ve benefited. I have buy here pay here cars. Nothing in credit. Bought a piece of crap home to fix up for $10,500 to not have house payments. Bought the land through owner financing. I don’t have more than one child out of responsibility. And my white privilege hasn’t gotten me far. But you keep telling yourselves that some well off white person is behind these keyboards. Lets forget how most Irish/Scottish descent folks got here in the first place… Hint: in shackles as punishment for being poor, to work for free, and stay poor; to have our history ignored from all.
Lets imagine how well it will go when black folks learn they are not slave descendants, so they get nothing… How will we even verify it anyways? What about decendants with hundreds of relatives – will they split it? What about blacks that came by choice; or after slavery; or were slaves, then owned slaves; or folks with both slave and slave owner descendants -would that cancel each other out? How about blacks that are richer than most whites, will they be paid?
What about whites who are descendants of slaves – will they get paid or is their white privilege an exclusion?
Reparations won’t help in the long run. Education? Elementary, middle, and high school are free, yet How many take advantage of it? How about we pay reparations and no more entitlements for those who get them? eh I know… Would they want it if reparations came with the requirement of a one way ticket out so they won’t be held down by white privilege? They can send white africans in their place, because their white privilege is getting them attacked in Africa.
What if instead, we implement programs to force them to do better (white, black, Latino); like limits on funds and duration, work or go to school to benefit, no increased benefits for more kids after on welfare, etc. How about section 8 housing buy programs?.. Pay on the house while on benefits so you continue when finally self sustaining. How about community daycare instead of government vouchers? Community gardens; community repair men; chickens for eggs; security; etc. I’m talking about semi-self sustaining communities to encourage growth in low-income areas.
You know the saying, “give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime?” let’s teach them how to fish (metaphorically).
I’m not opposed to all forms of reparations, but if it won’t reduce the crime, drain on tax dollars, or anti-white behavior, Why should we sign up?
The first thing I would get if they did the right thing is buy a Range Rover with some nice wheels. Then trick out my crib.
Considering the truth: That around 50 percent of slave owners were black and that some of the cruelest slave owners were blacks and that the first slave owner was a black and that blacks were sold as slaves by other black Africans: No I don’t think the white race owes the black race anything. There were more indenture white slaves in the USA than Blacks and blacks only became life owned slave because of a lawsuit brought by a black man who wanted to permanently own another black man. Hint: find, discover and read true history. The truth is not told. I actually think Blacks owe whites. After all it has been whites who changed the laws, society and mainly fought a war to help the black race. We are portrayed as in power if so then we did it all for them. The question should be: What have blacks ever done for whites and more importantly for themselves. Very little. They did show revolutionaries during the revolutionary war against England how to do immunization, but overall they have become a begging, blame throwing group in general. I still judge people individually, but too bad that some loud mouthed blacks can’t seem to stop wanting and demanding handouts in all phases and blaming everything and everyone else for their problems. I feel sorry for the real victims of the Neo Loud Mouth Negative Black Agenda that is rampant in all forms of media at this point in time. The real victims are blacks, the ones who are killed, robbed, looted, molested, raped and generally abused by the biggest mouths of the Neo Loud Mouth Negative Black Agenda who appear to seek non culpability for any and all of their nefarious activities. Stop begging, stop blaming and stop victimizing each other. Oh and stop with the riots that just seem to be a means to loot. Interesting how they still riot and loot in Missouri but quit in Maryland. Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that the main police involved in the Maryland incident turned out to be black! White and suffering from Black fatigue.
1) you clearly didn’t read the story
2) you clearly get all your information from memes
3) citations needed
4) read your local newspaper
You seem to use the word clearly far too much.It makes you come off as kinda smug.If this were South Park,you would be driving a Prius and sniffing your own farts.No doubt you do both.
we owe blacks nothing for buying them from other blacks. Hell they most likely owe us for being here or just go back to the great life of Liberia. They had the offer after the Civil War and most decided to stay.
it is abundantly clear that you did not read this article. how can anyone take you seriously if you are unable to meet the most basic tenents of debate?
There is no tort — there are no living slaves in the US. Their descendents actually are in better shape than had there been no slavery. In the US the average black income is $18000, the nearest sub-Saharan African per capita GDP is $11,000 (not coincidentially the formerly white ruled South Africa), the nearest country next to that is the $7200 per capita GDP in Botswana. In short, black people, far from being owed reparations, owe white America rent.
There is no tort — there are no living slaves in the US. Their descendents actually are in better shape than had there been no slavery. In the US the average black income is $18000, the nearest sub-Saharan African per capita GDP is $11,000 (not coincidentially the formerly white ruled South Africa), the nearest country next to that is the $7200 per capita GDP in Botswana. In short, black people, far from being owed reparations, owe white America rent.
End the expensive wars, had a pile of cash to them called reparations and be done with it. Contrary to what Page says – if you say I owe you a bill, that you’ve put a number on, and I pay that number I no longer owe you anything, not even my ears to listen. I’ll listen to you as much as I listen to Joe Blow across town; as in I won’t, ever.
People want revenge for what is now history? Will the Latino History focus on the history of Latino Slave Masters? In 1830 4000 free negroes had as many as 13000 slaves. Is the world going to be perpetually in court using ancestral history and genealogy to go on litigious racist witch hunt!? Round up the whites with the Slave Owner DNA and MAKE EM PAY! Wow look its the new Nazis!
The question of what our black neighbors owe white people for inflicting slavery upon America is a more appropriate question. Free black men like Anthony Johnson fought to bring the slavery of other blacks they enjoyed in Africa over to the colonies. They went on to enjoy and profit from enslaving their fellow blacks for two generations before it was legal for white people to do the same.
Very simply, slavery would never have existed in America if not for the black people who fought to bring their slavery customs to the US. Slave traders didn’t go into the woods of Africa with nets and capture slaves as many tv movies would suggest. The walked into the slalve trading posts that existed in Africa for hundreds of years and bought them from the black traders who went out and captured their own people to use as personal slaves and sell to others as slaves..
“Very simply, slavery would never have existed in America if not for the black people who fought to bring their slavery customs to the US. ”
This is the stupidest thing I have ever read.