Learning from Cartoons

We usually find humor in cartoons, but I think we can also learn from them if we take time to understand the message they are trying to convey. During Thanksgiving break, I searched for cartoons that address my research topic: Reparations to African Descendants for Slavery and Colonization. I never imagined such cartoons would exist, but I found several examples which criticize racial inequality and the avoidance of dialogue concerning reparations. I am glad my blogging assignment is driving me to explore new things. Here's what I found:

Images adopted from Google images.

MHC Professors on Reparations to African Descedants for Slavery and Colonization

I interviewed four professors at Mount Holyoke College regarding the issue of reparations to African descendants for slavery and colonization. The professors supported the idea of reparations; however, they acknowledged that it is a hard topic to deal with.

                                                     Image adopted from Google Images

Samba Gadjigo, a French professor, explained how colonization harmed Africa. "At the economic level, colonization has set us [Africans] back, " he said. Africa lost most of its economic potential during slavery and unfortunately, it is hard to quantify the damages of colonization, which makes it hard to determine the amount of compensation to be made.

Gadjigo also argued that it might be hard to know the number of slaves that were taken from Africa; however,  it might be less challenging to quantify the amount of materials taken from Africa. “It might be much easier to calculate how many tons of copper or gold that has been taken from Africa," Gadjigo said. Through his examples, Gadjigo suggested that Western countries should first consider returning materials that can be seen and touched, such as artwork and archives.

During the interview, Holly Hanson, an Africana Studies professor suggested another form of reparation. “Colonialism and slavery created structures that continue to make life harder for people. So, the logical way to fix it would be to make structural changes,” she said. Some structural changes include funding higher education for Africa-Americans, lowering taxes, and establishing an affordable health plan.

Lynda Morgan, a History professor, also agreed that paying reparations might help eradicate social problems. Morgan believes that "If you try to eliminate poverty, then some problems that people deal with in the society will go. Problems that people try to racialize...," she said.

Even though paying reparations might seem like a good thing to do, people must be very careful not to cause more divisions between whites and blacks.  

“If we don't treat everyone equally, paying reparations might not improve things," Kim Dionne, an African Politics professor said.

During the interview, all professors emphasized the need for dialogue and Hanson said that "The real danger of reparations is that we don't want anyone to say 'I don't owe you that.' The ideal reparations will be someone saying that 'I have really benefited from what your ancestors did and I am willing to give you this much.' The ideal dialogue."

For more information about "Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide, check out Britain's Black Debt, a book that Hilary McD. Beckles recently released. A copy is available at Amherst College.

12 Years a Slave

The 12 Years a Slave film illustrates more about slavery. This movie is based on a true story of a man who was kidnapped for 12 years and some people describe it as a 'horror movie" due to the whipping of the slaves.

 This movie serves a great purpose of educating people on what happened during slavery and it's my hope that people will initiate a dialogue which might help the black community in the U.S. heal the wounds of the past.

Here's a link to showtimes in malls near our campus.


Here's a full audio book narration of the Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. It's only eight hours long. Enjoy!!

Slaves helped Build Ivy League Colleges in America

Slaves helped build prestigious universities in the U.S. such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and among others. Unfortunately, a small percentage of black students have access to such schools and this is very disadvantageous to African-Americans when it comes to securing good jobs in the country. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education argues that low income black students “are not the students benefiting from today’s race-sensitive admissions programs at America’s most selective colleges."
This issue makes me question the importance of the affirmative action, which Thomas Sowell  doesn't think  help solve the problem of inequality in education. This is because some African-Americans who are accepted in top universities aren't prepared well enough to face the competition in these schools, and some of them end up dropping from college.

In 2011, eight top universities accepted less that 8% of students of color. This has continued to harm generations of black community in America that has a hard time catching up with the other communities that have more access to resources.

If you are interested in learning more about how the top universities in the U.S. benefited from slavery, you can read Ebony and Ivy, a book that was published this month by Craig Wilder, a history professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You can read some pages of the book here.

Image adopted from amazon.com