African Descendants Deserve Reparations for Slavery and
Colonization
Many nations give credit to their workers by celebrating Labor Day,
but rarely is the issue concerning slaves who worked for many years without
payment addressed. At the end of the 18th
century, many African descendants were enslaved while others were colonized by
western countries. These two issues have caused ongoing harm to African
descendants and their repercussions which include inequality, institutionalized
racism, and injustices still exist today. Through slavery, the ancestors of
African-Americans were forced to build the United States and its economic
prosperity, but their descendants still struggle to access facilities such as
school, which were constructed by slaves. Other countries such as the Caribbean
and Haiti where Africans were enslaved experienced the same kind of treatment
from the whites. Africans were exploited and mistreated in their own countries
during colonization and resources that could have helped them improve their lives
were taken away from them. Africans who were enslaved in western countries were
denied access to resources through institutions which identified them as
property, subhuman or unworthy beings. In America, the slaves had to liberate
themselves through the Civil War which took place in the 19th
century. However, African-Americans still continue to fight for equality in
economic, social, political, health, and educational structures. The potential
of African-Americans was greatly diminished by slavery and injustices that
followed after the Civil War and I believe the American government should compensate
them by transforming institutions, which would help African descendants overcome
problems that arose from slavery. In addition, African-Americans should be
allowed equal access to resources in order for them to improve their lives and recover
damages that many of their generations have undergone since slavery.
In 1865, the U.S. adopted the 13th Amendment which
abolished slavery in America and after the Civil War; African-Americans were
promised 40 acres of land by the American government. During the same year,
William T. Sherman, the general of the U.S. army at the time, issued a Special
Field Order No. 15 which redistributed “roughly 400,000 acres of land to newly
freed black families in forty-acre segments” along the coastlines of Charleston,
South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. This order was signed by Lincoln after
receiving a lot of pressure from republicans in the Congress, who claimed that
the redistribution of slave owners’ lands would reduce their power. Lincoln
sent Sherman and Edwin M. Stanton, the secretary of war at the time, to discuss
emancipation with the black leaders in Georgia (Myers, 2013).
The emancipation demanded the freeing of slaves and rearrangement
of social and economic structures in Georgia and during this period, freed
slaves refused to work and live at their masters’ homes. Some of them fled in
other regions in search for better opportunities and the hope to live their
newly found freedom. Due to such reasons, some slaves had no option than to
move. One slave woman from South Carolina was urged to stay and she said,” No,
Miss, I must go. If I stay here I’ll never know I am free,” (Permna, p. 15,
2013). Other freed people moved to the cities dressed in free men’s clothing
and the freedom exercised by the slaves made the slave owners uncomfortable.
Slave owners had different expectations for emancipation and they expected the
slaves to continue observing slavery rules, eat and dress as they did before
they were freed, and continue working for the white people (Myers, 2013).
Conflict arose among the
freed slave, slave owners, and the Northerners, who opposed slavery, and none
of these groups attained their total freedom after the end of the Civil War and
after the abolishing of slavery. However, the slaves started getting paid for
their labor (O'Donovan, 2013). In 1864, the freed slaves “were pegged at nine
or ten hours a day and $3-8 a month,” (Perman, p.8, 1987).This payment was not
equivalent to the number of hours worked and the free slaves were regarded to as
“a very different thing from a free man,” (Perman, p.8, 1987). However, the
underpayment was an achievement for the slaves since they realized that they
could still accomplish their vision of freedom.
For Sherman, the issuing of land was
significant because he needed to settle families of the black refugees who
followed his army since the invasion of Georgia, and also lower the cost of
maintaining his army. Through this order, “60,000 blacks moved onto the land,
hoping this time they would be allowed to stay,” (Perman, p.11, 1987). Black people
were also allowed to join the army and 180,000 men helped maintain their newly
found liberty (Perman, p.21, 1987). In addition, an inspector was assigned to
ensure that the black people were legally entitled to the land. Afterwards, Sherman ordered the army to loan
mules to the black settlers. The land and the mule would enable the new farmers
to become independent economically and help them establish their social and
free lives (Myers,
2013).
In 1865, the Congress instructed
Lincoln “to establish the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands on
March 3, 1865.” The Freedman's Bureau gave the freed slaves and the white
Southerners the legal ownership of lands (Myers, 2013). The Freedmen's Bureau aimed at assisting
the newly freed population to transition from slavery, regulate the labor
system, establish tribunals to settle disputes, and ensure social prosperity.
This bureau also aimed at establishing institutions such as school and
hospitals for the freed slaves (Myers, 2013). According
to Mary Farmer- Kaiser, “the new bureau did accomplish a great deal before
being officially dismantled in 1872….the bureau stood at the center of
Reconstruction and played a critical role in shaping how more than four million
men, women, and children defined and enjoyed their lives and labors as
freedpeople” (Farmer- Kaiser, p.1, 2010). However, this promise and liberty
didn't last for long because President Andrew Johnson revoked Sherman's Order
at the end of 1865 (Myers, 2013), and in 1872, the Congress declared that
Sherman’s Order had expired (Hatfield, 2013).
This
Order was overturned because the Congress feared that the freed slaves would
vastly extend their territories. The Congress had previously declared that:
all land
and property of men who were fighting for the Confederacy or even the property
of others who had supported or conducted business with Confederate forces or
authorities had been technically “abandoned,” even if their families were still
on the land, making it eligible for confiscation by the Federal government (Buescher,
2013).
Sherman had confiscated the costal lands and
the “abandoned” land and he wanted to provide settlement to the freed slaves
especially the old, women, and children, who depended on him for food.
Sherman's Order originally applied only to the coastal lands and the island,
but the Congress feared that the black community would continue to acquire more
of the “abandoned” land, based on the new translation of this Order (Buescher, 2013).In addition, the bureau had become “the
embodiment of the triumphant North in a defeated south,” Farmer-Kaiser, p.1,
2010) and Johnson declared that the “land redistribution was no longer the
postwar political agenda,” (Perman, p.37,
1987).
From
Johnson’s statement, it is clear that the land promised to the slaves by the
American government was meant to settle the conflict, but not to compensate the
slaves for their sufferings. However, Lynda Morgan, a history professor at
Mount Holyoke states that “Some consider the educational efforts of the
Freedmen’s Bureau, easily its most positive, if temporary, endeavor, to have
been a form of reparations” (Morgan). If the American government gave the 40
acres of land and a mule to African-American after as agreed, I believe
African-Americans could have seen this as reparations and since agriculture was
very important at the moment, African-Americans could have had a chance to
develop their economic structures. These structures could have helped eliminate
the economic disparity that exists today.
A news article
from the Washington Post states that “the economic disparities separating the
blacks and whites remain as wide as they were when marchers assembled on the
Mall in 1963” (Fletcher, 2013). Even
though the economy has improved over time, the black man’s situation hasn’t
changed a lot in America. William Darity
Jr., a professor of public policy, economics and African American studies says
that “Certainly, poverty has declined for everybody, but it has declined in a
way that the proportion of blacks to whites who are poor is about the same as
it was 50 years ago” (Fletcher, 2013). The
slaves contributed immensely to the economic development of America and if the
American government wanted to settle this dispute and ensure equal distribution
of resources, they could have fulfilled their promise by giving land to black
Americans after the Civil War.
But the
government decided to overturn this promise, which demonstrated that the
politicians aimed at retaining power, and they also feared their power would be
threated if the slaves experienced the same liberty and equality as the white
people. This shows that the government at the time saw the potential threat of
the newly freed slaves and they introduced institutions that would block the
black community from developing economically and socially. Institutions such as
the Constitutions didn’t allow slaves to vote, and it also prevented them from acquiring
equivalent representation of their population in the political field. Kim
Dionne, an African Politics professor at Mount Holyoke College stated that “Even
today, African-Americans are being disfranchised through various ID laws and they
just don’t have the same political power” (Dionne, 2013). Dionne also added that a visit to the American
Congress today would make someone think that the blacks’ population is
relatively small compared to that of the whites and other communities. However,
a visit to the prisons would leave someone thinking that blacks are the
majority in America. Such issues strengthen racial discrimination and racial profiling,
which portray Africa-Americans as criminals and people with weak leadership
capability. These issues not only affect
the black community, but the American government also fails to benefit from the
black population whose potential is being marginalized. However, the black
population is affected the most since they are excluded from ripping the
benefits of a country their ancestors helped build.
African-Americans
not only contributed to the growth and development of textile companies through
the cotton plantations, but they also helped build churches and prestigious
universities in the U.S. Schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. In 2008, an undergraduate
thesis “established that Princeton’s first eight presidents seem to have owned
slaves…”
(Schuessler, 2013). Despite this
contribution, a small percentage of students of color are attending the Ivy
League institutions such as Princeton since most cannot afford the tuition. The
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education argues that “Low-income
blacks tend to be the descendants of American slaves who suffered from
generations of racial discrimination during the Jim Crow era. For the most
part, they are not the students benefiting from today’s race-sensitive
admissions programs at America’s most selective colleges,” (“The Journal of
Blacks,” 2013). In 2011, Princeton University enrolled 49.1% of White
students, 17.7% Asian, 7.4% Black, 8.4% Hispanic, 14.9 % Other, and 2.5%
Unknown (National Journal, 2013). Other colleges such as Harvard accepted 6.8%
of black students, Yale 6%, and Brown University 5.8% (National Journal
2013).From these statistics, black students gets the least percentage of
admissions in the top colleges in America. This has continued to disadvantage
generations of the black community, which has a hard time catching up with
other communities who have more access to resources in the U.S.
The
American government has tried to solve this problem through the Affirmative
Action which requires colleges to admit a certain number of students of color.
However, I am concerned that the affirmative action isn’t really solving the
problem of inequality in education since a very small percentage of black
students graduate from college. Some black students fail in Ivy League colleges
because they didn’t have access to resources which could have prepared them to
well to succeed in these kinds of schools. Even though the average number of
black graduates has increased over the past years, black students aren’t doing
well in academically selective colleges. The University of Michigan which is
known for enrolling the highest percentage of black student doesn’t see all of
them to graduation. In 2006, the University of Michigan had 40,000 students and
only 1,900 of them were black. It was estimated that out of the 1,900 students,
more than 600 would “fail to earn their bachelor's degree,”
(“The Journal of
Blacks”, 2006). Thomas Sowell states that “It is only minority students who are likely to be admitted to
institutions where they are likely to fail,” (Sowell, 2013). Sowell continue to argue that:
Now that these double standards have been outlawed,
the minority students who are no longer being admitted to the big-name
universities are going to places like UC Irvine. That is precisely what critics
of racial preferences and quotas have been saying would happen and should
happen.
Instead of failing at Berkeley or UCLA, these
students have a much better chance of succeeding at Irvine or Cal State
Hayward. Instead of having to take sop courses in order to survive at
institutions where the pace is too much for them, they can take solid courses
elsewhere that will prepare them for a worthwhile occupation or give them a
solid foundation for postgraduate work.
The fact that black student are not succeeding in the best
universities in the U.S. raises the eyebrows because a small percentage of
privileged black students, who fail to succeed in these schools, chose to
attend less competitive colleges where they are assured of graduating. This
greatly reduces the number of black students in college due to poor performance
and economic hardship.
Since a large
percentage of black people don’t earn degrees from top schools, they face more
difficult competition in the job sector and the graph below shows the difference
between the employment rates between black and white male. From this graph, it
is evident that white males occupy jobs twice as much as the black males and we
can argue that the level of education, the number of graduates, and the quality
of education correlates to the number of jobs secured by white and black males.
Employment
to Population ratio by sex for Whites and Blacks, aged 20 and older
(seasonally adjusted, monthly data, January 2007 - January 2012)
(seasonally adjusted, monthly data, January 2007 - January 2012)
(United
States Department of Labor (DOS))
The same report posted a contradicting table (below) which indicated that, “Blacks
are the only racial or ethnic group for whom women represent a larger share of
the employed than do men - more than half (53.8 percent) of employed Blacks in
2011 were women, compared to 46.0 percent among employed Whites,” (DOS).
Characteristics of the employed
|
Blacks
|
Whites
|
Hispanics
|
|||
% Employed (employment -population
ratio among those 16 and older)
|
51.7
|
59.4
|
58.9
|
|||
% Usually working part time
|
18.0
|
19.9
|
18.9
|
|||
% Women (age 16 and older)
|
53.8
|
46.0
|
40.6
|
|||
Usual Median Weekly Earnings
|
Blacks
|
Whites
|
Hispanics
|
|||
Total
|
$615
|
$775
|
$549
|
|||
Men
|
$653
|
$856
|
$571
|
|||
Women
|
$595
|
$703
|
$518
|
|||
(DOS)
The
report also showed that black women earn less compared to black men-“black
women earn roughly $0.91 to every dollar earned by black men,” (DOS). This
signifies that the black community collectively makes very low income since
black women who earn less, occupy more jobs than black men who earn higher. Black
men on the other hand occupy fewer jobs compared to white men and this explains
why there is a big wealth gap between the whites and blacks in America.
Less salary translates to poor
eating habits and inability to access proper heath care. During an interview
with Morgan, she cited a medical doctor who linked the current health problems
in the black community back to the slavery era (Morgan, 2013). Even though the
economic, social, and political structures have tried to accommodate the black
community over the past years, these structures were set up in a way that
African-Americans will have to struggle in order to get equal access like
everyone else. This has had a negative impact on the quality of life lived by
African-Americans. The graph below shows that black Americans had the highest
level of obesity between 2006 and 2008 and black women, who were found to work
the most compared their black male, have the highest level of obesity. In
addition to the poor living standard, I believe stress has contributed to the
high level of obesity in black women since they struggle the most to provide
for their families. A report from the Centers for Disease and Control and
Prevention (CDCP) identified three reasons that contributed to the increasing
racial and ethnic differences in obesity.
Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDCP)
These reasons include behavior, attitudes and cultural norms, and “access
to affordable, healthful foods and safe locations to be physically active”
(CDCP). All these factors affect African descendants since they were forced to
believe that they were inferior beings, mostly through slavery and colonization.
In addition, the slaves lost their traditions and cultural practices when they
were brought to America, and they had to adopt new cultures which were not
familiar with. Moreover, the lack of equal access to resources since slavery
has caused tremendous harm to the current situation of African-Americans and it
is time to repair the damages that slavery and colonization caused to African
descendants.
African-Americans have been fighting
for equal treatments since the 1800s and some slaves such as Dred Scott tried
to buy themselves back from slavery, but the laws that were applied at the time
limited him from accessing justice. In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the
Supreme Court “declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not
and could never become citizens of the United States” (Dred Scot Case). This
means that Scott, who was a free slave at Illinois, had to be enslaved in Missouri
since he didn’t have the rights of a citizen (Dred Scot Case). Other reparation
cases have also failed and in addition, the African-American congress leaders
have been facing great challenges in introducing the African-American
Reparation Act for discussion at the Congress. John Conyers Jr., a congress
man, states that “In January of
1989, I first introduced the bill H.R. 40, Commission
to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. I have re-introduced HR 40 every Congress since 1989,
and will continue to do so until it's passed into law,” (Conyers). It seems the
American government has been avoiding conversations on this issue and these
discussions are the first major step to solve the bitterness and injustices
that have been haunting African-Americans for centuries.
Africa-Americans are not the only ones who
bought their freedom and currently, countries such as the Caribbean and Haiti
are also claiming reparations. Haiti was
forced “to pay
to France 150 million francs in exchange for liberty,” in 1825 and Haiti is
claiming that France should pay them $21.7 billion of stolen wealth which
greatly affected the economic growth of Haiti (Damu). In addition to the 150
million demanded from Haiti, France ensured that exports and imports from Haiti
were discounted at 50% so that Haiti could not be in a position to pay this
amount. The 150 million francs were calculated based on the profit made by the colonists
and the lawyers who are preparing these cases gave an explanation of how the
French arrived at this cost:
The 150-million-franc indemnity was based on
profits earned by the colonists, according to a memorandum prepared by their
lawyers. In 1789, Saint Domingue - all of Haiti and Santo Domingo - exported
150 million francs worth of products to France. In 1823 Haitian exports to
France totaled 8.5 million francs, exports to England totaled 8.4 million
francs, and exports to the United States totaled 13.1 million francs, for a
total of 30 million francs.
The
lawyers then claimed that one half of the 30 million francs went toward the
costs of production, leaving 15 million francs as profit. The 15 million franc
balance was multiplied by 10 (10 years of lost revenues for the French
colonists due to the war for liberation), which coincidentally totals 150
million francs, the value of exports in 1789 (Damu).
In
addition to this amount, the French forced Haiti to take a loan from the French
banks in order for them to pay the first installments. “The French bank deducted
the management fees from the face value of the loan” and charged very high
interest rates and after the payment was complete, Haiti still owed France 6
million francs (Damu).
The Caribbean are also calming reparations from Britain, France, and Netherlands, over sufferings that they endured during the colonial
period. In October 2013, 14 Caribbean countries voted simultaneously to
sue these three countries (Dia, 2013). The Caribbean community is claiming at
least £ 20 million from the British government which ended slavery
by paying this amount to slave owners, rather to the black people who were
enslaved for 250 years (Beckles, p.143, 2013).
The British government argued that “the cash payout represented an
apology for aborting the property rights of citizens, a legal action that
prompted a settlement as monetary reparations,” (Beckles, p.143, 2013). The
Caribbean community has formed reparation commissions that are investigating
these cases and through an interview with a Caribbean T.V., Prof. Verene Shepherd, the chairperson of the
Jamaican Reparation Commission, stated that the Caribbean community is
currently calming 7.5 trillion pounds for slavery damage from European
countries (Shepherd, 2013). The Caribbean community has hired Leigh Day,
the British law firm that successfully won the compensation case for the Mau
Mau, freedom fighters in Kenya. The Mau Mau survivors who were mistreated by
the British during the colonial war received $21.5 million from the British
government (Dia, 2013). By hiring these lawyers, the Caribbean demonstrates how
serious they are in demanding reparations.
This win wasn’t easy for Kenyans and between 2001 and 2006, Tony
Blair, the Prime Minister at the period, dismissed reparations for the black
people (Beckles, p.194, 2013).
The same thing has been happening to African-American reparation cases
and I think African-American congress leaders who have failed to bring this
issue to the floor for discussion should consider seeking justice from courts,
just like the Mau Mau did. The British government opposed negotiations for a
long time, but the British court rendered justice to Mau Mau freedom fighters.
Courts are independent and non-political bodies and since their work is to give
justice, I believe they would now take these cases better since equality and liberty
has been granted to all.
African-Americans can also target specific co-operations and
institutions that benefited or mistreated slaves and ask for compensations. Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, an African-American researcher, has been
researching evidence from co-operatives that owned slaves and in 2000, she
managed to get an apology from Aetna insurance (USA Today, 2002). I believe
Africa-Americans can use the same strategy to target Ivy League colleges that
were built on the sweat of slaves, and negotiate scholarships that would enable
more students to be admitted in such school. Moreover, African-Americans
can use the same method to request for resources that would enable black
students to succeed in college. Increasing the number of black graduates will
enable a bigger percentage of black people to secure better jobs, earn a decent
salary, end modern slavery, improve their living conditions, and have access to
proper health care. Furthermore, the government will benefit from these
institutional changes since it will spend less money on social assistance
programs that a lot of low-income people depend on. If more African-Americans
become involved in economic, social, and political life, the government will earn
more from taxes and will be in a position to make more investments in the public
sectors which benefit everyone in America.
The harms that were done to African-American ancestors are still
visible today and therefore, it is not too late for African descendants to ask
for reparations. In the past, African descendants didn’t enjoy the same rights
and liberties like other people in America and their chances of succeeding in
reparation cases were very minimal. Moreover, the colonizers believed that they
were helping African descendants through colonization, civilization, and
enslavement, so it would have been hard to convince them that they were
actually harming the black community. I believe it is the right time to
compensate the black community and I agree with Dionne who suggested that these
people should be given a chance to choose the kind of reparations that is
suitable for them, since they didn’t decide on the form of enslavement or
mistreatment they endured (Dionne, 2013). I also agree with Prof. Holly Hanson,
an Africana Studies professor at Mount Holyoke, who supports institutional
transformation as the best form of reparations since a greater number of people
will benefit from such compensations (Hanson). Handing out money to people
might not solve the problem; however, this doesn’t mean that giving out money
is not a good way to compensate African descendants if that’s the form of
reparations that they consider.
It might be challenging to quantify reparations but I believe the
process can be workable through dialogue. However, I would first recommend the
returning of materials that we can see and touch such as the African arts and
archives which were taken from Africa by western countries. Gadjigo Samba, a
French professor at Mount Holyoke College, claims it is very hard to find an
African art museum in Africa which is equivalent to the ones in Paris or New
York (Gadjigo, 2013). It is evident that
western countries continue to make money from these materials which are part of
the African culture and traditions, and also part of the African intellectual
property. I understand the fact that
western countries might oppose this idea because taking back these materials
would be viewed as a way of accepting and taking responsibility of the harm
they did to African descendants. In addition, western countries might fear that
this action might motivate all African descendants to claim back what belongs
to them through reparations.
However, taking back
materials where they belonged and offering an apology would be a good starting
point for a dialogue that would enable the healing of wounds that the African community
has been nursing since slavery and colonization. In my own view, having a
dialogue over these two issues and initiating the truth and reconciliation committee
through which people could air their thoughts and come to an agreement would be
the best part of reparation. I strongly believe that wealth distribution, and material
or monetary reparations might not solve the problem if people are not allowed
to heal psychologically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
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