Reparations for Slavery

Most of you know that the "reparations for slavery" idea is concerning the slave trade that took place long before any of us were alive. The basic thought is that black Americans should be paid money by the federal government because their descendants were brought here as slaves. The argument also has to do with land in the area around Charleston, South Carolina that was given to and later taken away from the slaves by executive order. Those pushing for the reparations implicate not only the government but private industry, from whom they want money.

To me there seems to be a misunderstanding about this whole matter. Those who seek legal reparations will need to go to Africa to get the proper legal reparations concerning their ancestors. Their ancestors were not enslaved by any Americans or Europeans. They were enslaved by their fellow Africans who then sold them, illegally, to the (white) people who were willing to pay for their services. The slave traders who purchased the African slaves then paid the shipping expenses and sold them in Europe and in America on the trading block.

We must remember that slavery was legal in America at that time. All of these business transactions were legal and the eventual owners of the slaves saw them as property that they owned as other property that they had purchased. They did nothing illegal. The guilty party in all of these transactions were indeed those Africans who illegally brutalized their fellow Africans, hunting them down and treating them as animals. History tells us that they were treated worse by their captors than by the slave traders. Their mistreatment of each other came from the low view they had concerning the lives of human beings. This was common throughout Africa.

The moral implications of all of these transactions is a whole different story. Today we see them as atrocious and we do not condone slavery anywhere in the world. We want nothing to do with it. But this idea that you and I have today did not happen overnight. It took a couple of centuries before everyone was willing to come to the unanimous opinion that we share today. Then the laws were changed accordingly. This is how America works. We make lots of mistakes, but we learn from them, we correct them, and we move on. And sometimes people die along the way - like the thousands of slaves who died on the journey to America or like the one million whites who died in the struggle to free black African slaves. Along the way we become a better nation.

The problem that those who are seeking legal reparations will have is finding who, in Africa, was responsible for the enslavement of the Africans who were shipped to America as slaves. But are the records for all of this still available? I guess the only way to find out would be to send a bunch of lawyers over there and try to track them down. However, we must keep in mind that most of these atrocities were done in the bush and records were probably not kept (I'm guessing). There are other complications that would hamper the effort to seek reparations from the Africans.

Since no one knows the original selling price of each slave how would "legal" reparations be established? Surely interest on that money would have to be added, but what interest rate would be used? And would those Africans even have that kind of money to repay the African Americans? Did those Africans who were enslaved own property that should be returned to their descendents? All I can say is that I hope there are records. Otherwise no one will ever be able to get to the bottom of it. What about reparations for emotional stress? How will that be figured accurately?

It all seems like a daunting task to me, but this is America, and if these "African American rights groups" want to pursue it then so be it. That is their privilege. But I believe that they are wasting their time trying to get the U.S. government to pay reparations for something that was legal at the time. If I take the White House in 2008 I will not side with those who want money from the government. If they get money that's not owed to them, the next thing you know the white people will want all of the welfare money back that was used to support black people in the 1960's and 1970's.

If this "Reparations for Slavery" proposal succeeds I can already see the white descendants of those who were killed in the Civil War lining up for reparations from the blacks. This could go back and forth and back and forth forever. I think that it would be in the best interest of our country and race relations in general to forget the past and move forward. This is not a perfect world. If everyone who is disgruntled with how they have been treated in the past comes forward and wants money, our government won't have any money left.

As for the white people who are up in arms over this, I would keep in mind that the working black people are not the ones behind this. There is no reason to "get your dander up". Of course they would take the money if it was given to them (so would I) but they are not forcing the issue. It's the usual group who have a collective chip on their shoulder - continually dredging up the past. They seem to enjoy keeping the racial pot stirred up. But everyone is afraid to call them on it.