Is Reparation the Answer?

Duncan S. Jackson

Political Science 1101

Garey Wood

Reaction Paper I

Is Reparation the Answer?

            Should our present-day government be made to atone for the sins of its fathers? Would

paying a debt of reparations to the descendants of slaves rectify—or at the very least, ease—the

enmity that exists between blacks and whites in modern American society? This paper will

explore and attempt to answer these questions through historical, ethical, theological, and socio-

economic analysis while presenting ideas as well as alternatives for a potential and mutually-

acceptable conclusion to a debate that has caused perhaps just as much damage to race relations

as the act of slave ownership itself.

            Slavery as we know it today did not begin in the United States of America, nor is its roots

deeply embedded in the Caribbean. When the majority of us think of slavery’s origins we think

back to Biblical days, when the Hebrew were the captive servants of the Egyptian Empire; Rabbi

Barry Dov Lerner, who employs the use of the Targum Yonatan (Targum being the Arabic

translation of the Bible, and Yonatan being the Arabic translation of Jonathan. The Targum

Yonatan is revered with the same esteem as the Torah) in historically and theologically

substantiating this period of enslavement, states that Jews were subservient to their Egyptian

masters for a period of two hundred ten to two hundred thirty years before gaining their freedom

(Judiasm.about.com).

Slavery in its modern context—that is, the enslavement of African peoples—was not an

institution the likes of which can be attributed to American agrarian colonialists; quite the

contrary. Slavery had already been established in much of Europe before the colonization of

North America, with Europeans making frequent trips to the Caribbean where the plantation

model had long been established (slaveryinamerica.org). By what means had slaves been taken

to the Caribbean? Can the Dutch and other Europeans be held solely responsible for the advent

of modern slavery? Responsible to an extent, yes, but sole responsibility should not rest on their

shoulders alone as until the early to mid-sixteen hundreds, the only slavery that existed in the

American colonies was that of indentured servitude.

The Ivory Coast of Africa was rich in literal human resources, and what the Europeans

did not take, those of the Caribbean did. However, as hostilities continued to grow between the

myriad of chieftains who made up the tribes and their lands’ invaders, bargains were struck and

alliances made where the chieftains would profit handsomely from the sale of their own people;

when this became a questionable practice within the tribe, chieftains often pitted their warriors

against neighboring tribes, kidnapping men, women, and children alike and selling them in their

clansmen’s stead to their fair-skinned business associates. In a Cable News Network (CNN)

report filed October 20, 1995, Akosua Perbi of the University of Ghana, West Africa stated, “It

was the Africans themselves who were enslaving their fellow Africans, sending them to the

[Ivory] coast to be shipped out.”

“It was the Africans themselves who were enslaving their fellow Africans […].” Can this

truly be, and if so, does this shift slavery’s blame from white European settlers to the ancestors

of the enslaved? In a perfect world, by all rights and means, it should. This is not to say that this

fact completely exonerates the Europeans or American colonists of the time from any wrong-

doing in empowering the continuation of the institution of slavery, but one must recognize that—

even four hundred years ago—the law of supply and demand was employed as efficiently as it

ever had, thus African-Americans from every period in our nation’s history must acknowledge

that it was their forebears who kept the wheels well lubricated during this period of human

trafficking. Is such a concept feasible? Again, in a perfect world…

As a majority, blacks seem to not care about statistics or facts or anything that contradicts

their belief that whites are solely responsible for all hardships in the black community. I say “as a

majority” because I took it upon myself to poll two hundred economically-diverse African-

Americans concerning the issue of reparations, and while I was a bit surprised at the results

collected, overall the sentiment I had so prejudicially expected rang true time and time again,

affirming the general consensus of said community. The questions were presented as close-

ended—soliciting a yes or no response only—yet many felt the need to justify their responses

with commentary, none of which will make its way into this paper (for how am I to remain

emotionally detached if I allow and react to such?). I will add this, though: Elisabeth Noelle-

Neumann’s advent of the Spiral of Silence was witnessed firsthand on more than one occasion

by this survey taker as three different persons asked if their answers could be amended to reflect

their true feelings (all three wished to change their response from “yay” to “nay”).

The question posed to the first one hundred African-Americans was Do you feel our

government today owes a debt of reparations to the descendants of slaves? Of black males

surveyed, thirty-nine answered yes while eleven answered no; of black females surveyed, thirty-

two answered yes while eighteen answered no. With the next one hundred economically-diverse

African-Americans polled, I utilized a lead-in question designed to make them analyze their

decisions prior to making them: If it was found out today that your grandfather kidnapped,

robbed, and murdered my grandfather, should you be made to pay for his crime? One-hundred

percent of those surveyed answered no. When the question of reparations was next asked, the

results were as follows: Of black males polled, twenty said yes, while fourteen said no; of black

females polled, thirty answered yes while thirty-six answered no.

Seventy-one percent of those in the first poll believe something is owed to them for the

horrors their ancestors were made to endure, while twenty-nine percent feel that what happened

lo, those many centuries past either cannot be rectified, or just plain should not. The second

group was evenly split in their thinking, yet the same sentiments regarding reparations remained.

Overall, 60.5% feel payment in some fashion is due them while 39.5% feel it is time for

everyone to finally let go and move on with their (our) lives.

As this country and its inhabitants were not the architects of slavery, nor African-

Americans the first to be enslaved, why is such emphasis placed on reparations owed them by

our government? In speaking with Rabbi Elbez of Temple Israel located in Valdosta, Georgia, I

have come to understand certain parallels and divergences where black and Hebrew enslavement

are concerned. The Hebrew were enslaved for approximately two hundred thirty years while

blacks suffered for about two hundred forty-five. Though not an exact number can be given,

Rabbi Elbez stated that it is believed by scholars of both the Torah and the Bible that over a

million Jews perished during the period of their enslavement, as opposed to thousands—perhaps

even tens of thousands—of African-Americans. If this is the case then why did the Hebrew

people never seek reparations from the Egyptians?

“It is quite simple,” Joel Baum, Torah scholar, told me in a phone interview from his

home in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “Our faith in God and our belief in self-reliance have

propelled us through the ages. God is capable of many great things: just look at our exodus. He

expects for us to take responsibility for ourselves, to persevere even in times of great sorrow. Our

enslavement in Egypt, our near extermination in the Nazi death camps…We will never ask for

payment for the atrocities through which we were made to suffer. It is not a matter of pride, but

self-reliance.” In defense of the Hebrew, they have not.

If a people who have suffered since time immemorial can adopt an attitude such as this

then why is it so difficult for African-Americans to do the same? Even with removing theology

from the equation, Mr. Baum stressed the importance of self-reliance in his people reestablishing

their rightful place in society time and again. Can the African-American community follow this

lead to prosperity? Any rational being could answer this affirmatively. The question now,

however, is Will they?

It must be acknowledged that belief in the Judeo-Christian God, religion, theology—call

it what you will—cannot be removed from this equation so simply as it was the driving force

behind the high spirits of the Hebrew people; African-Americans, for the most part, relied on

Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Was their faith misplaced? Only if we feel the ends

did not justify the means. Should African-Americans of this time have unquestioningly put all

their faith in the Biblical God? More specifically, should they have bent their wills to a being in

whom so very few actually believed? Early slaves were “Daylight Christians” in that their only

recognition of their masters’ God was practiced for his benefit; although Christianity was being

taught, Obeah was still maintained and practiced.

Obeah, a form of worship that includes medicine men, witch doctors, sorcery, ritualistic

dance, animal sacrifice, and inducing one into a trance-like state, is the religion early African

peoples brought with them from their country of origin; voodoo still exists today in many

Caribbean communities worldwide. By the mid-seventeen hundreds, as slave traders and

missionaries alike began trekking deeper into Africa’s jungles, small pockets of Muslims were

encountered, and it was believed that these people became “Daylight Christians” as well

(guyana.org) once they were brought to America

Even when shown how wrong a thing can be, it is extremely difficult for one to accept

this and let go of their (perceived) archaic way of thinking. Whites were not just demanding that

their slaves give up their old religious beliefs and adopt this new thing called Christianity, but

they were forcing blacks to believe in a God who apparently did not give a damn about them. In

their ignorance and arrogance, whites taught their slaves that God was responsible for creating a

race of evil beings such as them, as was punishment for Cain for killing his brother Abel, or as

Noah’s cursing of Ham, or even God’s disgust over the attempt at erecting the Tower of Babel

(epubs.utah.edu). As an African-American, how could one be asked to place complete and utter

faith in a being spoken about with such reverence if he would so willingly condemn his own

people to such a state? The slaves could not, thus their reason for not completely embracing

Christianity. According to Andrew Pace’s paper African-American Evangelical Development,

there was no real turn toward Christianity in the black community until the onset of the Civil

War, when it was estimated that approximately one million blacks had converted to the

unofficial religion of the country.

Was this it; that one defining moment when the faith of the people shone bright enough to

deliver them from their earthly bonds? Did self-reliance—taking a weapon in hand and fighting

for their own freedom—strengthen the resolve of the oppressed African-American people? Why

did they resist as long as they had; did none of them ever listen to or read a poem from Phillis

Wheatley, who viewed her capture, sale, and servitude as a “mercy” God had bestowed upon

her? One has only to read Ms. Wheatley’s poem On Being Brought from Africa to America to see

that hers was not a voice of reason, but more the result of years of psychological abuse, the end

result of which being a complete brainwashing that she in turn embraced as divine truth.

In its entirety the poem reads:

‘Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,

 Taught my benighted soul to understand

 That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:

 Once I redemption never sought nor knew.

 Some view our sable race with a scornful eye,

 “Their color is a diabolical dye.”

 Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

 May be refin’d, and join the Angelic train.

Privileged, refined, and a member of polite New England society—as much as any slave

could be accepted, that is—Phillis Wheatley learned Latin and Greek, wrote poetry in honor of

and personally met with President George Washington, and was hailed in England as one of the

finest poet laureates ever to emerge from our fledgling country. She was spared the horrors that

her kinspeople were made to endure in the South, those that Frederick Douglass intimated with

such articulation and Harriet Beecher Stowe hinted at in her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In many

ways Wheatley was the worst kind of slave in that she represented the trophy, the “they can be

civilized” model that applied to so very few; slaves were bought, sold, and meant for hard labor;

so very few would ever enjoy the life Wheatley had been exposed to. This just goes to reaffirm

the mentality of the white Christians: Wheatley is convinced that her people’s existence is the

result of the mark of Cain, yet her faith allows for the possibility of redemption. Was it divine

providence that put an end to slavery in America? Does continued faith in the Judeo-Christian

God, along with a purposeful sense of self-reliance, guide today’s African-American, or has it

become more an issue of no faith, no self-reliance, no self-pride, and simply a feeling of

entitlement brought on by years of social program abuses?

My research seems to suggest that what is wanted (demanded? Expected?) most is not so

much compensation for a moral or ethical wrong, but a handout, a free ride that will guarantee

minimal output for minimal expectations. Allow me to play Devil’s advocate on this issue. We

as a country cannot simply say reparations should be paid and make it so without entertaining the

host of possible consequences that would surely rise from such a decision; walking through this

door would definitely open many others, such as How should reparations be paid? By cash

settlement, and if so, then How much and to whom? Should we tender payment to the oldest

surviving descendant of slaves and allow him or her to disperse the monies to his or her

remaining family? How about a free college education? Again, for whom? All surviving

members of slave forebears, or just the oldest surviving member? One African-American per

generation? Should the United States Government allow for an indefinite period of non-tax,

much the way we do with Native Americans, or do we offer a stipend or lump-sum payment

much the way we did in 1988 when we compensated Asian-Americans in general and the

Japanese more specifically with $1.6 billion when paying reparations for forcing them into

internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Of course, one must acknowledge that the

beneficiaries of these monies were the actual persons who had been held and not their ancestors,

so regardless of what can be decided,  is there any one definitive way to initiate such an

undertaking for the African-American community without economically crippling ourselves in

the process; furthermore, have reparations of a sort not already been implemented?

The period of Reconstruction, which took place in the South after the Civil War, aside,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was introduced with the hope of assisting disadvantaged

peoples during what has been termed this country’s Great Depression. In the nineteen-sixties, did

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson not introduce social programs to compliment and

further uplift the economically disadvantaged? Institutions such as the Department of Health and

Human Services (DHS, HHS); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD);

Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS, DFaCS); Aid to Families and Dependent

Children (AFDC); Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); and even Affirmative

Action have all served to meet this end, although one must acknowledge that of all the programs

listed above Affirmative Action stands alone in being specifically designed for minorities. The

others, though initially geared toward poor whites, have since seen increasingly larger

percentages of minorities benefitting year after year; it is understood that whites provide the

overall higher number due to the fact that over seventy-one percent of the U.S. population is

deemed non-Hispanic white (www.census.gov).

That being said—in this regard—have we as a country done enough in the payment of

reparations? Should we consider the choices outlined in the previous two paragraphs? “It would

devastate us,” Brian Williams, Macro-/Microeconomics instructor at Wiregrass Georgia

Technical College, told me when I posed the possibility of lump-sum reparation payment to the

descendants of African slaves. While Mr. Williams agreed that the money received would help

stimulate the economy insomuch as retail businesses and new entrepreneurial endeavors are

concerned, overall the damage it would contribute to our national debt would be the likes from

which we would never recover.

[...] Department Head of Psychology at [...] had

this to say in regards to the psychological impact payment of reparations would have on race

relations: “I feel many whites would resent the payment of reparations to blacks. As far as that

goes, I feel a good percentage of blacks would be uncomfortable with receiving a payment of

reparations.” Moreover, Mr. Young believes that “society has provided opportunities for success

that were not available in the past” that have ensured the attainment of goals to those African-

Americans driven to strive for excellence.

Michelle Gardner, Instructor of Sociology at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, holds

a similar view on the topic of reparations and how it would affect race relations. Mrs. Gardner

feels that only those who are motivated by greed are they who continuously churn the pot of hate

and inequality; this is a two-sided blade, however, in that if reparations were paid then some

whites would exhibit a racially-motivated outrage, resulting in more division between the races.

“When all is said and done, at least as the payment of reparations is concerned, we would be

opening Pandora’s box,” she told me. When asked if there was anything our country could or

should do in response to this sensitive issue, Mrs. Gardner responded, “Any apology we could

give at this juncture would be perceived as not sincere, not valid. In 2012 Affirmative Action is

not something that helps from a perspective of reparations or even in serving in its other purpose

of strengthening race relations, but hurts as it provides a token representative that is required by

law to be employed. Social programs are the equivalent of throwing African-Americans a bone

in an attempt to appease the masses. This is nothing more than promoting the reliance on such

programs instead of promoting reliance upon one’s self.”

            When all is said and done we are still faced with the questions Should our government be

held responsible for paying a debt of reparations to the descendants of African-American slaves,

and if so, how much? There is no simple yes or no answer, just as any argument in favor of one

over the other could aptly serve to justify either. I tend to agree with Michelle Gardner in that an

apology now would be too little, too late—and much misplaced—just as I agree with every other

truth my research has uncovered, and the truths these have in turn inspired. It is not a defeatist

attitude that now guides my fingers, or my heart for that matter, but one borne of the perpetual

hope that time will settle this matter for us. Generations will come and go before the issue of

reparations is laid to rest; hopefully, by that time, racism will be as well.

3360 words

References Cited

Bisnauth, Dale. http://www.guyana.org/features/guyanastory/chapter28.html

Web. February 8, 2012.

Davis, Ronald L. F. http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm

Web. February 7, 2012.

Lerner, Barry Dov, Rabbi. http://judaism.about.com/od/passove1/f/slaveegypt.htm

Web. February 7, 2012.

Streiker, Gary. October 20, 1995. http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9510/ghana_slavery/

Web. February 6, 2012.

Wheatley, Phillis. 1768. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-being-brought-from-africa-to

           

February 14, 2012.

Neumann, Elisabeth Noelle. http://www.masscommtheory.com/category/theory/spiral-of-silence

1984. February 6, 2012.

Williams, Brian. Personal Interview. February 6, 2012.

Baum, Joel. Telephone Interview.  February 7, 2012.

Rabbi Elbez. Telephone Interview. February 7, 2012.

Gardner, Michelle. Personal Interview. February 14, 2012.