NJ considers apology for slavery Part 3 - 1.3.2008.3

Continued from NJ considers apology for slavery Part 2 ...

Or

“Mr. Frank Hargrove, a delegate, thinks that Black Americans should just “get over” 246 years of slavery and consideration as property. That the subsequent 100 years of Jim Crow laws and segregation and de facto third-class status should have been more than enough to adjust.”

Or

“I feel insulted, and Michael Medved is the reason for it… Thus I will just have to accept that he is stupid. [Stupid is defined as wanting in understanding or as I like to say ‘ignorance does not know, stupid is knowing and not caring.’] Given that, I think it’s time that a better answer to his “Six inconvenient truths about the U.S. and slavery” is addressed with some logic.”

In each case these elected officials and media pundits seek to belittle the ancestors of African Americans, and in such belittle us today. In each case the argument ignores various points of fact. In each case denial is rampant as the only defense. And in each case the American government has failed to act.

Yet millions defend the right to display the Confederate flag. Millions insist that the South be remembered and glorified in momuments to the confederates and in movies. Hollywood and television see no reason why multiple symbols of the hyper-racist and small-minded nature of America in that time should not emblazened on screens both big and small.

As long as no one opens the closet and sees the lynched Black hanging there. And how dare anyone even mention that the closet exists.

And President Lincoln is offered as the equalizing symbol. That his actions corrected everything done in the past and during the years of Jim Crow and segregation after his 13th Amendment. To bad that is a romanticized lie.

Because history, as it is written and not proffered to us in the shortest month of the year, states that President Lincoln would have allowed slavery if it would have benefitted the nation. That freeing the slaves was less than a tertiary issue in the Civil War. That the 13th Amendment was a means to an end, and no more. And I have never seen a flag celebrating the freedom of the slave adorning a single American governmental building. Because the American government has never felt it is worthy of such celebration. But the Confederate flag is.

Continued in Part 4...

Seattle Slim asks about reparations - 10.10.2007.1

In response to Seattle Slim's comment on Reparations I decided to place this as a post rather than a comment due to length. You can find the original post at Black & White Blog, where I am a co-author, as well as here.

Thank you Seattle Slim Of The Beatniks for your comments and reading the post. I always enjoy hearing from my readers and their comments on the issues I cover here.

To address your comments:

I agree that there still are many in America that believe African Americans are unequal and in need of ‘protection’. Obviously the media, in all forms from news to movies, portray very negative images that compound this feeling in many individuals. But I do feel that there is also an understanding that Black Americans hold a great deal of power as well.

Democrats directly pander to African Americans as a voting block, though they do not seem to be as concerned about issues they were elected on. Businesses directly understand the power of African American money, and target us constantly. And many professions that were virtually ‘White only’ are now somewhat mixed.

All of these things can and need to be improved, but some understanding of the impact of African Americans on the economy and politics of this nation is known. We just need to focus that power.

As for the Black slave-owners, I don’t have an accurate answer. I realize that there were Black slaveowners, but to my admittedly limited knowledge on this subject, though I am under the understanding that this was a small group holding a minor number of slaves for a far shorter duration. They definitely did not maintain power, as they had no legal rights and could not vote either.

I would say that they had no right to any reparations, just as White slave owners did not. Where it could be proven, their descendants would not be eligible as the reparations are due to African American slaves and the work they provided.

As for the question of help, yes I think it does. This is a difficult question and one of the main ones used against the concept of reparations. I feel it helps on several levels.

This would provide a salve to the wound that slavery made in this nation. It is both the admission of guilt by the nation, and a recognition of the suffering felt by millions over centuries. It gives the descendants of victims of slavery, and those who suffered under segregation, racism, violence and the like a means to ‘come to peace’ with what they endured.

It is not a cure all. But it does remove some of the racial tension that envelopes this country. It can be a means of having productive conversations and debates. It brings racial inequalities to the surface and thus forces them to be dealt with on both sides of this issue. It would remove excuses from Blacks and Whites on the conditions some live under.

It would still take a great deal of effort to improve America and the race issues that are inherent in daily life. But it’s a means by which steps forward can be taken.

Remember, an apology must come with the reparations. One must recognize what is wrong to apologize for it. The reparations are just a means to make the apology sink in and not be hollow. Kind of like scolding a child and then giving them a slap on the ass. It makes the point hit home.

As for the money itself, there is nothing stopping anyone from pooling funds to improve neighborhoods or provide college funds. Local communities could easily use the funds for whatever is the best choice and greatest need.

But I feel this has to be an individual effort. Reliance on the Government to institute and maintain these changes is both infeasible and counter-productive. To date efforts by the Government have not gone to improve our local communities but to maintain them at the current standards. And like water sitting still that causes stagnation.

Plus personal interaction with personal funds has always seemed to have the most positive effect in my experience. When it’s your money going to improve the neighborhood, you feel pride and connection to that area. When it’s your local community providing your college tuition you have another impetus to do better and finish with a degree. When it’s your parents’ money painting the schools and buying new books, you will want to take care of their condition more.

That is not to say these things don’t happen now, just that with added attention and direct connection the intensity increases exponentially. At least that is my experience.

If reparations, and an apology, are viewed from that stance I feel their can be no argument against them. I feel deeply there is no historical or practical reason to prevent it. And the positive effects, if done in a manner similar to what I have mentioned, are as powerful as they are beneficial. Not only to African Americans, but all of America.

Even so, I do not claim my vision is perfect. But if discussion of this leads to an even better plan and outcome, I’m happy.

I hope this addresses your concerns and thoughts about my views on reparations. What are yours? How would you resolve it? What do you think should be done?

Real points on reparations Part 2 - 10.9.2007.2

Continued from Real points on reparations Part 1...

And lastly there is the FACT of precidence.

“Yet reparations have been made to Japanese Americans and Native American Indians, at least to some degree. Remorse has been expressed by the Government to both groups. Yet the United States Govenment has never apoligized nor acknowledged the wrongs done with slavery and its actions/attitudes in the over a century since that time.”

Perhaps Michael Medved would like to dispute these facts. He cannot nor can any person against reparations. That is why they seek out any and every other argument.

As for how to pay the reparations I offer this idea. Provide a tax credit, of say $3,000 for any African Americans that can provide proof of heritage. This will also cover all children of those African Americans from the inception date to 18 years later, thus covering all children born the year of the reparation. The proof would come from authenticated family trees that date back to at least 1865 and can show slavery. This tax credit is a lifetime credit, meaning that you have a total of $3,000 for life, being used over that lifetime. If you use it all in one year its gone. If it take 10 years at $300 a year then so be it. You don’t get more and the max is the start amout of $3,000.

This plan builds the economy, providing jobs for researchers and companies providing authenticated certificates. The Government would increase workers that would manage the list with the I.R.S. Oversite groups could be created to ensure that the fund is not mismanaged. Enforment jobs could be created to protect that scams could not take advantage.

Plus there is the fact that the economy would get a boost from the additional money being used to pay for goods and services. Credit cards coulds be paid off, downpayment and improvements on homes, pay for college tuition and supplies, investments in 401K’s and the stock market. Not to mention purchases of food, clothing, and whatever else.

Explain where this is a bad, or impossible thing to accomplish?

America had slaves, and made them build the nation. America profited and grew from this slave labor. Some of the worst attrocities known to man were commited to the slaves and their descendants, for centuries. America refuses to acknowledge what it did, or the benefit it received. At the same time America has apologized and made reparations to others of its people who were arguably far less abused and persecuted.

I will not put my head in the sand. I will not allow half-thought, tangent laden, slippery-slope arguments to obfuscate and distract me and others from the facts. I do not accept the romanticized arguments and media imagery.

America owes reparations and an apology to African Americans. They can be paid and must. America will always have over it’s head this division of it’s people while avoiding the honest debate and response.

Medved may enjoy this denial, and others like him, but the fact is that this is a rot in America. And given time, any rot will eventually destroy whatever is rotting. The same holds true for America.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Real points on reparations - 10.9.2007.1

This is a continuation of a discussion based on the comments by Michael Medved against reparations. It can be seen at Responding to Michael Medveds rant against reparations - 10.9.2007.1

It is long, but I feel it's worth the time.

**This post can also be found at Black & White Blog a forum for both sides of controversial issues.**

So how about I actually discuss the reasons why reparations make sense? How about we actually talk about American slavery and not detract from the subject in discussion of eras and societies that are not American?

There were millions of slaves that were forcibly taken from Africa to America, and died. That means families experienced the loss of fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, in a boat under duress. Murder is punishable, and as we have abundantly seen with the OJ Simpson case, profitable. Genocide, since this was a willful act done repeatedly to a singular and specific group of people, would seem to up that exponentially.

Of the surviving Africans, they were sold of without regard to their families or any factor other than their perceived ability to work, in the most humiliating manner. They were placed on display similar to a car in a showroom, with potential buyers pawing and prodding them. That is further duress and suffering.

Once sold, the slaves were guaranteed a lifetime of work. This work was menial at its best, without breaks, without pay, without time off. Medical care, which was not guaranteed, could range from intense to minimal and provided no guarantee of time off to recover.

Slaves were routinely beaten, mutilated, physically and mentally abused, sexually harassed and raped while forced to work. Any one of these is enough to cause the employer to be jailed, then or now, if it were done to another human being.

Slaves were denied their right to freedom of religion. They were denied an education. They were fed and clothed just enough to allow them to continue to work. They were denied freedom of speech. They were denied the right to have and/or raise a family.

Slaves built cities, roads, infrastructure, and agriculture. Every aspect of any business and establishment that exists in America today that has a tie to colonial America is connected to the slave workforce. That’s North or South.

If the average slave worked only 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 360 days a year for 4 decades of life that’s 158,880 hours of work per slave. If we assume that there were 3 million slaves from 1619 to 1865 (which is a low-ball estimate) then that is 476,640,000,000 hours of work done. Those are BILLIONS of hours. This does not even touch the Jim Crow era. Assuming a pay of just .05 cents an hour in 1865 money (no adjustment for actual worth in money today) that means $23,832,000,000. If I adjust by taking an increase of just 10% for each year for 55 years that’s a 9150% increase to $2,180,628,000,000. That’s TRILLIONS of dollars, adjusted just 55 years at 10%. There’s still another 87 years to go and we are adjusting from .05 cents. If anyone feels that more than TRILLIONS of dollars of work did not change America, they are stupid in my opinion.

In addition

“Jim Crow and other equally repressive laws and actions hindered Black African Americans. Incidents have occured even in the 20th century and include the Tuskegee syphilis experiments in the 1930’s, the destruction of Tulsa’s Black neighborhoods in 1921 and the loss of life and property when the all-Black town of Rosewood was destroyed by a white mob in 1923.”

Continued in part 2...