How best to compensate all African-Americans for slavery?

Lamica F

first of all i find it very comical that you would be the one to speak for black slaves, we understand that it was our own kind that sold us, but for that those people have to pay for their own sins, and with the way times have changed black people still suffer from racism, but only the strong will survive, we don't expect people to pay us back for what our ancestors went through, we want to make them aware of it. yes african americans had and still have it hard too survive in this world, but we are getting by just fine.and since were stating facts here to the person who said welfare is our pay back check your history sweetie there are just as many white folks on welfare than there are blacks, i know because i work with them every day, we don't want to be paid for slavery we just want our respect when we earn it. that is all. so don't represent us, repay us by accepting the fact that we are able to withstand any obstacle that come our way, and we are survivors. and if slavery wasn't such a big thing as most of the people on here believe what's the difference between holocaust and slavery, answer that one? people are so easy too be judgemental but it wasn't your grandparents being killed and treated like animals.

Noone i

I disagree 100% and wholeheartedly say that noone in todays world owes anyone anything. No cash payments.

If you love Africa, go back, thats fine, but I am not paying taxes to pay for a sin from 200 yrs ago. Period.

Fishguy

If you can show me a living African American who was a slave, I'll be happy to support reparations to them.

What you are suggesting is laughable and is simply redistribution of wealth.

Boo

I say we compensate all slaves that are alive today.

jamand

Yeah! sounds great - I don't see you donating the bucks - obvious this question is from America and a person that knows diddly squat.

You forget - blacks sold blacks at the time - don't see you pursuing them for some money.

200 years have passed - it is done - we have no reason to say sorry or pay a damn thing - we didn't do anything wrong.

Extreme

My suggestions. FORGET ABOUT IT. IT'S ANCIENT HISTORY, sure it should be remembered, but compensating annual sums of money is just bringing up an ugly chapter of HISTORY.

Cassie

I dont think they should be compensated at all.

ken s

If any slaves are still alive 10 million per person.

Me-owww

If you can tell me which blakcs are decnedents ofg slaves AND which whites are decendents of slave owners then maybe we can work something out.

My family immigrated here after slavery had already been abolished, they worked as farmers and built their lives up by their own hands, not by the hands of anyone else. So why should I be punished?

What do you think shouodl be the punishment of the decendents of the afircans who sold their own people to the white people? yep, they sold their own people

mr p

your joking, i hope

Chainsaw

What measures would I suggest? Here goes:

How about reparations for the murder, rape, and torture of my Native-American ancestors and the theft of their lands?

How about remediation for the illegal incarceration of my German-american ancestors during WWI? Many of you didn't know about that one, did you?

How about repayment for unfair treatment, and discrimination suffered by my Irish-American ancestors during the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

How about indemnification to me and the Caucasion side of my family for decades of reverse racisim we have suffered to pay for a crime we never committed and aggregious acts that were corrected 143 years ago?

I could actually go on for nearly forever, but you get the point. If you don't, ask; I won't mind boring you with it (at my discretion though).

History is full of unfairness, as are the present members of the human race. If we are all forced to pay for sins of the past, the past is never allowed to be the past.

Just Dave

NO recompense. Why are you blaming all white people anyway?
No one in my family lived in the US before 1920. They were all peasants in Europe. Therefore no one in my family should be forever even considered for anything like this.
Now go find everyone who was here.

I think you're nuts.

Mommy To a Sweetheart!

I do not agree at all. This happened a very long time ago and I am sick of people still trying to play the "you people made our people slaves" card. MY people didn't do anything. This was so long ago. Yes, it was wrong. But why can't people just be happy that times have changed and they aren't like that anymore? I know several african-american families that are living much more well-off than some white families around here. There should be no compensation. Everyone has the same opportunities now to go to school or make their lives better.

wizbangs

You're out of your mind and obviously a true Liberal, since you feel it is necessary to take everyone else's money to clear your own conscience.

The fact is that African nations were not plundered by white nations during slave taking times. They plundered each other in much the same way they are doing so, now. We owe them nothing.

During warfare in the 1800's (and earlier), it was traditional for the victorious army to capture and enslave the warriors of the losing tribe. Those captured slaves were then sold off to white slave traders in the coastal areas. The illusion of white men running through the woods with nets to capture black slaves (from Roots) is a lie and "artists embellishment" by the movie maker.

Had the white men not taken those slaves, they would've remained enthralled and subservient in Africa. In many African nations, it remains so to this day.

We owe the former slaves who came to America nothing, except, a one-way ticket back to their homeland if they wanted it (and I guarantee you, none of them would accept it). Why is that? If their lives have been so hard since they came here, why wouldn't they wish to return?

(the) Trevor

Interesting question that certainly will invoke a passionate response. Additional key considerations are:

The responsibility of the Portuguese for being responsible for recreating slavery.

Do you collect money from whites whose families didn't migrate to the United States until say the 1920's?

What about states that were not founded until after the slavery era?

Is precedent being set under such a ruling that allows for Native Americans to file a similar claim?

If you compensate for slavery, do you then deduct for all of the benefits that were received from post-slavery benefits of being an American?

Resolving this question is about as complex as it gets.

Neil T

Wasn't Liberia set up as a country for former slaves? How about free one way air tickets for those wishing to leave (not many I`ll bet).

*name*

Isnt that called welfare?
Ok seriously...
Are we also going to compensate for the slavery that took place in ancient times too? Oh, and the gladiators times where the weaker ones (slaves from all over, not just black) were thrown in to be slaughtered for entertainment. Oooor how about the Irish and Chinese who built the railroad? What do they get? Dont forget how the tribes in Africa also enslaved other tribes and then sold them off to the white slave owners....seems to me...history is over and done with! I'm Irish and I dont demand a compensation of sorts for my family helping build history...let it go. Also, this comment your making really validates how no matter what the "oh so racist white man" does...the African American community wont forgive that time period.

In response to your additional details:

Make Africa pay their own people back. Why be mad at white america....go after the old tribe leaders. ohhh wait....you caaant...they are all DEAD you idiot! Frikn no one kept a damn ship log of wh left africa...sooo it is literally impossible to figure out who to pay. And further more...I think yer like the most demented person i know. Honestly...and..you avatar looks white to me...sooo your family was possible slave owners...

how bou this.....go down to a branch of government and tell them you want your wages garnished 50% due to your family having slaves....hahahahahaha ....and videotape their reaction so we can all watch and laugh

And it isnt our damn responsability to support ghetto areas...stop killing and selling crack and maybe people will want to help poor black communities...or any race in a poor community for that matter....aaaaaand your super dumb if you think that there are no poor white ghettos...you think all white communities are rich and living large bc they owned slaves?

gawd...this is gettn rediculous

Jim L

They are compensated by being American citizens. Half the world wants to be like them.

pixie2321

Hahahahaha... This made me giggle...

This was a joke, right?

Read all of the above. Take a history class ok sweetheart?

jigokusabre

There is no way to "correct" past injustices other than to ensure that they injustices do not endure. Paying money to people of African descent does not change what happened 150 yeas ago.

What's more, slavery was an international institution that was fueled by America, the European nations and African tribes. To ask America to pay for something that they had a hand in misses the mark. It also fails to address other people who have been excluded from the life of empowered Americans.

What we can ask the government to do is make opportunities for those who do not normally have opportunities. Allowing the working poor a chance for self advancement or advancement for their children is the goal of a government of the people, for the people and by the people. This will help make the injustices of the past less impactful to those who were wronged, and make our society better at the same time.

The key to advancement is education, capital for entrepreneurs and innovators, and job opportunities for those who would not normally have them.

I also feel the source of the inherent disconnect from the old money and the rest of us is the ability of old money to pass that money onto heirs that have contributed nothing to our nation, to our society, and and simply born into their positions.

That being said, I would propose an estate CAP, not an estate tax, but a limit on how much value can be pass down from one generation to another. Spouses would not be affected, but no one else could bequeath more than, say, 10 million dollars (adjusted for inflation) in properties or assets. That would be enough to reward the vast (Vast VAST) majority of entrepreneurs and the wealthy who want to provide for their families, but at the same time, allow for the government to collect wealth what is prohibitive to the advancement of the people as a whole, and put those resources towards the betterment of the people as a whole.

disgovernment

I know this only helps a few, but I'm doing my part one person at a time. I am making love to as many black women as I can as repayment for whatever lighter colored skin people did to them in the past.

I call it the orgasm reparation program. It's a win win situation for both races.

Icarus

You're insane. Not one Black American alive today was a slave. And, no White American alive today ever owned a slave. You and the other people who think that there should be a reallocation of wealth from those who have earned their money so that it can be collected by the government and given to people who have earned nothing are in for a big shock: it won't work! Wake up, get a job and encourage your friends to do the same. Then, if you want to give YOUR MONEY away to other people; be my guest.

Nana64

I would definitely support paying for a one-way ticket to any African nation of their choice; and, throw one in for you just for good measure. The disadvantage that African-Americans have today are of their own making. I don't choose for them to take and use drugs, kill each other, drop out of school, join gangs, etc. There are too many successful African-Americans today to justify your concept of persecution and reparations.

illusionaryr

thats complete and utter crap. show me one person in this country alive today that has owned a slave. Show me one person who is a slave. further it has been 150 years since the civil war was fought to free the slaves. Many peoples ancestors gave their lives to rectify that injustice. for you to think that any amount of money is going to fix that makes you dumb as a box of rocks

fritya56

Measures to compensate whites who were transported for minor offences to the colonies would seem a balanced petition as not only Africans were considered slaves , many whites were transported to populate , orphans , juvenile offenders , criminals ( some famous e.g.Ned Kelly ) some persecuted out of Europe in search of religious tolerance amongst the protestant sectarian groups .

Edd S

If compensation was sought and received I would have to be after the heirs of many tens of thousands of Union soldiers were given an amount equal or beyond that sought since the soldiers died and their families were left without them. You want reparations go to the families of the half dozen primary people who met in South Carolina and planned the GD war in the first place.

rain.drop42

There should be no compensation what so ever to African-Americans.
Why should we be paying tax money to send other people on vacation? If they want to see Africa, then they should pay for it themselves, like all the rest of us.
I do believe that slavery is wrong, but that was back a hundred years ago. We can't do anything about it, and paying money to them, when they don't deserve it is just going to destroy our economy further.
Anybody that feels that they deserve something that they themselves didn't earn needs to have a reality check.
This country was founded on equal opportunity for all. By giving African-Americans money that they didn't earn, is not only not following the constitution, but its going to make a lazy society filled with people expecting things they don't deserve.
If they want money, they should work for it, or go back to there own country.

Ericka

This question is too loaded. I'm willing to bet not a single African-American has or will answer this question.

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