No Reparations, huh?

Reparation - 1. the making of amends for wrong or injury
2. compensation in money, material, labor, etc.

“It could make me a little bitter only because slavery, prejudice and racism isn’t something that I support. Yet, I am not getting paid for being white and not racist.” - Meg, Caucasian, 19

“The government is already in all kinds of debt, I don’t think they should be handing out money just to anyone.” Hannah, Caucasian, 20

“No. It’s too late, man. What about all the poor white people?” Jack, Caucasian, 22

When presented the question: If we (Afro-Americans) were to get reparations, how much do we deserve? How would this change your attitude towards us? Why? These were some of the answers I received from my peers. While this piece isn’t to sway you either way, as I suspect many (if not all) of you will disagree with my take, I expect you to hear me out at the very least and then use this as a launching point for great conversation and community innovation.

Since money and government have become a thing, there have been reparations as there have been spies, whores and booze. Governments have been paying back nations and peoples since the very first treaty was signed. Some notable paybacks include Germany receiving $1 billion from France in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War. Japan garnering $200 million in silver taels from China after the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. Hell, even the U.S gave Colombia $25 million after it was found that our government helped the rebels in Panama for the countries interest in (successfully) getting the Panama Canal constructed. However the case, this country we live in doesn’t have the best reputation of paying folk back as the evidence shows that in 1973, after agreeing to pay $4.75 billion to Vietnam for social and economic reconstruction, the government did a complete reversal four years later after feeling “blackmailed” when Vietnam asked them to pay the same amount in reparations in order to restore diplomatic relations. Yeah, they balked at the idea even after history shows that the “loser” of any war is usually always the one that foots the bill. Then again in 1893, after U.S businessmen helped stage the rebellion that led to the overthrowing of the last monarchy that ruled Hawai'i, even before it was annexed, the natives were denied reparations for what they endured as the after effects of those actions. They were formally apologized to though, in 1993. Yes, ONE HUNDRED YEARS later. So, technically, we aren’t the only ones that haven’t gotten anything for our hardships, rather, the most significant, oppressed and profitable of the bunch.

According to The Institute for Historical Review, Germany has paid in excess of $62 Billion to families and descendants of Holocaust victims, which, when assessed in it’s entirety still makes me wonder how they properly gauge such figures for such heinous acts. Also, seeing as no monetary figure can be placed on the land that has been taken from their control, even the Native Americans have begun to procure funds from the governing body with two instances happening in the past few years. One settlement priced at $940 million and the other at $3.4 billion. These are just some of the many figures to consider in the thought process that is giving back to the descendants of the free laborers and hostages that essentially manufactured the economy that we see before us today.

“$3,500, probably should get $5000. And free college for those who qualify. Also literally 40 acres of land, or housing vouchers, as land is hard to create. I would invest my money into something, most likely myself.” Mario, Afro-American, 25

“…some of us are a few generations closer to actual slaves, so, I’m sure there would be variance based on lineage. Like, my dad was born in 1942 in Mississippi so people like him I feel are entitled to more.” - Jake, Afro-American, 26

“I’m not too sure about an actual amount, I don’t think you can put a price on over 300 years of enslavement and another 200 years of oppression, and one big payout ain’t enough for me nor the blacks that lived through that bullshit. … It would be nice to get like an earned income tax credit just because I have ancestors who were slaves. … I think it should be stipulations, like you have to be working or in school or have an indisputable reason as to why you aren’t doing something constructive with your time, because niggas already abusing public aid. But if it came as a lump sum, I’d like to start an organization for black business owners to pool their spare change together and invest in each other (assuming I’d own a business myself by then), because I feel like black people need to protect their assets and keep the currency flowing between ourselves, instead of using these white-owned banks for loans and interest rates. Also, I wouldn’t feel any different about white people.” Dave, Afro-American, 24

“We deserve reps but what would we do with the money? Most of us would give it right back. But on the other end, does it matter what’s done with the money? As long as it is done, maybe enough woke African descendants can make enough moves to impact our current state. I don’t know how much though. ALOT. … (I’d) want to get into organic agriculture. Real food.” JR, Afro-American, 24

When presented with the same questions, these were the answers received. There are these kinds of sentiments brewing somewhere deep within roughly 13.2% of the nations population everyday. Now, while I know that our generation has not lived through slavery or Jim Crow personally, it is to be considered we’re STILL being oppressed and discriminated against, sometimes blatantly. From cases as recently as Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner alike, we are still walking in fear each day that “The Man” may take our lives and get away with it, as if it were still 1896. We’re still discriminated against in the workplace, whether as small as working in a grocery store, to the politics of the everyday business world (see: dreadlocks), and all the way up to places such as the National Football League and National Basketball Association, which have both been ruled by athletes that are predominately minorities, yet those same minorities are almost nonexistent on the sidelines and in front offices. We’re all still scratching our heads at the fact, right? When you have to have a “Rooney Rule” which states that at least one minority applicant must at least be interviewed for open positions, in 2016, we have a fucking problem. Now, I’m from Chicago’s Near North Side neighborhood of Cabrini Green, a housing project notorious for violence, gangs, drugs, etc. The thing about being from there, is that it was home, reputation be damned. So, when you see the neighborhood being shut down and the residents being displaced, it’s disheartening, no matter the case. Then, you have places where those residents simply cannot go with their vouchers, period. Making the safety of their families further prone to danger and less of a chance of breaking free from the proverbial cycle of damnation. Housing discrimination is still prevalent in that situation and others, such as the time a couple of friends living in a nice lil spot in Chicago, but it seemed everything that they did was to the ire of the landlord. Police were called multiple times when we’d hang, threats of termination became normal and we’d even get the side eye when walking down the street to stop by for visitation from the locals. It’s all quite baffling, yet we had to learn to live with it all. Still doing as much.

Now, you can see that there’s some varying answers as to how much, or how the money ought to be divvied up amongst the people should this miracle apology ever come to fruition. So, I’d like to point out that according to a 2011 study by Samuel H. Williamson and Louis P. Cain, the worth of slaves and slave labor as a share of the GDP in modern day dollars had it estimated as high as $13 TRILLION dollars in the 1820’s and never lower than $5 TRILLION. Go ahead and re-read those staggering figures, it took me a while to digest them too. So, seeing that you have those numbers to make a conscience decision on how much should be paid back in dollars, land or goods, take a second to think about what it cost an entire continent of people that were shipped out to create such a large percentage of a some other country’s economic worth. It is believed that some 12.5 million slaves were taken from Africa over the span of the Trans-Atlantic, with 11 million being sent to America alone. How we trace that lineage all the way back beats me, but I’m one of those guys willing lend whatever help it’d take if America was willing to right it’s most horrific wrong.

If it isn’t obvious to this point, allow me to state it clearly, I am of the belief that reparations should be paid out to Afro-Americans. Not sure that I concur fully with any stipulations because there are many situations that our people have been put in because of systematic oppression and government involvement. Look at the private prison for profit business, the crack cocaine epidemic, AIDS, and the list goes on. There are many ways to pay it out, but just give me my lump sum. Don’t elongate what’s coming to me because it’s been way too long for an apology already. There are SO many things to do for our community that others would be willing to do with their new found financial opportunity and I laud them for that, I do. Nonetheless, with my funds, I would get the hell off this continent, simply because I never really belonged here to begin with. Though there are many places in this wretched world that too treat minorities unjustly and with the social economics of earlier times, this place has shown me they are committed til the death to undermine us and keep the status quo. While some of my peers have this vision of everything being alright in the western hemisphere because the older more racist generations are dying off, I fail to believe that sentiment, just as I fail to believe a white Jesus is coming back to save us all. Because that same white Jesus told the first settlers to go west and slaughter the Natives that failed to see His vision. A better life for my family is the only thing I truly care about and something like this, while all certainly a dream, is the express ticket out of this manufactured hell.