What The Hell Happened to 40 Acres and a mule?
Two Hundred Years of Backbreaking Slavery, Hard Work and No Pay
Something Doesn't Add Up Here.
By: Sherri Hooker
Reparations: Payment for an injury; rectify for a wrong done.
Retribution: Something given or demanded in payment.
Being Screwed in the back: What happened to hundreds of thousands of black slaves when they didnÕt receive a damn penny for years of forced labor
Elliot G. ThompsonÕs controversial documentary New World Reparations: Twelve Generations of work with no pay provides an in-depth coverage of just that Ð the plight African slaves endured for approximately two centuries in the new world. The film specifically focuses on how African enslavement has affected blacks across the world today, and why we should receive reparations for the wrongs committed to our ancestors. I say ÔweÕ because I am a Black Canadian with descendants hailing from the Caribbean, South America and Africa.
After you watch the film you get a full understanding as to why so many black people across the world demand compensation. And you empathize with them.
Thompson begins the film by asking random people on the streets Ð black and white Ð whether or not blacks should receive compensation for slavery. Surprisingly, most of the people were sympathetic to the cause. However, there are many people who think the possibilities for black reparations are almost zilch.
After all, slavery is still too controversial an issue to talk about.
Why does the notion of black reparations have to be such a divisive argument? Many people would like to hide the idea of retribution to descendants of African slaves under a mat Ð it makes us uncomfortable to bring up our past mistakes.
Yet many other ethnic groups across the world have (and still are) successfully receiving retribution for past wrongs committed against them. The first nations tribes of the Americas have received monetary reparations. Japanese-Americans sued the United States government, claiming false imprisonment in internment camps during World War II. In 1990, over 100, 000 Japanese-Americans received $1.2 Billion, or $20, 000 each from the American government. Japanese Canadians one-upped them, receiving $230 million from the Canadian government in 1988 for the same reason. To date, Germany has paid nearly $60 billion to survivors of the Holocaust. In 1990, Holocaust survivors received $25 Million from the Austrian government. And black peopleÉoh, wait a minute - neither black slaves nor descendants of black slaves have received any sort of monetary reparations.
LetÕs see, 200 years of backbreaking slavery, hard work and no pay? Something doesnÕt add up here.
There was that one time in American History when black people were supposed to receive reparations. It can be traced back to the Civil War period. General William Sherman suggested freed slaves receive 40 acres and a mule, but his request was vetoed by then president Andrew Johnson. Abraham LincolnÕs Emancipation Proclamation also brought forth this concept, promising that once-enslaved individuals would receive 40 acres and a mule. But not one single mule was given out, and you can forget about the land. What Black Americans did receive was another century of fighting for basic civil rights, such as being able to vote.
But this is not only a ÔBlack AmericanÕ thing Ð in fact, there were more slaves brought to the Caribbean than to America.
At the height of slavery, Jamaica was accountable for 18 million pounds of the British EmpireÕs Annual income (about 30 million pounds) through the colonyÕs export of sugar and rum. After slavery was abolished, Jamaica estate owners received over six million pounds in compensation for the loss of their African Slave workforce. Altogether, over 20 million pounds was distributed throughout the British Empire. You think the slaves would have seen some of this money Ð but no. They were left with nothing but bad backs and calloused feet from their years of hard work and not a single damn penny to show for it.
So my question is, can anyone give me a reasonable explanation as to why descendants of black slaves cannot receive some form of compensation for the years of slavery their ancestors suffered?
Some have tried.
Black Africans were responsible for enslaving the ancestors of African-Americans.
My response: Yes, there were slaves/slave owners in Africa. However, slaves were protected against extreme cruelty by their customs. A slave was regarded as a person. In Africa a female slave could become her masterÕs wife. There were some cases in Africa where slaves rose to become kings.
DonÕt get me wrong; I am not condoning their actions. But these slave owners had no idea how cruel black slaves would be treated in the new world. European slave masters were very cruel to their slaves. They were not looked upon as equal human beings. They were forced to work and used as breeding instruments. The slaves were to forget their land of birth and many of their spirits were broken.
So even though there were Africans who sold their own people, they were not the ones actually responsible for putting them through a century of slavery in the New World. That is the bottom line. They did not build the faulty ships where blacks had to travel on. There were thousands who died from suicide or the inhumane conditions during the transport. They did not degrade the slaves as less than human just because of the color of their skin. It was the Europeans and Americans who profited richly from slavery. Europe flourished from Ô the triangular tradeÕ. Captives from Africa went as slaves to the Americas, and the production created by these slaves went back to Europe. Richard America, Georgetown University Professor, said it best when he stated that slavery produced benefits and enriched whites as a class at the expense of Blacks as a class. That is the bottom line.
Reparations are an attempt to turn Blacks Into Victims. It sends a damaging message to the Black Community.
My Response: Reparations is about honoring our ancestors and repaying the debt of money owed to them through their descendants. We cannot go back through history and compensate former-slaves, but we can honor them today through reparations given to their descendants.
This means a big fat check in the mail for every black person. And if this is so, why should I have to pay if I did not own a slave and there are no living black slaves left?
My response: Reparations do not mean every Black American/Black individual will receive a check in the mail. The money will most likely go into special funds that will benefit black people as a whole (i.e. education)
In the case of African-Americans, the money will most likely not come from tax- payers pockets. Some say the corporations that profited from slavery should pay up. I agree. The Reparations Coordinating Committee, headed by a cluster of top-notch black and white lawyers, professors and activists (including Johnnie Cochran, Richard America and Deadria Farmer-Paellmann) are in the process of suing American companies they say profited from slavery.
Corporations, as with the cases in the Holocaust lawsuits, tend to be common defendants in reparations claims. Most corporations are inclined to settle lawsuits in order to refrain from associating controversy with their company names. They usually have large cash reserves and keep information dating back 50 to even 100 years.
So, the concept of reparations for Blacks from corporations may not be that far off. In the spring of 2002, a handful of large American companies were named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the 35 million descendants of African slaves in the U.S. This is the first class action lawsuit seeking compensation from corporations that profited from slavery. Some of the big names being sued are Hartford-based insurer Aetna Inc., railroad operator CSX Corp., and FleetBoston Financial Corporation. The lawsuit claims that as many as 1000 unidentified corporations may have profited from slavery in the United States between 1619 and 1865. Although the claim has no monetary value, it estimates the current value of slavesÕ unpaid labor as $1. 4 trillion. The gross domestic product of the United States at the end of 2001 was $10. 25 trillion.
Aetna Inc., the No. 1 U.S. life and health insurer, did apologize two years ago for insuring the lives of slaves as property in the 1850s. The firm also claims it has invested more than $36 million in the African community and it embraces diversity.
Deidria Farmer-Paellmann has spent years researching companiesÕ involvement in slavery and it was her research that led to the apology of Aetna Inc.
According to the lawsuit, FleetBoston Corp. is the successor to providence Bank, founded by businessman John Brown. Brown owned ships that voyaged on several slaving journeys and the suit claims FleetBoston lent substantial sums of money to Brown, therefore profiting from BrownÕs slave trade.
CSX Corporation is a successor in interest to numerous railroad lines that were constructed by slave labor.
Of course, the main objective of suing these companies is to gain momentum for an apology and a massive reparations payout by Congress to African-Americans.
No official apology has ever been made by the U.S. government for slavery.
Even recently, when Queen Elizabeth II made a brief visit to Jamaica in the summer of 2002, Rastafarians petitioned her for reparations and repatriation back to Africa. In January 2003, she finally responded. The shameful activities of slavery belong to the past, and governments cannot accept responsibility for what happened 150 years ago. SoÉno.
If America has benefited from slavery, so have the black Americans that live in the country.
My response: There are rich Black Americans that have prospered because of their talent and hard work (i.e. Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Halle BerryÉ); however, there is still a cycle of oppression that has affected black people since the days of slavery. Some have escaped it, but many have not. According to a recent study by the Consumer Federation of America, the net wealth of the typical black-American household increased from $5,919 in 1989 to $19,010 in 2001. Yet, they still lagged far behind the nationwide (U.S.) median average of $86,000 in 2001.
It all comes down to the fact that black slaves were forced to work for over 200 years with no pay. This was the only group that has not received reparations or an apology. Something needs to be done.
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Sources, Links, More info:
http://www.angelfire.com/film/newworldreparations/ (For more information about Elliot G. ThompsonÕs documentary: New World Reparations)