Imagine...
...Being violently torn from your home, away from all that you love and all those who love you, to be shipped across a great ocean to a land you never knew existed, in deplorable conditions that kill great masses of people around you and all you can hear are the cries and screams of the barely living and strange monsters are in control that savagely beat you and can't even speak your home tongue to tell you why.
Imagine...
...Finally arriving on shore and being examined like the beast you are now considered before being sold to a man who does everything in his power to break your body and your spirit, who barely manages to tend to your basic human needs, and who works you for every single moment that the sun shines until you begin to loathe the light itself and wish death himself would come to release you from this earthly torment.
Imagine...
...Finally reaching some level of stability in your crazy, messed up life and finding yourself a wife and child, only to have your children placed upon the auction block and given away as if they were nothing, and to see your wife glance at each new child with a growing look of despair until she cannot care anymore if they live or die and it breaks almost every last ounce of soul you had left.
Imagine...
...Trudging home from the fields one day and hearing the singular screams of your wife, the only thing that holds your meager existence together, and running to save her from the master who's trying to rape her and doing so, but at the cost of your own relative safety as you are taken before a great crowd and whipped and tortured until your own death, and yet even with this final victory all you can do is look at the man once again leering at your wife and realize that in all you've done, and in all your suffering, you've accomplished nothing...In an entire lifetime, nothing.
Thus was the life of a slave in America during the two hundred years that slavery existed in this country. Every day millions of people lived on the whim of a man who called himself their master. What was his marvelous claim to dominence? A simple variation of pigment in his skin. Nothing more. These slaves lived with no hope--not for themselves, or even for the generations that would follow. In fact, some even murdered their own children in what Toni Morrison, in an interview titled after her own name, later called "the ultimate gesture of love." Why did she address such a barbaric act as that? Because these parents loved their young so much that they decided to do the worst, and yet best, thing ever, and choose death over a life of suffering for their children. Today, we can only imagine what such a choice would be like.
And so, there is no denying that slavery was a terrible shame and burden in our country. Even those slavemasters who seemed to hold their chattel in good conditions, such as J. W. Fowler in his "Plantation Management," leave several comments suggesting that they did so only for the simple fact that slaves cannot work when they are sick or dead. It was purely a matter of economics. No slaves equals no money. However, the real issue at hand is not whether or not slavery was a horrific institution. There is no question in that. The real issue is one probably one best introduced in the words of one of many students in our school.
"[Slavery] ended with the Civil War back in the 1800s. So get over it."
There are a great number of people today who hold this same belief, and it is not such an uncommon phrase. Those African Americans who still speak of slavery, they say, never went through such a thing, so what right do they have to complain? Yes, it was probably an unspeakable time to live through, but those living today are mere descendents of slaves. Does the pain travel through generations? Is it hereditary?
Besides that, they argue, who are they to say that their ancestors went through anything worse than anyone else? Remember those Japanese Americans who were detained in the US? How about the Holocaust? Was their suffering somehow less than the African Americans?
Finally, they point out, it's not as if nothing has been done about it. To go from being completely under the control of their white master to being a free member of this nation, with things such as the Civil Rights Act, affirmative action quotas, and racial set asides is no small leap, and not to be quickly overlooked.
It might be understandable, then, why, in holding these beliefs, these people would be upset by today's African Americans' request for monetary reparations. Some believe that they are only money-grubbers, out to take hard-earned cash from those with the deepest pockets, and using any excuse to do so. Take a look at the pending lawsuit against Fleet-Boston Financial. They are being fined for loans their company made and profitted from to a slave trader in Rhode Island. Did Fleet Boston actually make these loans? Technically, no. But, one of its predecessor banks, Providence Bank, did. Is that enough to warrent taking millions from a company that came along years later? Many say absolutely not. They would have a better chance in trying to start a lawsuit against the country of Portugal for starting slavery, or the descendents of the Ashanti, Congo, and Dahomey kingdoms for taking slaves to the Europeans in the first place.
These doubters laugh at some ideas to use "economic power to end racism," as stated in "To the President of the United States of America." How is money to help stop such a deep, racial mistrust, they scoff? That is called bribery, not ending racism.
Finally, they say, what about all the lives that were lost in the Civil War? Should the descendents of those people, and all of those who helped to end slavery, be punished as well? Should their efforts go unnoticed? How can we be sure that this will not happen, when choices are made to seek reparations only from the large corporations with the most money, and with the most effect over many people's lives?
Yet at the same time, there are also reasons why monetary reparations might be in order.
First of all, we mustn't forget the ample amount of money that slave owners made from their slaves while they were recieving nothing but hardship. When these slaves were set free, they were able to collect nothing from their labors, while their former masters sat high and happy, looking over their blood-stained fortunes.
The second reason starts as more of a question than an arguement. First, consider this: what was the reasoning behind ending slavery? Some suggest that it had nothing to deal with a humanitarian effort, like in the articled titled "Capitalism and Morality" by James Q. Wilson. Instead, it was simply a movement to emphasize the horrors of slavery, in order to get away with comprably lesser evils, such as employing workers for near slave wages. In this case, just think of what the newly freed slaves must have felt--to go from complete powerlessness, and have such high hopes of escape and a new life, and have them dashed again to work for a pittance a day for the white man once more. For who among the slaves could have gotten any better jobs? What skills did they have to offer? They had no education, and this continued, for to have this, one needs some small amount of money to build from, and who had this without education? For those who suffered on plantations as farm hands, what more did they know how to do than to plant the crops and harvest them? If they would have had land on which to grow their own farms, this would not have been such a problem. However, lacking this because of the very trials they had so recently escaped from, they were forced to once more live under the control of their owners. To get any sort of land, they must put themselves into debt--a form of slavery in its own right--simply to break even again. It might have made one almost wish for true servitude once more--at least then it was properly titled and honest.
Next, we should think of the previously mentioned people who suffered similar fates, like those in the Holocaust and detainment camps. The United States chose to help in repaying these people for their pain. Why, then, would it be any different for those who survived slavery in our own country? According to the formly noted address to the President, newly freed African Americans were even promised reparations (consisting of forty acres of land and a mule) ages ago, but these were never seen. How is it that our own people are any less deserving of compensation for past wrongs than those in others? If anything, one would assume that we would be more willing to start in our own country as opposed to others. Apparently this is not how the world works...
There is also the fact that African Americans have almost always been held at a disadvantage to others in our country. Because they do not hold as much money, they do not have as much power, and they have been continually forced to take second place to whites, as in the example from August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. In this play, Boy Willie wishes to buy some land from the Sutter family, which is the same family that held his own in slavery. He is told that it is being sold for $2,000, and only to him. However, he discovers this isn't quite true, as the family is also holding an offer to a white man, Jim Stovall, to take the land for only $1,500. If one doesn't believe that these and similar circumstances occur, one only needs look at some of the many irregularities in our country. Think back to the days of the Jim Crow laws. Heck, one needn't strain one's brain in going back even that far. Consider this, instead. How is it possible that there are an amazingly high amount of African Americans in our prison system as compared to white men? Could it possibly be that the white man holds a considerable bit more legal power in our judicial systems than the black? In Wilson's play, even, every generation of the family is familiar with Parchman farm, the jail to which most of them were sent with no reason other than trying to continue their survival. One doesn't need to look far to think of many other such slips in our supposedly fair systems.
Finally, there is the fact that so many of today's African Americans have been denied their past, not only in the way that they are constantly asked to "get over it," but also because of the fact that many of their families were forced to choose survival over their past. What do I mean by this statement? Look at it this way. Almost all families have some sort of heirloom, whether valuable or not, that has a deep past, and which is handed down from generation to generation. However, in times of great need, there is sometimes a choice to be made between the sentimental value of this item and the monetary value. And sometimes, out of great desperation, this unique link to the past must be sold, in order to continue in the future. There is a perfect example of this in The Piano Lesson, when Boy Willie is trying to convince Berneice to sell the piano. She doesn't want to, because of all the roots it has in their family, but Boy Willie is determined to, because he needs the money to live out his dreams. It would be a very tough decision and, although in this case, the piano stays, in many other families, they did not have the luxury of such an alternative, and had to sell their very memories away. Although this may not seem like the most horrible thing in life, it should certainly be considered one of the more problematic decsions. For who among us could truly move on to our future, when we do not even yet understand all of our past?
However, with all these motions in favor of monetary reparations, it is my personal belief that such reparations should not be made. Well, to be more specific, I don't believe such donations should be made to individual parties. Yes, it would be a good thing if some aid was given to various non-profit organizations and so forth. And no, I don't mean that I think no individual repairs should be made--only that they should not be simply a matter of money.
The first, and most obvious reason, against these reparations would be the fact that I would not wish to accidently reward any of those who actually helped slavery survive. How would this happen, if only African Americans recieved aid? Well, could we be so ignorant to think that only whites helped to continue the tradition of slavery? No, of course not. There were black slave owners and traders as well, for some people truly have no care of who they hurt--even their own people--as long as they remain in control. And who could say whether we would be able to successfully seperate the people today into those whose families had power, and those who didn't? One can be certain that the slave owners wouldn't be among the first to step forward and inform us of any errors!
A second prominant dilemna in a monetary reparation would have to be that this would probably not help African Americans with respect to racism. In fact, it would be more likely to aggrevate the problem, as it would be seen as a sign of extreme racial favortism. I'm sure anyone can already see it now. People would be getting into the issue of "Why do they deserve anything?" and all of the other such topics which have been previously discussed here, all on a regular basis, probably for years after the effects of such an action had worn out. And who wants to start anything like that quite yet? I believe the whole of us have had quite enough bickering over the centuries, thank you very much! Money can do many things, but it can't change the past, and it can't stop such deeply engrained views as we are dealing with now.
Another point to be taken would be to consider the question of what started this all in the first place? I think it's hard to disprove that it was anything other than money itself. Some say that it was more because of racism, and yet I say that this came later. If it was racism on a whole which began slavery, why would the Europeans allow some tribes to continue their lives, and others to not? If their conflict lay only in the color of the Africans' skin, they would have had their vengence on all blacks, as opposed to enslaving some, and cooperating with others. It all came down to profits, and if some tribes could help them acheive greater riches, who cared what ethnicity they were of? The idea of racism came last, as a way to excuse themselves of considering the moral issues behind it all. And, if we accept this as true, the question comes next--who wants to deal with the difficulties of money again, if this was what it all stemed from in the beginning?
Finally, I think that offering someone money for any type of suffering is a pathetic attempt to try to brush over real problems. Isn't that what whores do? Recieve money for having to put up with the customer? It holds no meaning behind it, and even manages to insult the receiver, for who can put a price on their tragedies; on human lives? To say that, "Well, your great-grandfather was tortured and died in slavery, so you get this amount of money," simply works to cheapen the life that he led. There is nothing that can be truly done to make up for what has been done, and I think we would do well to try to accept this, and work towards other means of fixing this great evil.
Well, it would be a fine display to pose such a problem without offering some sort of a solution. So what should be done in order to repair the damage done by slavery? Toni Morrison suggests a type of "fixing ceremony," but is somewhat vague as to what this might include. Therefore, I have made my own interpretations as to of what this might consist.
First of all, I believe that a public apology would be in order. Yes, I know. None of us committed such terrible acts to the African Americans today, and so why should we, and so forth. But hasn't this been the problem all along? No one feels the need to take responsibilty for all that has occurred. Everything was someone else's fault, and in the end, those who need to have some conclusion to their suffering are left with nothing but whispered accusations of other parties. Well, that's enough of that for me. I say that we all need to swallow our pride, and start making something happen, instead of spending all our energy pointing fingers. There needs to be some sort of mass reconciliation made and forgiveness asked of the general population. No excuses, no blame-laying--a simple, heart-felt apology. Would that be so hard to do? I guess so, considering it's been waited for ever since the first slave was ever captured, and never done.
There should also be some sort of major nationally recognized holiday, as a day of remembrance. No, not one that no one really knows about or remembers, and not one that we enjoy purely for the fact that it gets us out of work for the day. It should be one which actually does something, and makes us truly recall what has been done in the past, and why we continue to remember something that occurred so long ago. It shouldn't be so hard--anything that doesn't change for that long must have had many effects in history. In fact, it is because of its extended reign over our past that it would be hard to properly allow for any type of mass demonstration, such as a moment of silence, about it. How is that? Well, say for a moment that a national tradegy has transpired that lasts for roughly two hours. In remembrance of this incident, a moment of silence is held for only ten seconds. Now, if we figure that this is the amount of time given for something that only took two hours, just think of how long it would take to properly respect something that took two hundred years. To do this would take aproximately five years and one hundred and twenty two days of silence and remembrance. Five and a half years. Surely, then, we can take a mere one day a year to recall the pain of slavery!
Finally, my last hope for those whose ancestors survived slavery at our expense is that the United States will actively work to end racism and prejudice within our borders. Like most idealistic dreams, I doubt that it will happen, or, if it does, that I will ever live long enough to see its effects. However, simply as a theoretic answer, it would truly be the greatest resolution that we could offer, wouldn't it? To be able to live in a world where people are accepted ((a far cry from simple tolerence)) for all of their differences and, in some cases, ecentrics, would be the most fitting reparation that our nation could ever present, and so it is this solution, above all others, that I hope that we can work towards in the future. A simple apology just isn't enough, when faced with all that we could be doing.