FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The case for reparations to descendants of enslaved people is quite simple: African-Americans were forcibly taken from their homes in Africa, enslaved and forced to work for white Americans for over 250 years in abysmal conditions with no remuneration. The “40 acres and a mule” promised to each black family upon emancipation was never delivered. Even after emancipation, practices such as sharecropping and enactment of Jim Crow laws ensured that African Americans were economically hamstrung, effectively barred from participating in the American Dream. These practices continue to this day, evolving with the times.
The U.S. made reparations to Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in U.S. camps during WWII.
Germany made reparations to holocaust survivors and Israel after WWII as payment for the holocaust.
It’s time.
Just being white entitles us to advantages that black people do not have. Most white people can be confident that if we approach a police officer, we will be treated fairly. We can assume that we will not be stopped by the police as we walk or drive through our neighborhoods, or be asked to leave our dormitory for looking “suspicious.” Most white people attending school will be surrounded by people who look like us, be taught by teachers who look like us. Products and services are marketed to us; if we enter a store, we can be sure we will see the products we need on the shelves. We white people live in a world that underscores and assures our advantage.
While we may not have time or money with which to make reparations, intentionality in charging our behavior is an extremely valuable form of engaging in repair.
Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person
Ten Ways to Pay Reparations if You're a Broke Ass White Person
Slavery lasted for 250 years; Jim Crow laws persisted for 75 years; it was illegal for African-Americans to even read or to vote for many years. Today, segregation, redlining and predatory lending practices ensure that African-American neighborhoods exist in a persistent state of disinvestment. Schools in these neighborhoods, therefore, do not receive the same level of tax dollars as do schools in affluent neighborhoods. The cycle of poverty continues unabated. White Americans have many invisible advantages that most Black Americans do not have. If the playing field is not level, “just working harder” will not be effective.
Author Zandra Vranes comments on FB:
"If our ancestors were on the wrong side of history it’s not because the times were different, it’s because THEY were INDIFFERENT to the oppression of their fellow man. It’s because THEY wanted to believe that wrong was right because it benefited them, BUT WRONG WAS NEVER RIGHT. Today we can’t get away with SOME of the wrongs our ancestors were empowered to commit. But it’s not the WRONG that changed, it’s not the STANDARD that changed, it’s the CONSEQUENCE."
Fact Check: What Percentage Of White Southerners Owned
Slaves?
Written by Ann Brown
5-6 minutes
Fact Check: What percentage of white Southerners actually owned slaves? Reparations
activist Dr. Sandy Darity helps to set the record straight. Image: The Belle Brezing
Photographic Collection, 2003AV1, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.
Kentuckiana Digital Library via University of Kentucy
When it comes to reparations, one of the consistent arguments against them is that there were actually
not very many white slave owners in the U.S. Recently, reparations activist and Duke professor William
Sandy Darity disputed this on Twitter.
He posted, one “lie circulating that only 1% of white southerners owned slaves. #FHTE In 1860, 1% of
white southern families owned 200 or more human beings, but in states of the Confederacy, at least
20% owned at least one and in Ms and SC ran as high as fifty percent.”
Darity cited a chart and research by U.S. civil war expert Al Mackey to back up his statement. Others
have refuted Darity’s claim, denying that slaves enriched their white owners.
Greg @lblanconx360 replied to Darity’s tweet, “Yes- but in the case of SC, most of these were not large
plantations like in Gone with the Wind on the coast, but were smaller farms. The owners were not
getting rich. They were fighting for survival as cotton and tobacco prices were on a roller coaster.”
According to Mackey, the 1 percent figure is misleading and needs to be understood.
Mackey is an educator, a retired U. S. Air Force officer and a former human resources manager with a
global company. He has become an expert on the U.S. Civil War and writes a blog called “Student of
the American Civil War.”
“For generations historians have been almost unanimous in emphasizing that Black slaves were owned
by a surprisingly small minority of whites,” Mackey wrote. But this figure mainly comes from the research
of American historian Allan Nevins (1890 – 1971). In the 1850 census, of the 6,184,477 white folk in the
slave States, only 347,525 were listed as owners, found Nevin. In the 1860 Census, which is on the eve
of the Civil War, there were 393,975 slave owners in the United States out of a total population of
31,183,582, or 1.26 percent of the population. But this is not a true picture, wrote Mackey.
The figure is the population of the entire U.S. At the time, there were 33 states in the Union, 15 were slave states and
18 were free states.
Looking just at the slave states then, there were 393,975 slave owners in the slave states out of a
population of 12,240,293. So this means that 3.22 percent of the population of the 15 slave states were
slave owners.
“But we have to remember that only free people owned slaves, and that the total population of the slave
states included enslaved people themselves, so we have to adjust our numbers to reflect only free
people. Therefore, the 393,975 slave owners were out of a free population of 8,289,782, or 4.75 percent
of the free population of the slave states being slave owners,” Mackey wrote.
The confederacy’s 11 states had 316,632 slave owners out of a free population of 5,582,222. This
equals 5.67 percent of the free population of the confederacy were slave owners.
“That, however, does not tell us the extent of slave ownership. To better understand the extent of
slavery’s impact, we need to realize a slave owner was the one person in a family who legally owned
slaves. That person was usually the patriarch. There would be a spouse and sons and daughters who
directly benefited from the family’s slave ownership and who stood to inherit enslaved people,” wrote
Mackey.
So, according to the Census of 1860, 30.8 percent of the free families in the confederacy owned slaves.
That means that every third white person in those states had a direct commitment to slavery.
That is a lot of slave owners.
The free labor these slaves provided and how the slave owners profited financially from slavery are just
some of the reasons why #ADOS continues to fight for reparations for Native Black Americans
When institutional racism has been eradicated and black people reach economic parity with white people – maybe then black people can “just get over it.”
Nearly every ethnicity, Black or white, has endured historic trauma of some sort; many have arrived on our shores precisely because of this trauma. However, today, most immigrants of European descent have overcome the obstacles that brought them here, entered the middle class and have attained at least the median net worth. This is effectively because policies and laws affecting our economies have always favored white-skinned people. African Americans to this day are still held back by historic policies and their current-day corollaries that have resulted in the 10:1 racial wealth gap.
“Blacks sold Blacks into slavery.”
This smug proclamation is often used by people who wish to silence discussions of slavery and sooth White fragility. On the surface, this seems to be an easy phrase to repeat. It seeks to derail any White responsibility for slavery and put Black people in the driver seat of causing their own suffering. After all, the slaves wouldn’t have ended up on those ships if not for the African hunters who pulled them out of the jungle, right?
This phrase is sexy. It requires the person saying it to learn very little about historical context and simply know that Africans did take part in the slave trade. Wrapped in a bow, it is the perfect zinger in their mind to shut other people up. While there is truth behind the statement, it broadly ignores context and role of White people in the Atlantic slave trade.
Read More...
"We strongly believe that creating and funding programs that can improve the lives of those who have been impacted by racism and discrimination is the best path forward toward equality and justice," San Francisco NAACP President Amos Brown said in a statement.
(Rather than direct payments)The organization called instead for investment in education, "economic empowerment," public and affordable housing, healthcare, and a "black center of town" in the Fillmore Heritage Center
Response by Antar Keith, Reparations Task Force, Democrats Abroad:
This seems to be a false dichotomy on the part of Rev. Brown.
What Rev. Brown is suggesting is social equity. Now, I'm actually having a hard time understanding his point of dropping reparative justice to instead focus on means-based social equity programs.
Victims of gross human rights violations (GHRVs) need and deserve more than social equity. They need repair for not only the specific violations they endured, but the accumulated damage over time that has severely impacted their economic, social, occupational and even biological/genetic prospects.
Victims of GHRVs need the present policies harming them acknowledged, and removed, while having the intergenerational damage done through successive racist policy reversed completely. This is very different from social equity.
On a side note, I don't understand why some people feel the need to "haggle down" or otherwise reduce our need for repair to mere equity programs, knowing they would never suggest that for any other group owed reparative justice.
Although important, social equity programs can never and should never replace the moral and legal obligation of the perpetrator of harm (i.e., the city government) to provide repair and restitution to the aggrieved victims (i.e., targeted Black communities and their descendants) for unjust policies (anti-Black law). This is a matter of international law and human rights.
Reparative measures can and, ideally should, work alongside the kinds of individual social equity programs outlined in the PDF, but they certainly shouldn't be passed over in lieu of social equity.
IMHO, the discussion of means-based social equity and reparations should never be an either-or situation, but a synergistic relationship. I'm glad I know what SF NAACP and Rev. Brown thinks about the subject.
Antar Keith
Reparations Task Force, Chair
Democrats Abroad
Excellent point. In fact, you're in luck - there is a way to make reparations to those Africans who were enslaved: you can fund the maintenance of civil war gravesites where African American soldiers are buried. Unlike sites where white solders are buried, African American burial sites are typically not maintained, or may have even disappeared over the years due to lack of funding for their maintenance. Another opportunity is to fund restoration of slave burial sites on plantations; these areas also suffer from neglect. Good thinking!
The Hidden History of African-American Burial Sites in the Antebellum South - Atlas Obscura
Down By the Riverside: Burial Practices of the Enslaved by Sarah Kohrs
Affirmative Action programs in education and private sector jobs, while largely effective for (primarily white) women, have not had the same level of impact for people of color. Unequal access to education and training resources compounds the problem resulting in fewer POC who may be qualified to apply for these positions. While Affirmative Action endeavors to level the playing field for applicants, the playing field remains uneven in many other areas.
While we agree that reparations are due at the federal level, and that only the federal government can provide substantial vehicles for repair, distinct harms have also been and continue to be committed at the institutional, local, and state level. Therefore repair mechanisms are necessary at all levels and should be designed to account for specific racially violent/discriminatory incidents, policies, practices or institutions at these various levels.
While individual requests for assistance are beyond the capability of this platform, we recommend posting a request on Natasha Marin's individual reparations site, Reparations Requests and Offerings.
This is a complex issue and there is no definitive answer, as yet. HR-40 would establish a commission to study the issue, and determine appropriate types of reparations including an array of possible social programs and legislative redress. The most controversial form of reparations is the direct cash payment.
Until a national commission is established to study this issue, we advocate that white families make reparations based on their individual circumstances and histories.
The debt to the descendants of enslaved Africans is incalculable. Nothing we can do as individuals can absolve us from this debt. However, if we have inherited any of our ancestors’ best qualities, we can employ them to heal the racial divide, to make this world a better place, for African Americans and for ourselves.
Reparations are absolutely due to Native Americans for harms caused by federal policies such as removal, forced placement on reservations, Indian wars, assimilation, removal of children to boarding schools, forced adoptions, relocation, termination that caused disruption of tribal communities and suppression of tribal societal institutions, cultural erasure and genocide. Federal policies inflicted near total and irreversible damage to Native people and their societies: tribes lost 98 percent of their land and 95 percent of their population.
Care must be taken to distinguish the need for reparations for damages to native communities detailed above versus the satisfaction of Native American rights, which are based in treaties and subsequent federal laws that implement the rights reserved in those treaties. Fulfillment of broken treaty guarantees is thus not considered “reparations.”
The term reparations, therefore, must be considered separately in the context of each community's history.
To gain insight, check out these resources and sites:
UN Declaration Of Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change Workshop
The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code film
Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Poster and Video
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
Reparations to Indigenous Peoples' Kit
"Years After Wounded Knee, Forgiveness is Possible"
"The Challenges of Forgiveness"
Becoming an Ally to Native Americans
https://www.honornativelandtax.org/contribute.
What is the Indigenous landback movement — and can it help the climate? |
Why It’s Time To Give Native Americans Their Land Back - YouTube
Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit (resourcegeneration.org)
Bounty (bountyfilm.org)Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land
Native Land on the App Store (apple.com)
A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment - Native Governance Center
FUNDS
Real Rent Duwamish - a reparations fund
Impact Investing & Lending | NDN Collective
Funds (ravencapitalpartners.ca)
NESsT Launches Impact Fund to Invest in 30,000 Jobs | NESsT
Native Community Capital – Native Community Capital (nativecap.org)
There are many reparations sites that are run by African American led organizations, including NAARC, NCOBRA and ADOS.
This portal links to these sites and follows their lead, giving white people new to the concept of reparations as much background as possible on the theory of reparations plus concrete examples of the many innovative ways to make reparations - all with the goal of achieving racial healing in the US.
No. Nothing short of a national program of reparations - worth roughly $14T - will help make up for 275 years of slavery followed by many years of institutional racism. However, it is our belief that every time a white family steps out of their white bubble and begins down an individual path of repair, that family is more likely to support a national program and use their influence to convince others to do the same.
We strongly urge white people visiting this site to consult with local African American communities before creating a reparations plan. Accountability is everything.
Yes, we'll be right over; just leave the keys under the mat. Oh, and we'll take the corgi too.
😉
The case for reparations to descendants of enslaved people is quite simple: African-Americans were forcibly taken from their homes in Africa, enslaved and forced to work for white Americans for over 250 years in abysmal conditions with no remuneration. The “40 acres and a mule” promised to each black family upon emancipation was never delivered. Even after emancipation, practices such as sharecropping and enactment of Jim Crow laws ensured that African Americans were economically hamstrung, effectively barred from participating in the American Dream. These practices continue to this day, evolving with the times.
The U.S. made reparations to Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in U.S. camps during WWII.
Germany made reparations to holocaust survivors and Israel after WWII as payment for the holocaust.
It’s time.
Just being white entitles us to advantages that black people do not have. Most white people can be confident that if we approach a police officer, we will be treated fairly. We can assume that we will not be stopped by the police as we walk or drive through our neighborhoods, or be asked to leave our dormitory for looking “suspicious.” Most white people attending school will be surrounded by people who look like us, be taught by teachers who look like us. Products and services are marketed to us; if we enter a store, we can be sure we will see the products we need on the shelves. We white people live in a world that underscores and assures our advantage.
While we may not have time or money with which to make reparations, intentionality in charging our behavior is an extremely valuable form of engaging in repair.
Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person
Ten Ways to Pay Reparations if You're a Broke Ass White Person
While the Jewish community has much in common with the African American community - both have been victims of hate crimes committed by white supremacists - there is also a history of complicity with the Atlantic Slave Trade.
While Jewish families are less likely to own plantations, they are more likely to be involved as merchants or in connection to the finance and insurance industries.
A few Jewish people play prominent roles:
Judah Benjamin, senator of Louisiana, served several roles in the Confederacy, including Secretary of War and Secretary of State, finally serving as Vice President under Jefferson Davis.
Henry Lehman, who founded Lehman Brothers with his brothers, got his start in business as a cotton broker in Alabama. The family owned slaves for a number of years.
In addition, just under 10 percent of the Rhode Island slave trade was transacted by Jewish slave traders. Trade was not limited to the Americas; signs of Jewish connections to the slave trade exist worldwide.
Ultimately, just as immigrants who move to America inherit all the benefits America has to offer, so too do they inherit its debts - including the reparations due for slavery.
More:
The Torah Case for Reparations (outline.com)
Slavery lasted for 250 years; Jim Crow laws persisted for 75 years; it was illegal for African-Americans to even read or to vote for many years. Today, segregation, redlining and predatory lending practices ensure that African-American neighborhoods exist in a persistent state of disinvestment. Schools in these neighborhoods, therefore, do not receive the same level of tax dollars as do schools in affluent neighborhoods. The cycle of poverty continues unabated. White Americans have many invisible advantages that most Black Americans do not have. If the playing field is not level, “just working harder” will not be effective.
Author Zandra Vranes comments on FB:
"If our ancestors were on the wrong side of history it’s not because the times were different, it’s because THEY were INDIFFERENT to the oppression of their fellow man. It’s because THEY wanted to believe that wrong was right because it benefited them, BUT WRONG WAS NEVER RIGHT. Today we can’t get away with SOME of the wrongs our ancestors were empowered to commit. But it’s not the WRONG that changed, it’s not the STANDARD that changed, it’s the CONSEQUENCE."
When institutional racism has been eradicated and black people reach economic parity with white people – maybe then black people can “just get over it.”
Excellent point. In fact, you're in luck - there is a way to make reparations to those Africans who were enslaved: you can fund the maintenance of civil war gravesites where African American soldiers are buried. Unlike sites where white solders are buried, African American burial sites are typically not maintained, or may have even disappeared over the years due to lack of funding for their maintenance. Another opportunity is to fund restoration of slave burial sites on plantations; these areas also suffer from neglect. Good thinking!
Affirmative Action programs in education and private sector jobs, while largely effective for (primarily white) women, have not had the same level of impact for people of color. Unequal access to education and training resources compounds the problem resulting in fewer POC who may be qualified to apply for these positions. While Affirmative Action endeavors to level the playing field for applicants, the playing field remains uneven in many other areas.
While individual requests for assistance are beyond the capability of this platform, we recommend posting a request on Natasha Marin's individual reparations site, Reparations Requests and Offerings.
This is a complex issue and there is no definitive answer, as yet. HR-40 would establish a commission to study the issue, and determine appropriate types of reparations including an array of possible social programs and legislative redress. The most controversial form of reparations is the direct cash payment.
Until a national commission is established to study this issue, we advocate that white families make reparations based on their individual circumstances and histories.
The debt to the descendants of enslaved Africans is incalculable. Nothing we can do as individuals can absolve us from this debt. However, if we have inherited any of our ancestors’ best qualities, we can employ them to heal the racial divide, to make this world a better place, for African Americans and for ourselves.
Reparations are absolutely due to Native Americans for harms caused by federal policies such as removal, forced placement on reservations, Indian wars, assimilation, removal of children to boarding schools, forced adoptions, relocation, termination that caused disruption of tribal communities and suppression of tribal societal institutions, cultural erasure and genocide. Federal policies inflicted near total and irreversible damage to Native people and their societies: tribes lost 98 percent of their land and 95 percent of their population.
Care must be taken to distinguish the need for reparations for damages to native communities detailed above versus the satisfaction of Native American rights, which are based in treaties and subsequent federal laws that implement the rights reserved in those treaties. Fulfillment of broken treaty guarantees is thus not considered “reparations.”
The term reparations, therefore, must be considered separately in the context of each community's history.
To gain insight, check out these resources and sites:
UN Declaration Of Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change Workshop
The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code film
Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Poster and Video
Reparations to Indigenous Peoples' Kit
"Years After Wounded Knee, Forgiveness is Possible"
"The Challenges of Forgiveness"
Real Rent Duwamish - a reparations fund
There are many reparations sites that are run by African American led organizations, including NAARC, NCOBRA and ADOS.
This portal links to these sites and follows their lead, giving white people new to the concept of reparations as much background as possible on the theory of reparations plus concrete examples of the many innovative ways to make reparations - all with the goal of achieving racial healing in the US.
No. Nothing short of a national program of reparations - worth roughly $14T - will help make up for 275 years of slavery followed by many years of institutional racism. However, it is our belief that every time a white family steps out of their white bubble and begins down an individual path of repair, that family is more likely to support a national program and use their influence to convince others to do the same.
We strongly urge white people visiting this site to consult with local African American communities before creating a reparations plan. Accountability is everything.
Yes, we'll be right over; just leave the keys under the mat. Oh, and we'll take the corgi too.
😉