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Reparations for slavery By Brittany Hughes
On Sept. 22, some 139 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the first printing of the preliminary edition of the Emancipation proclamation.
The famous historic document said, ''. . . I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and the Executive Government of the United States . . . will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons
''. . . I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages . . .''
For the first time in the many years slavery existed in America, the former slaves were now to get paid for any future toil. And they did, proudly, although often not at the ''reasonable wagesáá Lincoln recommended. Nor were they ever paid for the labor they performed before they were freed.
Since the '''40 acres and a mule'' bill was vetoed by Andrew Johnson in 1865, there has been talk about whether their free descendents should be paid reparations for their labor.
Lately, the reparations movement seems to have gathered steam. On Aug. 17, there was a Millions for Reparations rally in Washington, D.C. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who has made attempts for 13 years to create a delegation to study reparations, encouraged people in the crowd to get in touch with their representatives.
''We will get (reparations) by contacting every single member of the House of Representatives, every single member of the Senate,'' he said, noting that blacks have been dealt a ''historical injustice that can only be corrected'' in Congress.
Randall Robinson's book, ''The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks'' claims that Americaás racial problems canát be fixed unless ''The grievous wrong that has been committed against African-Americans'' is compensated for.
Some reparations advocates, including Robinson, assert that racial inequalities are due to slaveryás legacy. There are more black men in prison than in college. Statistics from 1996 say that 39.5 percent of black children live in poverty, compared to 15.5 percent of white children.
Not all blacks support the idea of reparations. Walter Williams, in a Nov. 12, 2000 article, argued that, ''If we totaled the income black Americans earned each year, and thought of ourselves as a separate nation, weád be the 14th or 15th richest nation...Had there not been slavery, and todayás blacks were born in Africa, instead of the United States, weád be living in the same poverty that todayás Africans live in and under the same brutal regimes.''
David Horowitz placed a controversial ad entitled ''Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks -- And Racist, Too!''
''Three thousand American blacks owned slaves,'' the ad said. ''Only a tiny minority of Americans ever owned slaves. This is true even for those who lived in the ante-bellum South where only one white in five was a slaveholder. Why should their descendents owe a debt? What about the descendents of 350,000 Union soldiers who died to free the slaves?''
''The two great waves of American immigration occurred after 1880 and then after 1960,'' the advertisement continued. ''What rationale would require [them] to pay reparations to American blacks?''
That is an obstacle in the path toward reparations. Many African-Americans are not descendents of American slaves and many white Americans are not descendents of slave owners. That means descendents of people who never owned slaves pay money to people whose descendents never were slaves.
Reparations advocates argue that Americans benefited monetarily from black enslavement, regardless of whether or not they owned slaves.
In an article run on capitalmagazine.com in January, 2000, Michelle Malkin satirically argued the theory that African-Americans still suffer from their ancestors enslavement.
''My ancestors from the Philippines were enslaved by the Spanish and forced to build and man the galleons that brought Hispanic explorers to America....During that time of servitude, Filipinos faced rampant societal and governmental discrimination.
''I'm still reeling from years -- no, centuries -- of crippling psychological damage caused by your ancestors' enslavement, colonization, occupation, and victimization of my ancestors. Your reparations will help pay for a new leather sofa, a personal masseuse, and a hot tub to melt away the chains of oppression,'' she said. ''No apology necessary. Just fork over the money and let freedom ring. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.''
A lawsuit has been filed with the idea of getting compensation. In March, 2002, FleetBoston, CSX and Aetna, three U.S. corporations, were sued because of activities the companies were engaged in two centuries ago.
The Tribune Chronicle Journalism Explorers Post and the Trumbull Career and Technical Centerás Entertainment and Marketing Arts program completed a survey asking more than 200 local teens about their opinions on the reparations movement. Thirty-five percent of those who responded think African-Americans deserve reparations.
''They suffered through it and they deserve to be paid for that,'' Katie Engstrom, 13, from Maplewood High school said.
''It was wrong and unjust . . . (slavery) shouldn't have happened,'' Ann Tuyford, a junior at Maplewood, said.
Selena Williams, who recently graduated from Mineral Ridge High School, said, ''It's only fair that the black folks get paid for the work they did for the white folks.''
But the majority of survey respondants disagreed.
''They don't deserve it. I mean, they didn't suffer, it was their ancestors. And a lot of the African-Americans today, their ancestors were just immigrants,'' said Mike Whitehouse, a sophomore from Bloomfield High School.
According to the survey, black females support reparations more than any other demographic. Fifty-five percent of them agreed with reparations.
Sharonda Williams, a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, was one.
''It's not fair what African-Americans got put through,'' she said.
''People should have to work for their money, but we should get something for what was done,'' Antonette Turner from Harding said.
A majority of black males, 59 percent, do not believe in reparations, according to the survey.
Dean Moore, a senior at The Rayen School in Youngstown, said his reason was because he ŕŕnever was a slave.áá
Seventy percent of white females surveyed and 66 percent of white males do not approve of reparations.
''In my opinion, if they show me the scars they got for it, Iáll give them the money,'' said Chris Nasonti, a sophomore at Bristol High School.
''No, I don't (think blacks should get reparations). I believe that even though it was part of their history and culture and though it is true that we did them a disservice by putting them into slavery, it's in the past and I think it's ridiculous to keep bringing it up,'' said Alana Christlieb, a Bristol junior.
''No, blacks shouldn't receive reparations, because they are not slaves now,'' said Alyssa Sippola, a junior at Victory Christian School.
Andrew Holodnak, 18, of Jefferson High School, offered a different reason for being against it. ''If you pay them reparations then the government would have to repay everyone whom they have abused in the last 200 years and that would be almost everybody.''
Stanley Crouch wrote that there is no ''more advanced or influential group of black people on the face of this earth than African-Americans.'' He went on to explain that that's pretty impressive considering they became so advanced and influential without reimbursement for their slave past.
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