Slavery Reparations Debate: Arguments For and Against

Introduction

One issue that has come to the surface in recent discussions of race in America is the question of slavery reparations. This is essentially the idea that modern descendants of American slaves should receive some form of financial reparations for the oppression and other hardships endured by their ancestors. One notable advocate of this position is Randall Robinson, as quoted in Watts-Jones (2004). He claims that economic reparations to the descendants of slaves are both necessary and morally correct, since so much of the United States' wealth in prior centuries was derived from the uncompensated labor of slaves.

Review of Pro-Reparations Literature

Adebajo (2004) describes the conditions that have led to modern African-Americans' affinity for the reparations argument. Unlike modern European-Americans, who may feel no particular affinity toward Europe (nor toward each other), modern African-Americans do have feelings of affinity for Africa, other African-Americans, and issues affecting both.

"Four centuries of a sordid trade in human cargo of Africans by American slave masters was followed by a century of colonial enslavement of Africa by European imperialists. These defining historical events have shaped the relationship of African-Americans and Africans with the West, and no serious examination of U.S. policy toward Africa can avoid focusing on the blighted legacy of slavery and colonialism, both of which created a bond between African-Americans and their ancestral home, resulting in their efforts to influence U.S. policy toward Africa."

Here we see the underpinnings for the origin of the reparations movement.

As quoted in Watts-Jones (2004), Randall Robinson, author of The Debt: What America Owes Blacks, states that much of the current wealth of the United States is traceable to the labor of slaves and that "economic reparations are a necessary component of the recovery from slavery and its aftermath." Martha Biondi (2003) echoes this view, though articulates it in more Marxist terms, and suggests that opponents of reparations are themselves racist — not explicitly, but symbolically; a point also addressed by Andrews (2003).

Judith Harman (also quoted in Watts-Jones, 2004) goes on to declare that modern African-Americans suffer from post-traumatic slavery disorder, and that reparations may be the necessary treatment.

Martha Biondi (2003) celebrates the fact that recent pressure by African and Asian lobbyists seems to be forcing "the West to confront its own history" regarding slavery. She lists the stages and influential individuals in the development of the reparations movement, essentially arguing that there has always been such a movement, but that it lacked the momentum necessary to gain national attention and serious debate until fairly recently.

She cites recent government movements toward a kind of reparation — for instance, payments in 1988 to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II and in 1994 to survivors of the 1923 Rosewood massacre. However, she also notes that in these two cases, the people who were actually wronged were still alive to be compensated for the injustices they suffered. This is not the case regarding slavery; the last American slave was Charlie Smith, who died in 1979 (Library of Congress, 2005).

Biondi goes on to claim that since discrimination has persisted — at least privately — against African-Americans, reparations payments should be extended to African-Americans for these injustices as well. Her claim that government-sponsored discrimination against African-Americans existed because social security initially excluded the occupations of agricultural workers and domestic service — the occupations most African-Americans held — is conspicuously unsubstantiated and may represent only her opinion.

She is right about one thing, however. As Robinson has said (quoted in Watts-Jones, 2004), much of the economic wealth accumulated in the United States prior to the abolition of slavery was made possible precisely because of slavery. If modern corporations could be traced back to that period and shown to have prospered at the expense of slaves, a case could be made that those corporations ought to make some form of reparations, since corporations exist in perpetuity.

This line of argument is problematic, however. Forcing modern corporations to pay for historical wrongs effectively forces consumers — many of them African-American — to absorb those costs; no company will simply absorb such a financial burden if it can pass it on. If firms like New York Life or Aetna were driven into bankruptcy because their corporate ancestors prospered from the slave trade, what would happen to their African-American employees? It may be counterproductive to penalize the open hand that provides opportunity today simply because it was a fist in previous generations.

References

Adebajo, Adekeye. (Spring, 2004). Africa, African-Americans, and the Avuncular Sam. Africa Today, 50(3), 92–110.

Andrews, Vernon L. (2003). Self-reflection and the reflected self: African-American double consciousness and the social (psychological) mirror. Journal of African-American Studies, 7(3), 59–79.

Baets, Antoon. (2004). A declaration of the responsibilities of present generations toward past generations. History & Theory, 43(4), 130–164.

Benatar, Solomon R. (2003). Bioethics: power and injustice — IAB presidential address. Bioethics, 17(5–6), 387–399.

Biondi, Martha. (2003). The rise of the reparations movement. Radical History Review, 87, 5–18.

Dubinsky, Paul R. (2004). Justice for the collective: the limits of the human rights class action. Michigan Law Review, 102(6), 1152–1190.

Forde-Mazrui, Kim. (2004). Taking conservatives seriously: a moral justification for affirmative action and reparations. California Law Review, 92(3), 685–753.

Jeffries, Judson L. (2004). Juneteenth, Black Texans, and the case for reparations. Negro Educational Review, 55(2/3), 107–115.

Koger, Larry. (1995). Black slaveowners: free Black slave masters in South Carolina, 1790–1860. University of South Carolina Press.

Library of Congress. (2005). Voices from the days of slavery. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/vfssp.html#CharlieSmith.html

Perry, John C. (2003). Myths and realities of American slavery. White Mane Publishing Company.

Watts-Jones, Dee. (2004). The evidence of things seen and not seen: the legacy of race and racism. Family Process, 43(4), 503–508.

Yamamoto, Eric K., Serrano, Susan K., & Rodriguez, Michelle Natividad. (2003). Reparations, human rights, and the war on terror. Michigan Law Review, 101(5), 1269–1337.