TNJ - February 2001 - Editor's Note - The Perennial Debate by Njeru Waithaka

Editor's Note
February 2001

The Perennial Debate
by Njeru Waithaka

The debate over reparations for the wrongs perpetrated by the U.S. government to African slaves has resurfaced, once again illustrating that the ghosts of the past will continue to haunt a house until that house placates them.

The U.S. Congress has thus far refused to acknowledge the immorality of de jure slavery and avoided measures to repay African Americans for exploitation subjected to their ancestors; an exploitation largely to blame for the huge gap in wealth between blacks and whites. But the issue of reparations is perennial, and African Americans must keep it alive.

The issue of reparations was first put forward by the U.S. government itself in 1867 in a law promising blacks 40 acres and a mule. Since then, president after president has vetoed it in Congress but the ubiquitous issue keeps on resurfacing. In 1960, it was defeated but it was brought up again in 1989 by Representative John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat. He introduced the bill as HR40, after the reneged-upon 40 acres and a mule, and called for annual studies on the effects of slavery with possible corrective measures. The NAACP, headed by Kweisi Mfume, picked up the issue in 1999 but Congress has refused to grant it a hearing.

It is unfortunate for the government to ignore the issue when all other groups including the Jewish victims of Nazi labor camps and Japanese Americans, who suffered in internment camps during World War II, are being recompensed.

For how long will the U.S. government continue to add insults to injuries? Not forever. Groups such as the NAACP, the National Bar Association and the Newark, NJ-based Organization for Progress are becoming increasingly vociferous; they know the importance of keeping the issue alive.

The figures for compensation of labor are between $1.4 trillion and $25 trillion; a meager sum for the 25 million Africans drowned at sea, for the lynchings and the beatings, for the rape and torture, and for four centuries of building America’s wealth. In the 1700’s revenue from the slave trade raised England’s foreign trade by 700 percent, with $5 million pouring into its coffers every year, an equivalent of today’s $50 billion. In 1860, 100 percent of U.S. industrial textile cotton was produced by slaves; figures that expanded by 125 percent every 10 years between 1830 and 1860. By 1817, slaves were producing more than 126 million pounds of cotton with a value of $15 million annually.

But for all their labor, slaves were prevented from acquiring wealth and in the 1800’s, they held only 0.5 of 1 percent of all wealth in the U.S.

Although official slavery ended in 1865, de jure segregation and discrimination continued until 1968. Government-sanctioned racism ended as recently as 32 years ago, and slavery ended only in 1950, when Oscar Edwin Dial and Fred N. Dial, were convicted of owning slaves. It’s therefore wrong to argue that slavery took place too long ago and that Jews and the Japanese can be compensated because theirs took place only 50 years ago.

The year 2000 has come and gone but history teaches that nothing, not even freedom, has ever been given to blacks on a platter. The enthusiasm presently keeping the matter alive is a step toward winning the battle.

Click here for January 2002 Editor's Note - A Bright Economic Horizon

Click here for November 2001 Editor's Note - Initiatives Rigged in Controversy

Click here for April 2001 Editor's Note - The Good Competition

Click here for February 2001 Editor's Note - The Perennial Debate

Click here for January 2001 Editor's Note - The Beleaguered Media

Click here for October 2000 Editor's Note - Selling Out Cheaply

Click here for September 2000 Editor's Note - A Question of Trust

Click here for July / August 2000 Editor's Note - Value In Differences

Click here for June 2000 Editor's Note - Be Wary of Numbers

Click here for May 2000 Editor's Note - A Sobering Reminder