Reparations

Reparations are a matter of social justice for not only African Americans; but are a global issue requiring a unified, international mobilization. After the civil war and freedom was granted to slaves, they were also guaranteed 40 acres of land and a mule. The newly freed slaves were never given this small gift for the hundreds of years of oppression. Instantly, this put African Americans in a spot that placed them on the bottom rung of the economy because they are coming out of slavery with nothing, thus finding jobs that pay close to nothing. This sets the tone for present day African Americans still struggling to get by in society.
Many different forms of reparations are being called for even still to resolve this problem. Some groups such as Reverend Amos Brown, are calling for reparations in a form of a tax break and automatic tuition for African Americans that qualify for higher education. A more radical view on the issue comes from the Nation of Islam who are calling for reparations to be paid out by providing land that is fertile to become its own nation and for the United States to maintain and support the needs of the territory for 20-25 years, until the nation can provide for itself. Another group called the Republic of New Africa called for the same type of reparations as the Nation of Islam. The RNA was founded with the purpose of establishing an independent Black Republic in five southern states that were predominantly black (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana). They also asked for $300 Billion in reparations from the US government to help establish these new communities. The main advocates for reparations however are merely asking for money to be paid ranging in amounts of $500 million to $300 billion.
Many people worry that these large amounts of money that are being requested are just absurd and that they will just throw our economy into complete economic turmoil; however, $500 billion poses no threat to the well-being of the national economy. $500 billion is around $62,500 for each of the 8 million black families in America. This is enough money to buy a decent house, put the children through school, and build a retirement plan for the parents. This allows for the house and money to be passed on to the children after the parents pass away and thus continues the cycle of building up the African American community as well as the American economy and community as a whole.
The call for reparations isn’t something that the black community is pulling out of a hat. There is a long list of precedents that make the request for reparations a modest one. For example, in 1952, Germans began to pay reparations to survivors of the holocaust around $58 billion. In 1980, four Native American tribes were given over $1 million and over 1 million acres of land. Another major example that follows the lines of the black call for reparations is in 1988 when then Civil Liberties Act provided Japanese Americans interred during WWII a formal apology and $20,000 each totaling over $1.5 billion. This is a small list of examples of precedents that the black community is using to justify their ability to receive reparations.