African American Slavery Reparation Research Paper
1008 Words5 Pages
Slavery reparations to African Americans has been the current controversy. Reparations for slavery is an idea that the government will pay back the descendants of enslaved people, in the United States, for their ancestors forced unpaid labor over the centuries. There is no doubt that African American slaves have suffered abundantly, however, they were not the only race that were enslaved. Slavery reparations is a bad idea because there is no proof that slavery is responsible for all African American problems; there are no resources to prove that people are actually descended; there is not a whole race to blame for slavery; also, the reparation would strain the government of money. The slavery reparation controversy started, in 1989,…show more content… John Hawkins, who wrote 5 Reasons Reparations for Slavery Are a Bad Idea article, asked “Who would receive reparations?” This is a huge reason why the reparation for slavery would not work and a bad idea because more than half of the United States is made up of descendants of slave. Another question that has been repeatedly asked is “Do all black or African American people receives the reparation?” This question is relevant because African Americans were not the only race to be enslaved, they were the majority; and almost 3,000 blacks owned slaves themselves in the United States and were never enslaved. Another similar question is “What will make the person eligible to accept the reparation?” Meaning depends on ethnicity, if they have a mixed heritage, age, or income will they be eligible to receive the reparation. Example from Hawkins’s article is Tiger Woods, birth name Eldrick Tont Woods, who is of mixed heritage, has an income of $61.2 million, the sixth highest paid men in the world. Does Tiger Woods receive the reparation? Hawkins…show more content… The United States has given the American Indian three types of reparation. The U.S. felt guilty for taking the natives’ land, they offered reparations to please them. The first was cash payments, which was handled by the Indian Claims Commission and the U.S. Court of Claims. The Indians were not satisfied because of the long-term impact it had on the Indians’ communities. Congress gave back their land to particular tribes, this was the second reparation; the tribes who got their land back were a little bit satisfied, but for the other tribes they were not pleased. The third reparation was tribal recognition, many tribes was satisfied with this. In 1971, the U.S. spent $1 billion dollars and $44 million dollars’ worth of acres of land to the Alaska native land settlement. In 1980, the U.S spent $81 Million on the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon. The United States also gave $20,000 to each Japanese Americans who were relocated during the World War 2. The United States is still paying for the reparations that were made three decades ago. If the reparation is passed then the government would have to either raise taxes or borrow more