Marking the 200th anniversary when the British government decided to put an end to a great evil it had perpetrated upon the innocent, talks have become widely active all over the world. In the US, this is an old debate.
My great-great-great grandfather was a slave in a plantation near Clarksville, Tennessee and thus that line of my family came directly from the African slave trade. My great grandmother was a Native American of the Choctaw tribe straight from the reservation. Many of my ancestors came from Jamaica, some as slaves and others as settlers who have had their lives made better from the work of slave, though no direct slave owners. Others of my ancestors came from areas where they did not own slaves nor did they come to Jamaica when slavery was active from places like India.
I have a very mixed background. Depending on whose opinion you mind, some will claim some of my ancestors owed my other ancestors an apology and reparations while others say just be glad you are in a world today where you no longer have to put up with such conditions because your life will never be as bad as theirs was.
I take exception to such cut and dry opinions on what should happen because this is a gray area issue. Let me digress for a moment to make a point:
My mother had a hard life. There is no question that what she went through as a child in no way is equal to the cruelty of a life of a slave, but her harsh childhood made her life turn out the way it did - always looking outside of herself, always in fear, never feeling good enough to measure up. The way she was raised made her raise me and my sisters in a certain way. Our childhoods were not exactly awful, but they were also harsh to a certain degree because of what she experienced growing up. My children, I try to do the best with them, but because of the way I grew up, I make mistakes based upon my background.
Why bring this up? Everyone came from parents with issues and their backgrounds are coloured by those mistakes. What does this have to do with slavery and reparations? Everything!
What happens when someone is taken away from a life where they had a certain amount of freedom, economic stability, a sense of identity and purpose only to be stolen away from all they knew, treated in cruel manners worse than animals and forced into a life of hardship over which they have no control? You think perhaps they may have deep issues when they have children, children which can be sold off at the whim of their owners?
Many living today from European backgrounds have an easier chance of tracing their ancestors back over hundreds of years because they had that stability and freedom. Those of African decent whose ancestors were slave will never know their history before slavery. Their roots start at being in slavery. Their legacy of this harsh life was passed down from generation to generation until the ones who decided it was their right to own people thought perhaps this was a bad idea and kicked them out to freedom and said, "Okay, you're free. Make good of it."
There is a big problem with that kind of thinking. Remember, they went from uneducated slaves who could do nothing more than be servants, manual labourers, and farmers into being free and expected to, virtually overnight, become active, productive and equal members of society. When they were freed from slavery, they had nothing else to fall back on, no money, no land, no education, and not enough skills to compete with the market that was way ahead of them.
In the US, slaves who were found that could read or write were killed, education and real world skills were not encouraged. Why is it any surprise when the slaves were freed they were never really equal? Even after slavery ended, many US former slaves were afraid of trying to better themselves for fear that the white people would try to kill them. Because of this start of inequity and fear of education and racism, how on earth could these former slaves and their children ever truly compete in the real world?
The US and South Africa had it worse because the end of slavery turned into apartheid. It said that although you former slaves are free to live your lives, we still consider you subhuman and will not give you the same benefits that were in reserve for the white citizens. In fact, if you speak up or voice opposition to the way things are, we will look the other way when you end up dead in the hands of an angry mob.
When colonist empires set out to take over the world and used slave labour to get things going, they eventually came to the point of feeling guilty for what was done and ended slavery. Although not along the lines of the US or South Africa, there were still issues where many of the whites felt they were superior to those of African decent and it was an unspoken form of apartheid. That key issue revolves around racism.
Those who owned colonies eventually were feeling guilty enough for conquering certain areas and allowed them freedom...it was also costing these countries big time to support them, but they won't talk about that. When these colonies attained freedom, along with that went the money and the economic security required to run a new country. They had to start from scratch by people with no real skills in running a government. Of course it did not go well. All former colonies became third world countries because of the economic vacuum left because the powerful nation which once owned it turned their backs on them.
Another minor digression to make a point:
Let's say a person was strong and healthy with many family members, friends and a good career. He had a really good life with a lot of financial and emotional support. One day tragedy hit. He had a stroke. He lost a lot of his natural abilities. He lost his ability to work and support himself. His friends started to pull away. His wife grew frustrated with his recovery process and left him. All that contributed to his health and well being suddenly pulled up on him and he was left on his own, struggling to relearn how to talk, walk, and support himself, all without a network to help him do it all. Try as he might, he was never able to accomplish the greatness of his former life. On his own without the proper support for recovery, his chances of getting back to normal was nearly impossible.
However, the government stepped in and gave him benefits to help him on the road to recovery. It paid his medical bills. It paid for therapy. It paid to train him for a job he could do with his condition so he could compete in the real world. It was because of the helping hand he was able to have a normal life again.
The story above is what happens with former slaves and former colonies. It shifted the "burden" from those who supported them to those who were helpless and without means because these colonists and slave owners took away the ability for them to have any form of equality to compete in the real world. It created an inequity which would last many generations, even to today. Without a helping hand to make the situation equal, there would be many lost souls with no real way to compete and a less than understanding group of white people who think they should just "get over it already."
The US and South Africa still have very raw feelings that those of the UK cannot truly understand. While colonist countries like the UK took a cut and run approach, the US and South Africa kept up with slavery, but under a different name. Things were still not equal.
In US history, right after the Civil War, there was an effort to try to make things equal, but racism destroyed any true progress in that department. And it wasn't just in the South were this racism made things uneven. Even in the North and out West, if you were a former slave or came from one, your skin colour determined your place in society.
Up until the 1960s, the US had policies in place to have separate drinking fountains, toilet facilities, schools, public entrances, and so forth that was based upon the colour of your skin. Even your birth certificate was labeled with the race of your parents as "Negro", even in the North and as late as the 60s. To downplay that slavery and racism has no effect on society today is misguided.
With that said, I think apologies and reparations are still a gray area. While institutions and that have made their wealth and power on the backs of slave do carry a heavy burden, the degree of apologies in order will vary depending on what they did or did not do during this period. Those who are direct descendants of slave owners are also in the same boat if their direct legacy was benefited on the backs of others.
However, direct cash payments to descendants of slaves themselves is an insult. That is blood money. That is as bad as having insurance put on someone with the sole purpose of bumping them off so you can cash in on it. There is no one alive in the modern Western civilisation that was born into slavery. Those are the ones who were owed the money. They are the ones who were directly affected. Everyone else is indirectly affected, but affected just the same. That kind of payback needs to be addressed in different ways.
Forcing a government, institution or people in general to apologize and make reparations or even an apology does not solve anything. Unless it is given freely, it is not a true admission of guilt. It is forced and in that manor one does not truly comprehend the horrible act that was actually done. It is something done to get it over with so they can move on without having to feel further guilt or obligations because they can point out, "See, I've done my bit. Leave me alone." That is what guilting or forcing reparations will do. Nothing is actually faced as the guilt is paid off without dealing with what was done.
And when it comes to inequities in the system of slavery, to what degree should it be taken? As mentioned earlier, my ancestors also came from the Native American population where the US government basically said either you guys try and behave and blend in leaving your old ways behind to be forgotten or you can stay on these crummy reservations where you can keep up your traditions making your living on tourism and casinos, but no real economic trade to make your lives any better. Before the Africans were sent to do the dirty work, it was the Natives who were forced into slavery and killed off so the land could be taken. A true genocide was committed on the Natives and it has NEVER been addressed. The inequities still exist today.
And what of the Japanese-Americans who lived out West during World War II? Many of their sons actually went to war with the rest of the American troops of all backgrounds and were loyal and faithful soldiers. And why shouldn't they be? They were Americans and just as outraged as everyone else over Pearl Harbor. What happened to them that was outrageous? Those who were not actively fighting in the war had the misfortune to look like the enemy and due to racism they were rounded up into detention camps as prisoners of war without the rights that belong to American citizens. Remember, these WERE American citizens. While in the camps, they were subjected to harsh conditions and their homes and all their assets were taken away, never to be returned. Some of this group is still alive as being directly affected by such policies.
And what of the responsibilities of the leaders of Africa today? The slave trade would not have been possible if the leaders of those countries were not complacent in their roles to do what they did. Just like in the Middle East where they report the weak links to the US troops to be sent to Gitmo, this is exactly what many African leaders did to members of their own tribes. Anyone seen as a weak link, a criminal, unloyal, a trouble maker, one who might threaten the leader's position, any who just did not fit in...all of these people were deliberately handed over to those in the slave trade for money, goods, and/or drugs. While some of the slaves were merely captured, many more were acquired by being sold out by their own people.
And what of the white slaves and the poor people who did not own slaves or have any power to do anything with it? While most in that population had issues of racism, the majority had no power either way to help or hinder slaves of African descent during the time of slavery.
Slavery was a sin of those with wealth and power, the top 1% of the population. The bottom of the pool had nothing to do with slavery to benefit directly nor indirectly from the slaves. They were not given any special breaks during the time of slavery because often they were excluded from paying jobs to support their families while the wealthy could have free labour to do the jobs. That left a lot of bitter people who could not compete.
When slavery was abolished, they saw all these freed slaves as a threat to what little opportunities they had. They saw it as a slew of new people looking for work who could do a job for less money that would displace them even further. These freed slaves were a threat and combined with racism, they reacted in such a manor. They did not benefit from the slaves, in fact, slaves being around only made their lives that much harder. Perhaps they have a reason to feel resentful when people talk about them apologizing and paying descendants of former slaves. Even today, those who were not so well off in the times of slavery did not have the same opportunities or governmental hand outs to improve their lot in life and are still living in impoverished conditions.
The fact is reparations in the US government have been underway for quite some time with benefits and quotas set out to try and make up for lost time, but the way it has been done made it more of a crutch than actual help. There is a saying, "Give a man a fish, he eats for that night. Teach a man to fish, he eats for life." These reparation programmes are the equal to giving the man a fish.
Without equal educational opportunities, more loans along with education to develop businesses to help the communities, more public awareness on the effects of past racism and what it does to generations over time, and the expectancy that with this help you have to take responsibility for your own life when you partake after a certain period of learning the ropes...then you just have a dependent class of children who must always look to someone else to solve their problems which is almost as bad as racism. It is like the government is saying, "We don't really expect much from you people, so we will coddle you along and treat you like children until we grow tired of your tantrums of not being treated like adults."
Life is not equal or fair for anyone, but some people start out with greater inequities than others and it is only right to acknowledge it without having to be forced to do it so there is resentment. Forcing people to make amends is less than genuine and I think people deserve better. Unless the real issues are addressed about the underlying racism which continues to make things unequal, all the money in the world will never make it any better.
