Will Black People Ever See Reparations for Slavery? One Conference Hopes So
Since African Americans fought for freedom from slavery in the 19th century, many have called for reparations–financial compensation for the years of chattel slavery. Although former slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule to help them rebound from being enslaved, the program was short-lived, and many have been wondering if African Americans–like their Jewish counterparts–would ever see proper compensation for suffering such heinous atrocities in this country.
While we will probably never see financial compensation for slavery, many have argued that blacks in America should receive reparations in the form of a free college education or student loan debt forgiveness, while other still hold fast to the “40 acres and a mule” philosophy and want land.
In June, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) is holding a conference to examine why African Americans should still be granted reparations more than 150 years after slavery ended.
“After the passage of the 13Th and 14Th amendments, laws were passed to re-enslave people of African descent through Jim Crow laws. The New Jim Crow is a result of the low-intensity war against the Black community under the guise of a ‘War on Drugs,’ in addition to ongoing discrimination, and an extension of the slavery experience for Black people,” NCOBRA writes.
NCOBRA’s reparations conference takes place in Philadelphia June 22-24.
What are your thoughts on reparations? Do you think African Americans will ever see some form of reparations by the U.S. government?
my grandfather came from italy with no money left his family for 5 years live in a basement of a bar with rats held a job for half the pay of black, german and irish he never co mplained he couldn’t get a job because he could not speak english and because he was dirty and they thought he carried disease because he was Italian. He worked even when he had pnuemonia to have money to.eat . His family needed.him to succeed their lives depended.on it. My uncle was killed by the Irish because he was Italian and the cops did nothing. If my garandfather didn’t work so hard I would not be here. Failure was not an option. Their was no.welfare of food.stamps. when the rest of my family finally cqme here they lived in an attic.apartment in Newark nj. All seven of.them. J never asked.for more than was owed.to him from hard work and that ethic.has been passed.on to me qnd my family. America isn’t the land of a handout it.is.the land.of.oppurtunity. in other countries if.your.lazy your family litterally starved to death. They new if you work you eat and it didn’t matter what you did. Anyone can be president in this country if you set your mind to it and stop waiting for someone else to wake you up for work.
Were you and your entire family enslaved and systematically opressed for centuries??? No, so shut up and get the hell offa a BLACK WOMEN’S BLOG!!
BTw: your white Italian grandfather worked for less than blacks?? yeah right.
I love when people say their ancestors came over and did this and that but fail to mention how Africans had no choice. They were stripped of their families, freedom, religion, culture and anything else you want to add. There is a big difference. This is why racism continues today because people fail to acknowledge what really occurred.
Blacks for the most part worked for nothing, had nothing to past down to the next generation therefore could not build anytime wealth that most people were able to do.
So please spare me the B.S.
Damn he could even speak English and he was paid more than someone of color, I guess I would be pissed. So how much money in reperations do you wish for?
I’m against reparations, in this day & age you can easily go make a life for yourself if you would just try. It bugs me the black generations of today feel like society owes them something, when it was their ancestors who suffered, not them.
But Jewish people can be comensated and make thousands of movies recounting the history of the Holocaust…explain the difference. Black people as a whole will never be able to compete with whites….they jumped the starting line a loonnggg time ago and instituted systematic events that jacked us up…
*compensated