With reparations, there is the issue of who pays. Do African countries owe reparations to Black Americans? After all, Harvard’s director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Henry Louis Gates, wrote that 90% of those enslaved and shipped to the New World were sold by Africans to European slavers. All whites? Only whites? Nonwhites? Are payments owed before the United States became a country?
Former University of California, Los Angeles, historian Roger McGrath writes:
“The reparationists claim that the United States must compensate the descendants of slaves for 400 years of slavery. Since the United States was not established until 1788 (when the required three-fourths majority of the states approved the Constitution), slavery existed for only 77 years before the 13th Amendment abolished it.” McGrath also writes about the number of whites who owned slaves in the January issue of Chronicle Magazine:
“While the cotton economy enriched the owners of the large plantations and insured that millions of Blacks would live as slaves, it didn’t do much for most Southern whites, who saw the most fertile bottom lands owned by a small number of powerful families. Depending on the era, only 25 percent or so of Southern whites owned slaves or belonged to a family who did.”
On former President Barack Obama’s maternal side, there were slave owners. Obama’s father came from Kenya, a slave-trading area. Does Obama get a check, or does he cut a check? Similarly, Vice President Kamala Harris’ Jamaican father has acknowledged slave owners in his family. Does Harris, whose mother is from India, get a check or cut a check?
Slavery, sadly, has been part of human history since the beginning. Muslim slave traders took whites out of the Mediterranean area and enslaved them in Northern Africa. European slavers took Blacks out of Africa and shipped them to the New World. Europeans enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved Asians. Africans enslaved Africans. Even Native Americans enslaved other Native Americans.
Again, who pays whom? When and where does the pursuit of reparations stop, if ever?
The Arab slave trade took more Blacks out of Africa and for a longer period of time then did the European slavers. In “Prison & Slavery,” John Dewar Gleissner writes: “The Arabs’ treatment of Black Africans can aptly be termed an African Holocaust. Arabs killed more Africans in transit, especially when crossing the Sahara Desert, than Europeans and Americans, and over more centuries, both before and after the years of the Atlantic slave trade. … African slaves transported by Arabs across the Sahara Desert died more often than slaves making the Middle Passage to the New World by ship.”
As to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, historian Gates says:
“Between 1525 and 1866, in the entire history of the slave trade to the New World, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America.
“And how many of these 10.7 million Africans were shipped directly to North America? Only about 388,000. That’s right: a tiny percentage.”
And that tiny percentage has prospered to a far greater degree than did those who went to the Caribbean, Central and South America and, in some cases, Mexico.
In 1940, 87% of American Blacks lived below the federally defined level of poverty. By 1960, that number had fallen to 47%, the greatest 20-year period of economic expansion for Blacks in American history.
Who receives reparations? How is this determined?
Since slavery ended nearly 156 years ago, determining legal heirs to the stolen slave labor would be impossible.
When assessing the amount of reparations to be paid, is it relevant that the descendants of slaves here have prospered to a far greater degree than have the descendants of slaves shipped to Central and South America? If Black America were a separate country, its gross GDP would make it the 17th wealthiest country in the world. Economist Walter Williams said Blacks have come further ahead from further behind — and over a shorter period of time — than any people in the history of the world.
To be concluded next week.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. His latest book, “The New Trump Standard,” is available in paperback from Amazon.com and for Nook, Kindle, iBooks and GooglePlay. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @LarryElder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Larry Elder, Great commentary! There are white slave masters in Washington D.C., who, under Lyndon Johnson’s welfare system, have enslaved the blacks. Since Lyndon Johnson and his ilk, are Democrats, I suggest that only the communist Democrats, pay reparations to the blacks. So in essence, anyone who votes for the communist Democrats should be on the hook for reparations. Look at what perpetual welfare did. Perpetual welfare caused blacks to enslave themselves and who do these enslaved blacks vote for, Democrats. So both white slave master Democrats and black democrats, who have enslaved themselves, through perpetual welfare, should be the only ones paying reparations. How is that for “paying reparations”, Joe Criminal Biden?
All working people deserve reparations from those on welfare for having to support their sorry lazy butts since the demonrats destroyed the black and low income families in the 60’s. Now the demons are trying to destroy the whole country.
The answer to this question is simple. IF YOU are white, you owe. IF black, you get paid.
That’s as per the SJW leftist ninconpoops..
Define White and Black. Is that by DNA or only if you self identify as Black? Is Obama black or White? We know he identifies as black when it benefits him. He rode his minority privileged victimhood all the way to the “White” House.
I’m confused. Does his White half pay his black half? I self identify as a Native America.
Larry Elder is a most sensible person.
Our family came from Germany in the 1820s settled in the north Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin. Never owned slaves. Lost 6 family members fighting to free them for the North. Were strict abolitionists. One ancestor Gustave was an honored Captain. Don’t blacks owe my family for obtaining their freedom? How much were the 200,000 plus dead white young men who fought for the end of slavery, worth?
Of course I think the same about Japanese reparations. 99.8% of all WWII draftees, over 10 million, were young white American men. 300,000 died in the war because it was universal that draftees were the combat soldiers while enlisted got a choice. It was the draftee, who was in the frozen fox hole in the Arden, It was the draftee floating on the beach at Guadalcanal. It was the draftee marching at Bataan. All while the Japanese lived in warm and cozy Quonset huts in God Forsaken places. It was War, we all did our part. Just because one battalion of Japanese Americans, mostly from Hawaii where they were not interred, fought and died, the overwhelming number of Americans killed in the War were White men between the ages of 18 and 26. They got nothing but the $500 check and had to buy their own burial uniform out of that, if they came back at all.
Like I stated in an earlier post, there were no slave owners in my family tree (emigrated from Scotland 200+ years ago), nor have I ever owned any slaves. I don’t owe nobody nuthin’, and my taxes shouldn’t be spent on “reparations” to people who were never slaves.
I’d say 99.5% of americans are in the same boat.. BUT to the leftists, that won’t matter.
“12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America.”,,,,,,,,,,sounds like the modern day unvetted American border crossing survival rates by the Mexican Coyote and Drug Smugglers that the Democrats today enrich and get enriched by, similar to the pre-Civil war Southern Democrats of old. Ecclesiastes was correct,,,”There is nothing new under the sun”,,,,,,just overloaded crashed SUVs that now replace the overloaded slave ships, and smuggled Mexicans getting thrown out of the backs of trucks into the desert, where they used to just get thrown overboard when the policing agencies of accountability got on their tails. Bringing in people of anti-American illegal mindsets won’t work just as the illegal importation of slaves did not work. In the end Justice will always get its due. In between It’s the innocent who always suffer most, in this case it is the law-abiding civilians who play by the rules, not the crooked politicians who ignore or outright disobey the laws to get rich. Enter the power seeking Democrats where YOUR money soon becomes THEIR power, and your children become their tax slaves, and reparations milk cows.
In the old days, sure. THESE DAYS< not so much.
Larry Elder is truly brilliant and an outstanding communicator! I really didn’t know the history of slavery in the world and now I do. I was aware that democrats have always been against the personal and economic growth of African Americans and I believe they are still doing that today. That is obvious from comparing the 8 years of the Obama reign to the 4 years that Trump was POTUS.
What about those of us like me who are embarrassed to have to admit that we had ancestors who fought in the Union army? Are we entitled to reparations because our ancestors helped free the slaves?
If white, it won’t matter. You are white, you owe… SO sayeth the left.
As I’ve said before… you could give every black American a million dollars tomorrow, and next week they’d come back whining for more..
Just look at those ladies who Oprah, gave 50k each too.. ALL OF THEM ran out in less than a year (from what i heard)…
All those talks about reparations are pure nonsense. Fraction of slaves came to North America. New England did not have them at all. People who came after abolishing slavery have nothing to do with slave as well. By the way Democrats were the only slaves owners back then. So, stop this nonsense.
As mentioned above, don’t forget to take into consideration all the years of Public Assistance afforded to the following generations of freed slaves.
Do not paint with one brush, as many families have performed outstandingly to upgrade the lives of their descendants. On the other hand we have all seen cases where daughters were trained to procreate to continue the inflow of P.A. There is evidence of this action with out reference to skin tone as well
True dat.. When i was in Norfolk, on the USS America, three of the BIGGEST welfare families i knew of (one had a 19 yr old son, who i did battle tech with), were ALL WHITE gals.. Between those 3 moms, they had almost 20 kids between them.. ALL EARNING THEM EIC, WIC, Welfare and EBT, in the region of 50k a year, ON TOP OF getting section 8 housing for free, and being eligible for 30k/yr scholarships JUST FOR HER KIDS that us WORKING FOLK couldn’t apply for…
My Italian immigrant grandparents had nothing to do with slavery. They arrived in 1902, the poorest of poor with one year to prove they would be self-sufficient or be sent back to the old country.
They worked in the coal mines and loved this country never asking for handouts.
If anyone should pay reparations, it should be democrats. It is documented that not one republican ever owned a slave. The GOP was founded by abolitionists who freed the slaves. Jim Crow laws written by democrats. Klu KLux Klan, democrats.
Actually, Ulysses Grant was given a slave and a 26-acre farm, as a wedding gift, by his father-in-law. Grant’s family were abolitionists, so they were angry when he married into a slave-holding family. But he loved his wife dearly. The only time he abused whiskey, which he didn’t tolerate well, was when he was posted to Oregon for two years. He angered his Missouri neighbors by working his farm, and later his firewood business, shoulder to shoulder with his slave William, as though they were business partners. When his business failed, instead of selling William to pay his debts, he freed him.
I’ll say it again: How will descendants of slave traders; e.g., VP Harris and XP Obama; pay or receive reparations (if approved)?
As of 2014, over $22T has been spent on the War on Poverty with little to show for it.
http://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/the-war-poverty-after-50-years
Poverty level in was ~15% in 2013. In 2019 it was approximately 10.5%poverty.
https://ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states
In other words, reparations have been paid.
IF anything, we’ve got MORE folks now days, in poverty/living on the street, THAN BEFORE WE ever started that feckless “war on poverty””..
Actually, this is not even a discussion we should be having, the solution is simple. ALL who were slaves should receive reoperations from ALL who owned slaves! There, fixed it, you are welcome!
Who pays? The working people of this country pay out of their tax money, regardless of what color they are. Who collects? The dummycrat political pee-ons collect for the dummycrat politicians. Who receives? The dummycrat politicians get 90% for “administrative cost” and the lowly people that are suppose to get the money will be lucky if they see 10% of it. How do you spell reparations? S-C-A-M.
The who part is easy, that would be you and I, the collecting part is a little more hidden, my bet it is just the people who are pushing the fiasco. Like donations to black lies matter, they go straight to the democrat party.
It’s not really about slavery at all. It’s ALL about the advancement of communism in the US. Nothing more.
AND about punishing WHITES for being successful…
We must stop teaching ,we stole them. They were sold by fellow Africans. That’s why they hate us. You would ,too if you been told over and over again, you were stolen.
The proposal is preposterous and the Dems know it. Make people who never owned a slave give money to people who never were a slave? And according to the 2010 census half of Black American citizens immigrated to the US after slavery was abolished.
The Dems are doing this as a ploy to try to claim the righteous “high ground” in the race war they started under Obama. And also, which is their predictable MO, to wallpaper over the fact that it was the Democrat party that supported slavery. AND they supported segregation well into the 1960’s.
Masterful liars and deceivers the Democrats are, always accusing others of doing what they are doing or plan to do.
How much $$ will Oprah Winfrey and Lebron James receive ??
TOO friken much.
I’m sure the descendants of slave traders like Ms. Harris will no doubt also be glad to contribute to the cause. And in the future, will all the children of black criminals who murdered, raped, stole, vandalized, extorted, swindled, mugged, assaulted etc, also be required to pay reparations for their parents’ crimes against their victims?
THOSE who do the crimes as IS, are not required to pay reparations to their victims (unlike in the UK).. What makes you think their KIDS will eventually be required to do so?
If, God forbid, the Dems somehow enact reparations into law, well……January 6 was just a preview of coming attractions.
“I see a bad moon risin’ “
The bottom line is, the Hussein Administration and his Cronies started the mess we are in today. Any disagreement with whatever Far Out policy he pushed was considered Racist. His attack on the “White Population” has led to the cancel culture and prominent White People declaring their embarrassment for being born White. This is Insanity!!! Look what happened to the host and contestant of The Bachelorette? The young lady contestant was shown wearing an era style dress to an 1800s theme dance. Since that was the style of dresses worn at the time in the South, she was vilified and removed from the show. The host defended her, and was removed as well. Like most people accused of perceived racism, the host recanted his prior support of the contestant and apologized , Vociferously , for his insensitive “Whiteness”.
As the left points out repeatedly, America was built by immigrants. But what they neglect to acknowledge is that each and every new wave of nationalities &/or ethnicity had to start at the very bottom and struggle up to equality with the older groups.
The Chinese did much of the back-breaking work to build the railroads. Germans and Russians turned wilderness into successful farms. The Irish worked to prove themselves worthy of decent treatment. Hispanics are still struggling in some areas for the respect they deserve. Similar struggles were fought by every “new” group who tried to be accepted as real Americans.
Yes, the blacks may have been treated worse for a longer time than any other group but full and complete freedom and equality has been established law for many many years. The past is gone and thus reparations would be theft of all Americans to placate one group only.
You use the word theft as if it is a one way street. The stealing of your right to be a first class citizen in areas of education, housing, respect and intrinsic values. To live in an environment where what you say and do without being legally accused is the worst any human should live under .In particular, where our Constitution has for years been misinterpreted in the most egregious way. If you could relive every episode that has occurred during those times, each private moment, each hanging, each rape, each beating, each sale and each intimidation your thoughts would dramatically change. It has been recorded however and justification of such evil will come to light and few dollars for compensation for the irreparable pain will not in any way undue this belief that one race has superiority over the other.
Even today this white superiority complex has infiltrated the Republican Party. Today, none of the leaders of the Republican Party reference the Republican Preamble. The living, breathing document that has been the tip of the spear for our true beliefs.
Registered Republicans should also be on the receiving end of those “guvmint” checks then. The party of abolition who shed blood to stop slavery and give blacks voting rights should be compensated by the democrats who were/are the pro slavers.