Rep. John Conyers has been introducing a Reparations Bill in the House for decades
[Reparations Moving Forward]
There is a lot of hatred against African Americans in the United States even though as a group, we have done little or nothing to earn it. Most of us were brought here against our will. This has been an odd way to act toward people you forced to be part of your population. An example of this hatred is easy to see in the irrational reaction of many toward the twice legally elected President of the United States, Barack Obama.
In my humble opinion, from a distance, he has been an almost perfect person, having a beautiful family, being extremely competent at his job and never striking back at his many tormentors, many of whom have conducted themselves at the level of sub-humans in their vitriolic comments about him, often to his face. He has taken this abuse in much the same way that Jackie Robinson, the first African American to make it in the then all white professional baseball league took it.
No American president has ever faced so much hostility and outright disrespect. The haters may be a minority, but there are still a lot of them, and as we have seen, they have power and they have little morality meaning they will sink to any level, no matter how low to achieve their objectives.
The damage done to Africans after their civilizations collapsed has been the worst ever inflicted on any peoples of the world. Their greatest accomplishments, the Egyptian Civilization for one example has been ripped from them by criminal societies who have tried for centuries to convince the world that Egypt was a European creation when in fact they came into possession of it only through invasions and criminal acts.
They have tried through various religions to convince the world that the Egyptians deserved to be enslaved claiming that enslaved Europeans, the Jews, were forced to build the Great Pyramids on the Giza Plateau. This has been proven to be a lie, but there are hundreds or even thousands of lies that these people live on as justification for murdering and enslaving millions of Africans then stealing and pillaging their rich lands. Africans are not alone in suffering these fates. The same has been done to others, including the American Indians. In the case of Africans brought to the Americas, we were stripped of not only our history but our language, our customs, our religions and even our appearance in an attempt to make us unrecognizable to the world. All of this damage must be made right.
Reparation is a principle of law that has existed for centuries, referring to the obligation of a wrongdoing party to redress the damage caused to the injured party. Under international law, reparation must, as far as possible, wipe out all the consequences of the illegal acts and re-establish the situation which would, in all probability, have existed if these acts had not been committed.
The Reparations situation between The Jews and Nazi Germany was fairly simple and a “Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany” was held by the Israelis. Around September 1951, the Chancellor of West Germany addressed his Parliament stating the need and desire of his government to agree on forms of compensation due the Jewish people. Despite some protests, an agreement was signed in September 1952 and West Germany paid Israel a total sum of $2,374,284,914 dollars (over Two billion three hundred million dollars). The payment was made to the State of Israel as heir to the victims who had no surviving family.
The money was invested in the country’s infrastructure and was an important part of establishing the economy of the new state. It could be said that it was their life’s blood. In the situation where America deprived Japanese Americans of their businesses, material goods and also imprisoned them during WWII, even though some of them had sons serving active duty in the U.S. Military, the situation was still fairly simple. In response, the Japanese people began what turned out to be a successful reparations movement in the 1980’s. Their situation is still ongoing. One source claims, however, that nearly 20 years ago, the U.S. Congress did apologize for the treatment of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in internment camps during WWII and it was said that each person was paid $20,000.00. The U.S. disbursed more than $1.6 billion to interned Japanese Americans and their heirs.
In the current political environment, African Americans will have little chance of winning any kind of Reparation from the United States or any of the other countries involved in our tragedy. The U.S. Supreme Court is far too right wing, and the Republican minority still has enough power that all they want to do is punish African Americans, even though as I stated above, we have done little or nothing to deserve it.
One real solution is the one put forth by Malcolm X: We must take our case before The United Nations. The slave trade was worldwide. Estimates of the damages can vary widely, but one said that for nearly 350 years from the start of the 16th century, it is estimated that tens of millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their continent and sold around the world. So I think the only chance for justice would come through a world court as found in The United Nations here in New York.
The League of Nations preceded the current body. The League had few teeth; they could chew on things but had little power to force change. The United Nations has teeth. It can use force to implement its decisions and this will definitely be needed when they do get around to settling claims in our favor. One argument against Reparations is that only a small percentage of Americans profited from the slave trade and many Whites (and Blacks also) died to end slavery and it is unfair that the entire country be taxed. Of course, this makes no sense to me at all.
The countries that were involved and that profited from the trade, worldwide, must pay and be made to pay if they refuse to do the right thing. America must support it and kick in its fair share. It may be that this will only happen when African countries and African peoples world-wide become strong enough to carry this out.
As in most legal proceedings, Proof of Damage will be required by the Courts: The entire world knows what has happened to Africans planet-wide and who has caused the damages and reaped the profits. I doubt our claims can be denied but I’m sure many will try, just as some, in spite of all the evidence, have tried to deny the Jewish Holocaust. Many claims by African nations have been made already, including some made at the U.N., all without success.
At this point, the offending nations are still too powerful, made so from drinking the blood of so many Africans. Once the Reparations arguments start to be settled, there will be a phase where the type and means of Reparations has to be determined. Reparations to individuals will not be practical. I’m certain that would lead to a clown show.
DNA Evidence will be used by some white people, in this country and South Africa and around the world where suddenly they will be trying to prove they are Black or African, even including those who have fought against Africans all their lives, perhaps as Clan members or as South African police.
By using new and cheaper products now available to do DNA testing, people of many races will trumpet any results showing they or their families have a smattering of African blood in them and they will now say that this qualifies them for a share in Reparations settlements which they are now claiming. Some estimates of what Africans are due for giving Europeans grand lifestyles while many Africans starve even today, is approximately $8,000,000,000,000 (Eight Trillion dollars).
I guarantee you that there will be a dog and pony show as good people and bad lunge at this purse.
Some method that can be used worldwide must be found. Some institution or entity must be created, perhaps by the U.N. and put in place to ensure the funds collected go to lift Africans all over the world out of their situations of prosecution so that any who cannot protect themselves are protected.
We have seen recent events in America where peoples gains once thought secure have been rolled back. We have seen that evil will never rest so we must be certain, “by whatever means necessary”, that African people worldwide can never, ever be victimized again.
