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Saniyah Robinson

ELA Honors
May 28, 2019

Reparations

America has come such a long way after slavery. Because of this debate, it continues to

flounder. We should all, as a whole, consider today's world and history. ​The African Americans

of today shouldn't have reparations because it'll do nothing but cause chaos in a society that has

nothing to do with slavery; bribery, confusion, and time.​ How will we know exactly to whom

these reparations are owed and is this bribery for the wrongdoings of our ancestors?

Reparations is a form of compensatory payment that needs to be made to the descendants

of slaves, but if slavery ended 154 years ago, who do you owe? Slavery hasn't happened in this

generation and for most of us, not our parents either, but because nothing was given back, many

believe that reparations should be owed.​ In “The Case Against Reparations” Williamson argues

that “ time should only hold itself,” meaning, keep the past in the past and the future in the

future. If we are many years forth slavery and it didn't occur to us, nor our parents, why would

anyone owe reparations? Throughout these hundreds of years of enslavement, there were 10.7

million African Americans enslaved. Let’s say majority of those slabs had about 2-3 offsprings,

11 times two is already 22 million citizens, not to mention that America is $900 billion in debt.

It’ll be entirely too much to try to pay 20 million people and not even know who is genetically an

offspring of a slave from over a 100 years ago. We are all our own person!
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Slavery and segregation/Jim Crow Laws were years, on top of years ago and didn’t

happen to us in today’s world.​ Reparations would only add fuel to an ongoing fire. ​America

cannot be the only one to blame when slavery was international amongst the whole world.​ “It is

insulting to Negroes to offer them reparations for past generations for suffering, as if the balance

of an irreparable past could be set straight with a handout.” It’s viewed as bribery towards the

black community; begging for forgiveness. If anyone wanted to pay African Americans for their

years lost in human society, it could be paid… not to us, not to our parents, but at least to that

enslaved child, however, no amount of money in the world could make up for the cruel lives our

ancestors lived!

African Americans deserve way more than a bribe to be “owned up to.​” It is such a

disgrace to even think that trying to pay someone for a being an innocent victim is even a

discussion today, though, many believe that it is okay, especially White America. Katherine

Frank thinks that its all about “Making Good on the Broken Promises” that America has failed to

keep up with.​White America wants to own up to their past of the cruel and brutal acts towards

African Americans. ​They're arguing that slavery was inhumane and that the whites really ruined

the ancestors of African Americans and continuing it on with segregation, Jim Crow, Black

Codes, etc. Whites are trying to show sympathy towards Blacks; hoping for forgiveness. Coates

states that “ My notion was to have people realize that this idea (reparations) isn’t just a joke and

that it should be taken seriously.” Reparations is being stripped of its true meaning and not being

taken seriously in today’s world, is what Coates is arguing. Reparations isn’t a joke, it’s very

serious!
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​ Black people shouldn’t have reparations because it is nothing but a bribe, an insult, and

it’ll be entirely too much to find out who reparations is exactly owed to.​ We are all our own

person and even though African Americans were enslaved years and years ago, the people of

today did not go through it. We’d (as a whole) be better off moving on past this idea and working

on a better society, rather than debating on a payment based off the work from the past.