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Kennedy Johnson

Dorothea Williams -Arnold

ELA Grade 10 Honors

May 28,2019

Reparations for the Descendants

America has been through hell and back. Dealing with slavery, guns, race,

reconstruction, Trump, wars, and now reparations. Although reparations is one of the

most talked about topics in the country now,its not new. Since 1953,West Germany paid

$35 billion dollar in reparations, and in 1968 Japanese -Americans were given $20,000

for the lost land. America should give African Americans reparations. People deserve

reparations whether it's a “apology” for slavery itself , for what we went through after

slavery like the housing situation , or for what we go through now like gun violence and

police brutality. People from students to presidential candidates talks about reparations

for African Americans , why don't we just make it happen.

So we have people trying to figure out the right answer. I don't know if I would

even enjoy reparations if they were to go through. Would we get money, would you

have to show how you are connected, or just say “m black and I deserve reparations.”

Many people who had grandparents in slavery are alive today;they didn't experience it

whereas people don't believe they need reparations. Slavery was not the only time

blacks were treated wrong. Even after trying to go to the North for jobs they were

treated wrong. In the article “should Black Americans get slavery reparations?”, it

speaks on the history of reparations.

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Repaying African Americans has been around and talked about since centuries

of slavery first ended. Even after slavery blacks were denied education, voting rights, ad

even the right to own property. This was hard on many families. In the video “The story

of the contract Buyers League , Clyde Ross and others speak on all they had to go

through during this time. Having to live in ghettos, people shouting “the blacks are

coming”,and not being able to own a house was just the horrible things ataglance. Once

you see how much they were being charged and if they didn't pay the outrageous

payments on time, someone kicked out them. African Americans were treated bad in

the north, even though they moved there for their families to have a better life.

I live in the North. My family moved from the south hoping to have a better life.

Although I complain about minor things, I know I could be worse off . My ancestor

worked hard to get out of the ghettos , America set up for them, and grow to own their

own homes. People say modern day people don't need reparations because we didn't

experience it ourselves but our families worked hard to get to this point and we are still

not on the same level as many people in America. We still work every day to make sure

our reputation is high and people don't doubt us because they see the color of our skin.

They kill people all over the country, gun them down, or looked down upon just because

we are darker. This is even after the 200+ years of slavery.

In conclusion America has Many African Americans at a disadvantage ever since

we were brought over here. Dealing with the abuse and hatred not being treated equal

in the North or South. African Americans deserve reparations because we go face many

situations many people don't think or witness in a lifetime.

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