Reparations for the Exploited
By Michael Boyajian
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in a recent edition of the New York Times argues that there can be no reparations for the descendents of slaves because Africans took part in the slave trade. Therefore there are no innocent parties to this tragedy.
Not true. Reparations can indeed be awarded if one approaches this atrocity with a dual approach. For instance, when a corporation bribes a government official we tend to go after the person who receives the bribe. The government official has violated his fiduciary duty to the people. Duality also exists, albeit unfairly, in the crime of prostitution where the prostitute is prosecuted rather than the john.
In the case of slavery the criminal is the one who exploited Africans into providing slaves for the slave trade. Africans had no way of creating the slave trade on their own. Only Europeans had the means to operate the slave trade. And by the way, who really profited from slavery? No one other than the plantation owners of the southern United States. They profited more than anyone from the blood and sweat of slaves. And these people continued to use slaves even as the slave trade ended by keeping it going within the boundaries of the country.
And slavery was not confined to the south, it only ended in New York in 1827 and just a few decades earlier with some uncertainty in Massachusetts. So no one can claim to have clean hands in this matter.
So reparations can be awarded to descendents of slavery without the worry of sliding down a slippery slope of finger pointing. The same can be said of Native Americans who were wiped out physically and culturally in what could only be described as one of the worst genocides in history.
Do we blame the Native American tribal leaders for this because they signed away land to white settlers? No. They were exploited by whites who took through avarice what they could not take through war. Tribal leaders did not have the intent to violate their fiduciary duty to members of their respective tribe members. In fact, they could not conceptualize the transfer of land for the sole use of another.
How do we make reparations to Native Americans? Since it was their land that was taken then a fractional percentage of the real property transfer tax in each state should provide the payout. Buyers and sellers would not feel the tax but with all the transfers in the country reparation revenues would add up.
What about slave descendents. Well since our economy profited from their enslavement then they should receive funding from a fractional portion of the income tax. This is not to say that individuals who had nothing to do with Indian atrocities or slavery are being punished. It is merely the cost of American citizenship. You reap the rewards of being American while also paying for the sins of the nation. That way the books are balanced.
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