Reparations are moral
but not logical
Terrence Persaud
Slavery has always been an immoral, indecent,
aggressive and despicable condition created by humans.
Crimes of slavery and indentured servitude
have been committed against various groups of people since Biblical times.
Though it has been
done to everyone from the Irish to the
Africans to the East Indians to the American Indians to the Jews, that
doesn't make it right. The fact of the
matter is simple: Slavery, segregation,
indentured servitude and other various forms of repression are wrong and
the victims' descendants
should receive reputations.
In a recent class-action suit, a group
of African-Americans is suing three individual corporations for crimes
committed against the
African-American race. The suit listed
three different companies, FleetBoston Financial Corporation, Aetna Inc.
and CSX, that have either openly
admitted to using slave labor in the past
or are newer incarnations of former companies based in the slave trade.
Though these companies profited from slavery
and the slave trade, crimes against the African-Americans are not just
the companies' fault. They
are the fault of the people who purchased
the slaves and the government that allowed the trade to flourish.
Slavery in America has brought an onslaught
of problems to minorities in the past and in many instances indirectly
into the present and possibly
the future. Ending slavery brought on
segregation, an increase of racism and socioeconomic differences, thus
creating a different quality of
school system and opportunity between
predominantly minority and predominantly Caucasian neighborhoods.
Furthermore, slavery and its repercussions
have brought indirect differences in the populations of the current penal
systems in the United
States.
Even though slavery has had an effect on
most of the problems that plague this country, it would cause even more
problems to give reparations.
For example, if these three companies stated
above were to pay the $1.4 trillion asked for, these companies might go
bankrupt and put
descendants of people who did not own
slaves out of work. This would cause an increase in unemployment and harm
innocent parties.
Another possible solution is to ask the
government for repartations. However, that would take money from innocent
parties also. The third
solution would be to take the desired
sum from the descendants of slaveholders. However, that would still be
taking from a beneficiary and not
the guilty party.
There should be some form of solution for
this problem in American society, but at this time, there is no logical
solution for one to see.
However, there are a few logical actions
the government should take. The government should apologize for the utilization
of these malicious
acts. It should also increase the amount
of money spent in certain areas of society, such as better public schools.
