Reparations

Reparations for African Americans

Reparations are defined as reimbursements of resources, not necessarily money, offered for wrongful acts committed against a population. This offering of compensation is an acknowledgement of liability and a step forward in attempting to correct the wrongs of the past and to fix the damage done. African Americans have not received any compensation for the enslavement of their ancestors; there is the question of who is at fault in order to decide where to collect the funds for the reimbursement. Although, it has caused pain and suffering with long term effects such as the Jim Crow Legislation and segregation, today reparations should not be given out to African Americans because of the suffering of their ancestors enslavement.

Slavery is an event of the past, where Europeans who settled in the new America captured people from Africa in a violent manner and brought them to the New America where they were forced to labor for them, mistreated, brutally beaten, and their families were literally torn apart. Women were raped and many slaves were murdered. Slavery of the African Americans began in the 1600s and ended in the 1880s; it lasted for about 244 years. This cruel and immoral act was mainly committed by the people south of the nation, but the government and constitution eventually ruled it out, after many deaths in a civil war. After the Civil War African Americans slowly but surely began to gain equality and a little respect from the European race. Even though they were still being murdered and mistreated on a day to day basis, they were able to survive. They had to protest, hold sit-ins, perform a million man march, and many died to create the equality so desired. Soon the government developed a system that would be considered a form of compensation, Affirmative Action where the employers had to hire a certain percent of blacks by law; some whites were still prejudice against them. This and many other events (not necessarily money) are considered as compensation for the mistreated Americans.

Other races of people have been mutilated, prosecuted and enslaved just like the African Americans and some have not been reimbursed and those who have personally experienced the wrongful acts. Those who deserved their reimbursements were the Japanese- Americans, and the Jews from the Holocaust. The Japanese- Americans were placed in concentration camps and the government soon realized they wrongfully accused them of betrayal and decided to make up for their pain and suffering with $20,000. The Jews were murdered by the Nazis and also held in concentration camps. The Nazis stole priceless items, such as jewelry, paintings, and most importantly family members. They deserved their reparations because they were directly affected by the Nazi's inflicted torture.

Some people were mistreated and suffered tremendous pain but their descendents were not able to be reimbursed for their ancestor's pain. The slaves that were in Israel were brutally beaten, tortured and forced to perform labor all their lives, which unusually was the norm at the time, but their descendents today are not being reimbursed because of the torture they endured. The ruling government of that time has past and