Synopses & Reviews
Molefi Kete Asante The African American Warrant for Reparations: The Crime of European Enslavement of Africans and Its Consequences
Until lions have historians, hunters will be heroes.
-- Kenyan Proverb
In his 1993 monograph Paying the Social Debt: What White America Owes Black America, Richard America makes a forceful argument that reparation for Europe's enslavement of Africans in the United States is an idea whose time has arrived. Almost a decade before the powerful book "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, written by Randall Robinson in 2000, America laid out the economic bases of the debt owed to African Americans. While the argument for reparations is a Pan-African one, we are most interested in this essay with the discourse surrounding the enslavement and its consequences in the American society. There are those who will immediately say that the people of the United States will never accede to reparations. I am of the opinion that the discussion and debate surrounding reparations has only recently occurred in any serious way; therefore, this essay is offered as an attempt to raise some of the philosophical ideas that might govern such a discourse.
Randall Robinson's The Debt has been one of the most popular and important books written on the subject so far because he has captured the warrants for reparations in very clear and accessible language. What he has demonstrated is that while a national paralysis of will may exist at the present time, there is no lack of national guilt and interest in this theme. There is every reason for the United States to shape and frame the culture of reparations that shall become an increasingly powerful moral and politicalissue in the twenty-first century. The highest form of law exhibits itself when a system of law is able to answer for its own crimes. Nothing should prevent men and women of moral and political insight from making an argument for an idea whose legitimacy is fundamental to our concept of justice. We must act based on our own sense of moral rightness.
When Raphael Lemkin started in 1933 to gain recognition of the term "genocide" as a crime of barbarity, few thought that it would soon become the language of international law. When genocide was adopted as a convention in 1948 with an international criminal court to serve as the home for judging genocide it was a victory for those who had fought to put genocide on the world agenda. My belief is that the current discussions about reparation undertaken by scholars, political activists, and the United Nations will advance our own plan to place reparations at the front end of the agenda for redress for African Americans.
The Grounds of the Argument: Moral, Legal, Economic, and Political
The argument for reparations for the forced enslavement of Africans in the American colonies and the United States of America is based in moral, legal, economic, and political grounds. Taken together these ideas constitute an enormous warrant for the payment of reparations to the descendants of the Africans who worked under duress for nearly 250 years. The only remedy for such an immense deprivation of life and liberty is an enormous restitution.
When one examines the nature of the terms amassed for the argument for reparations it becomes clear that the basis for them is interwoven with the cultural fabric of the American nation. It is not un-Americanto seek the redress of wrongs through the use of some form of compensatory restitution. For example, the moral ideas of the argument are made from the concept of rightness as conceived in the religious literature of the American people. One assumes that morality based in the relationship between humans and the divine provides an incentive for correcting a wrong, if it is perceived to be a wrong, in most cases. Using legal ideas for the argument for reparations, one relies on the juridical heritage of the United States. Clearly, the ideas of justice and fair play, while often thwarted, distorted, and subverted, characterize the legal ideal in American jurisprudence. Therefore, the use of legal strategy in securing reparations is not only expected but required by Africans receiving compensatory redress for their enslavement. The Great Enslavement itself showed, however, how legal arguments could be twisted to defend an immoral and unjust system of oppression. Nevertheless, justice is a requirement for political solidarity within a nation and any attempt to bring it about must be looked upon as a valid effort to create national unity. Simply put, no justice, no peace.
Recognizing that justice may be both retributive and restorative, it seeks to punish those who have committed wrong and it concerns itself with restoring to the body politic a sense of reconciliation and harmony. I believe that the idea of reparations, particularly as conceived in my own work, is a restorative justice issue.
The economic case is a simple argument for the payment to the descendants of the enslaved for the work that was done and the deprivation that was experienced by our ancestors. To speak of aneconomic interest in the argument is typically American and an issue that should be well understood by most Americans. Simply put, Africans in America are owed back wages for nearly 250 years of uncompensated work by their ancestors and another 130 years for laws and behavior that continue to affect them economically.
Finally, the political aspect of reparations is wrapped in the clothes of the American political reality. In order to insure national unity reparations should be made to the descendants of Africans. It is my belief as well as that of others that the underlying fault in the American body politic is the unresolved issue of enslavement. Many of the contemporary problems in society can be thought of as deriving from the unsettled issues of enslavement. A concentration on the political term for reparations will lead to a useful argument for national unity.
Review
“This...informed....thoughtful....book thoroughly covers the history, laws and arguments for bringing the issue of reparations to the forefront.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Review
“Whatever your opinions on the issue, Should America Pay? is...essential reading.” Black Issues Book Review
Review
“Dr. Winbush understands the volatile nature of talk about reparations....[his] book will...stir the pot.” Dallas Morning News
Review
“This book is simply the best treatment of the reparations movement available in print. Dont miss it!” Cornel West
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“The most extensive, tightly written and thorough book on the subject. . . .a book everyone should read.” Nashville City Paper
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“A comprehensive look at the controversial issue from such angles as the history, law, practical challenges, and global implications.” The Tennesseean
Synopsis
Reparations -- Payment of a debt owed; the act of repairing a wrong or injury; to atone for wrongdoings; to make amends; to make one whole again; the payment of damages; to repair a nation; compensation in money, land, or materials for damages.
--National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA)
The enslavement of Africans in America is arguably the greatest human rights violation the world has ever witnessed. 250 years of brutalization--it is difficult to even conceive the dimensions of the loss, more difficult still to conceive how possibly to repair or repay. The historical link between slavery and contemporary race relations is more potent and contentious than ever.
Distinguished academics, lawmakers, and grassroots organizers have increasingly embraced the idea that reparations should be pursued vigorously in courts of law and legislative bodies, as they have been in cases of other abuses against ethnic minorities such as the Holocaust Jews or the Japanese-Americans wrongly interned during World War II. The precedent for redress has been established. But others ask, Who should pay? The government, our citizens? Private corporations or individual legacies, which directly benefited from the slave trade? And to whom should payment be made? Should it go into a managed trust to benefit African American causes or should it be paid to individuals? And how exactly would reparations today help heal the wounds of the past?
This comprehensive collection, the only one of its kind, gathers together the seminal essays of key participants in this debate. The book is divided into six parts:
- The first section gives the historical context under which the reparations movement was born and grew.
- The second part details some of the wide-ranging legal issues associated with reparations: obstacles such as sovereign immunity which protects the government from prosecution by its citizens; as well as successful strategies like suing private companies (for example: suing Aetna which insured slaves' lives for slave-owners)
- The third section presents both side of this challenging debate. Included are pro-reparations essays by an array of contributors, including Congressman John Conyers Jr., Christopher Hitchens, Professor Molefi Kete Asante, and activist Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, which are balanced by counterarguments by Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, and linguist John McWhorter.
- The fourth section provides histories of organizations such as the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and the National Black United Front, which are central to the reparations movement.
- The fifth section presents the voices of a variety of people, Black and white, teachers, journalists, psychologists, even a poet, who give prescriptive suggestions about healing the damage done by racism in the United States.
- The sixth section includes the primary source historical documents that are considered important in understanding reparations - such as the Thirteenth Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, General William Sherman's 1865 Field Order No. 15 (the origin of the infamous promise of "forty acres and a mule"), First Congressional Reparations Bill of 1867 and the Dakar Declaration of 2001.
Should America Pay? It is important question that will engage and challenge your students. This is the definitive sourcebook for discussions on the subject and will be invaluable to anyone looking for historical and legal insight into one of America's most urgent and passionate debates.
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Synopsis
Growing interest in reparations for African Americans has prompted a range of responses, from lawsuits against major corporations and a march in Washington to an anti-reparations ad campaign. As a result, the link between slavery and contemporary race relations is more potent and obvious than ever. Grassroots organizers, lawmakers, and distinguished academics have embraced the idea that reparations should be pursued vigorously in the courts and legislature. But others ask, Who should pay? And could reparations help heal the wounds of the past?
This comprehensive collection -- the only of its kind -- gathers together the seminal essays and key participants in the debate. Pro-reparations essays, including contributions by Congressman John Conyers Jr., Christopher Hitchens, and Professor Molefi Asante, are countered with arguments by Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, and John McWhorter, among others. Also featured are important documents, such as the First Congressional Reparations Bill of 1867 and the Dakar Declaration of 2001, as well as a new chapter on the current status and future direction of the movement.
About the Author
Raymond A. Winbush, Ph.D. is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Oakwood College in Alabama and received a fellowship to attend the University of Chicago, where he earned both his master's degree and Ph.D. in psychology. He has taught at Oakwood College, Alabama A&M, Vanderbilt University, and Fisk University. He is the recipient of numerous grants, including one from the Kellogg Foundation to establish a "National Dialogue on Race." He is the author of The Warrior Method: A Parents' Guide to Rearing Healthy Black Boys, the former treasurer and executive board member of the National Council of Black Studies, and is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Black Studies. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.