Re: Reparations

New Ipswich NH

Description

The alleged 55-year old white man who studied this for years has done a terrible job. He uses the terms ‘slave’ and ‘black’ interchangeably. ANY discussion about reparations should be limited to actual slaves, not to blacks. On the same hand, he assumes that all whites are somehow responsible for slaves or slavery in general. Again, ANY discussion on reparations should be directed towards those that owned or sold slaves. This should include non-whites as well. During his ‘years of study’, he concluded that slaves should be compensated at least $100,000 per year or $6,000,000 for a lifetime. I deciphered his calculations in just a few seconds. If paid $15 per hour, for a 24 hour day, times 365 days a year… you get $131,400 per year. If you multiply that by a 45 year life span (age 15 to 60) you get his $6,000,000 (actually $5,913,000). It’s a shame that it took him ‘years’ to figure that number out. Of course, if you used the minimum wage of $7.35 it would change. We’d also have to assume that a slave owner could not possibly work someone for 24 hours a day for 45 years. Aside from that being impossible, a slave owner would still consider the salve ‘property’ and look out for the welfare. A horse does not pull a cart for 24/7 for 45 years. If adjusted to $7.35 for a 16 hour day, the slave ‘earns’ $43,000 a year. As he mentioned, all of this would be in today’s dollars. We will dispense with possible interest charges just as we will dispense with all of the back taxes owed. Should we deduct the expenses of maintaining that slave (food, housing, taxes paid on that property, medical if needed)? We’ll put that aside for now. All that needs to happen now is to settle on a figure and determine who was a slave and who was at fault (assuming that someone that participated in a legal action at the time could be considered ‘at fault’). According to the Dictionary of American Slavery, 244,000 slaves were imported into the United States between 1791 and 1865. Slavery was abolished in 1865 and if there are claims by slaves before our country existed in 1791, they need to talk to another country. The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery has prepared a list of known slave owners. Those can be documented. The list shows 153 slave owners (by name) in the United States (1775 to 1865). Not all are white. Many blacks and Indians are on the list. Not all were practicing slave owners since they may have inherited slaves that were immediately released. Should we include people like Joseph Vann who was Cherokee leader owning hundreds of slaves… but in Indian Territory? What do we do about Suzanne Paille or Ana Gallumn who were slaves before becoming slave owners? I assume that the 55-year old white guy would want to include companies and corporations. After all, that’s where the big money is. If so, then Princeton University, University of Texas, Harvard Law, John Hopkins University, MIT, William and Mary College, University of Louisville and the City of St. Louis would owe millions. So, we come up with a number owed and then identify who should pay… not just whites as suggested by our 55-year old. Then we identify the actual slaves and do some simple math. Divide the total amount owed by the number of owners based on how many they actually owned. Now we can have an accurate amount that is owed to the initial slave. Just like being white is not a valid reason to pay, being black isn’t a valid reason to receive. Many blacks owned slaves and not all blacks are ‘African-American’ or even here during the slave years. Kamala Harris is black when it suits her career, but she is actually Jamaican and the descendent of one of the largest slave owners in Jamaica. Does she pay or receive? Having identified actual slaves… and then having settled on an amount (remember that not all slaves were owned for their entire life), we know how much that slave can claim. The next step would be to actually collect the amount from the violators. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to collect from companies/corporations that have dissolved or from slave owning families that have either moved out of country or simply died off. In any case, the US Government nor the TAXPAYERS are responsible for the debt. Collecting from the companies and families will be in court for years and years. Even if you could manage to identify a slave, identify his owner, calculate the amount owed and actually collect the amount… it should go into a fund in his name. That fund would be divided among ALL of his descendants and a trust set up for his future descendants. Why should a descendant today get what’s left? How has he been damaged and shouldn’t those same damages apply to his grandchildren and their grandchildren? How can a black of today justify being the sole recipient of his great-great-great grandfather’s estate? What is owed to the next generation? I think the 55-year old white guy should put a few more years into his studies.