I am not guilty for the sins of my forefathers, therefore simply no reparations, my own ethnicity has also been subjected & suppressed through slavery most notably via the Romans, then the Vikings then victims of the Barbary slave trade into the Middle East. Given that Black Africans also participated in this trade for their own benefit the argument is baseless especially given the number of our sailors killed ending the slave trade. So NO reparations.
How many of the transported slaves are still alive? That’s right - zero. What possible good can it do to any slave descendent to give him a pile of cash? Yes he’ll spend it, mostly stupidly, and the world will be no better off.
Who started this crazy idea? Did they honestly have any other intention other than padding their own bank balance? I mean actually honestly, not just kidding themselves.
I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting giving reparations to actual descendants of slaves. The money would go to politicians in those countries who would use it to entrench their own power and enrich themselves. Swiss banks would probably be major beneficiaries !
Kehinde Andrews what are your thoughts on the barbary slaves and other civilisations that owned slaves? Should they pay reparations? If so it would be the a revolving door of wealth transfer
But haven't Britain already done that? It loaned the equivalent of 40% of the GDP to buy the slaves free from all their "masters" throughout the whole of the empire's territory. And most importantly : Britain invented the whole abolition of slavery. A society without slaves was not an idea before Britain began forbidding it. If there's a country that should be scrutinised more, it is France. It still leaches heavily from their "previous" colonies
Reparations never really solve anything. They simply build resentment. It's the "eye for an eye" mentality, which in the end results only in blindness.
How on earth would you even begin to calculate the value? Who exactly deserves a payout, and how would they prove it? Are we expecting people to produce family trees showing precisely how much they were affected and assign a monetary value to it? It’s impossible.
We in the West, with free speech and other kinds of freedom. We are the only ones that can even have these kinds of conversations. The Arabic World alone had (have) more slaves than the west had from year 0 to basically this day. But their media and public discussion is not allowed to talk about it. Although they effected just as many lifes, and was just as brutal. Ours was simply put more focused around the re-descovery of America.
This present debate about reparations is about relatively recent human history. My question for Mr. Andrews is, is there a point in history when reparations can no longer even be considered due to age or lack of information or obvious victims? How many years or generations back would that be? Thanks. [F & K, my name is pronounced like the fruit, "apple." I appreciate your hesitancy, though!]
I'm interested in the issue from the perspective of historical precedent. Obviously there have been instances of reparations in the past (such as the holocaust) but has there ever been a case of government reparations to the descendants of those who were wronged over 100 years later? Can you list those examples, and what occurred after reparations were provided. Thank you for your time
Let's say reparations are calculated and given, I would argue that many problems in the descendents are cultural (lack of education, lack of respect for education, lack of respect for other individuals leading to violence, lack of family). How would this money transcend and improve the lot of future generations rather than being a one time payment frittered away without changing anything?
Slavery existed in almost every society on the planet for thousands of years and there were numerous empires throughout history of which ours happened to be the largest but also one of the most benign. Why is it that reparations are only being demanded from white people. Could it be that only “white” societies have large numbers of guilt ridden gullible liberals eager to demonise their own country’s history to justify multiculturalism and mass immigration?
The definition of reparations also includes 'helping' those who have been wronged and Britain has already paid highly by the 2,000 British sailor lives that were lost after Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and therafter established the West African Squadron in 1808. For the next 52 years, the squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and liberated about 150,000 African people. Rather disproportionate isn't it. During the American Civil War, an estimated 750,000 to 850,000 military personnel lost their lives making significant sacrifices to their country, family, their children and the generations of relatives alive today. Applying this proportion to today's population would translate to an approx 7 million deaths, illustrating the immense scale of the loss. So I propose counter-reparations to all military personnel who fought for the right of the grifting ancestors to believe they 'deserve' taxpayer money from non slave owners to help ease their pain while, playing the forever victims, do not take into consideration the pain of the ancestors of those who fought for their right to exist as free people. So, HELL NO!
So my question I suppose is: Are the reparationists prepared to share their unearned earnings with the dead sailors and soldiers ancestors who fought for their right to exist as forever victims?
If slavery was legal at the time, and Britain not only abolished it but bore the enormous financial and human cost of doing so, — then on what factual basis, not just moral sentiment, can anyone argue that Britain still owes reparations? Haven’t we already paid our dues in full through action, cost, and sacrifice?”
If they avoid answering with facts..... And let's be honest they will, Id love to push back with - “With respect, I asked for a factual basis, not just moral outrage. If you cannot show, with evidence, how Britain’s massive financial outlay, national debt, and loss of life in ending slavery doesn’t already constitute reparations in themselves, then aren’t you simply ignoring history in favor of rhetoric?”
I am not guilty for the sins of my forefathers, therefore simply no reparations, my own ethnicity has also been subjected & suppressed through slavery most notably via the Romans, then the Vikings then victims of the Barbary slave trade into the Middle East. Given that Black Africans also participated in this trade for their own benefit the argument is baseless especially given the number of our sailors killed ending the slave trade. So NO reparations.
Well said sir and couldn’t agree more! It’s baffling how we are even engaging in a debate about this issue in the first place 😡
In a word ‘no’.
How many of the transported slaves are still alive? That’s right - zero. What possible good can it do to any slave descendent to give him a pile of cash? Yes he’ll spend it, mostly stupidly, and the world will be no better off.
Who started this crazy idea? Did they honestly have any other intention other than padding their own bank balance? I mean actually honestly, not just kidding themselves.
I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting giving reparations to actual descendants of slaves. The money would go to politicians in those countries who would use it to entrench their own power and enrich themselves. Swiss banks would probably be major beneficiaries !
Kehinde Andrews what are your thoughts on the barbary slaves and other civilisations that owned slaves? Should they pay reparations? If so it would be the a revolving door of wealth transfer
Norwegian guy here 🙋
But haven't Britain already done that? It loaned the equivalent of 40% of the GDP to buy the slaves free from all their "masters" throughout the whole of the empire's territory. And most importantly : Britain invented the whole abolition of slavery. A society without slaves was not an idea before Britain began forbidding it. If there's a country that should be scrutinised more, it is France. It still leaches heavily from their "previous" colonies
Reparations never really solve anything. They simply build resentment. It's the "eye for an eye" mentality, which in the end results only in blindness.
How on earth would you even begin to calculate the value? Who exactly deserves a payout, and how would they prove it? Are we expecting people to produce family trees showing precisely how much they were affected and assign a monetary value to it? It’s impossible.
Remember:
We in the West, with free speech and other kinds of freedom. We are the only ones that can even have these kinds of conversations. The Arabic World alone had (have) more slaves than the west had from year 0 to basically this day. But their media and public discussion is not allowed to talk about it. Although they effected just as many lifes, and was just as brutal. Ours was simply put more focused around the re-descovery of America.
Korea is the civilisation with the longest period of slavery. I'll eat my hat if this is often debated on North Korean television.
This present debate about reparations is about relatively recent human history. My question for Mr. Andrews is, is there a point in history when reparations can no longer even be considered due to age or lack of information or obvious victims? How many years or generations back would that be? Thanks. [F & K, my name is pronounced like the fruit, "apple." I appreciate your hesitancy, though!]
Professors,
I'm interested in the issue from the perspective of historical precedent. Obviously there have been instances of reparations in the past (such as the holocaust) but has there ever been a case of government reparations to the descendants of those who were wronged over 100 years later? Can you list those examples, and what occurred after reparations were provided. Thank you for your time
Let's say reparations are calculated and given, I would argue that many problems in the descendents are cultural (lack of education, lack of respect for education, lack of respect for other individuals leading to violence, lack of family). How would this money transcend and improve the lot of future generations rather than being a one time payment frittered away without changing anything?
Slavery existed in almost every society on the planet for thousands of years and there were numerous empires throughout history of which ours happened to be the largest but also one of the most benign. Why is it that reparations are only being demanded from white people. Could it be that only “white” societies have large numbers of guilt ridden gullible liberals eager to demonise their own country’s history to justify multiculturalism and mass immigration?
What are some universal standards we can apply to determine when one group of people owes reparations to another?
The definition of reparations also includes 'helping' those who have been wronged and Britain has already paid highly by the 2,000 British sailor lives that were lost after Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and therafter established the West African Squadron in 1808. For the next 52 years, the squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and liberated about 150,000 African people. Rather disproportionate isn't it. During the American Civil War, an estimated 750,000 to 850,000 military personnel lost their lives making significant sacrifices to their country, family, their children and the generations of relatives alive today. Applying this proportion to today's population would translate to an approx 7 million deaths, illustrating the immense scale of the loss. So I propose counter-reparations to all military personnel who fought for the right of the grifting ancestors to believe they 'deserve' taxpayer money from non slave owners to help ease their pain while, playing the forever victims, do not take into consideration the pain of the ancestors of those who fought for their right to exist as free people. So, HELL NO!
So my question I suppose is: Are the reparationists prepared to share their unearned earnings with the dead sailors and soldiers ancestors who fought for their right to exist as forever victims?
If slavery was legal at the time, and Britain not only abolished it but bore the enormous financial and human cost of doing so, — then on what factual basis, not just moral sentiment, can anyone argue that Britain still owes reparations? Haven’t we already paid our dues in full through action, cost, and sacrifice?”
If they avoid answering with facts..... And let's be honest they will, Id love to push back with - “With respect, I asked for a factual basis, not just moral outrage. If you cannot show, with evidence, how Britain’s massive financial outlay, national debt, and loss of life in ending slavery doesn’t already constitute reparations in themselves, then aren’t you simply ignoring history in favor of rhetoric?”
Or maybe suggest the leaders of African countries pay for willingly selling their own people to enrich themselves?
Reparation after a long time is incredibly hard to give.
For Rafe:
Do you think that this call for reparations is another form of the victim mentality? Do you think it comes from wanting to punish the white man?
For Kehinde:
What is the practical method you suggest for a reparation system? and which nation should be the first to be given the reparations?