Opinion and Thoughts About U.S. Reparation for Slavery By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney

Reparation simply is a redress against a past wrong, grievance, injustice. The redress may be an acknowledgement, apology, monetary compensation to the victims, or other socio-economic benefits. The idea of reparation for slavery is not new. It dates back to Emancipation when the “freedmen” expected “forty acres and a mule” to help them make the transition from enslaved people to freedom which never materialized. Had Thaddeus Stevens prevailed there would have been a different outcome. I have a say-so on the matter. I am a descendant of slaves in the United States, the third generation post slavery. It may be controversial, non-scientific but so are other voices. I am “African-American” by DNA, history, and culture. The Grievance as I see it: For 246 years, 1619-1865, the United States engaged in the most barbaric slavery in world history that legalized Africans and their descendants as chattel property. It has failed to fully acknowledge or apologize for its complicity in a crime against humanity. The United States, its “white citizens” prospered from free labor which has never been compensated. My argument is the institution of slavery, Jim Crow, de jure and de facto discrimination, bred institutional-structural racism and some of the resulting consequences affecting present day African-Americans are generational poverty, the wealth gap with “white Americans,” and other disparities. Slavery in the United States created a hybrid people, no longer Africans. These enslaved people were never allowed to assimilate as “Americans,” with resulting effects on self-consciousness as reflected in the research studies of psychologists, Dr. Kenneth B. Clark and Dr. Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark. I do not support the counter arguments against reparation by those who oppose reparation 1. Slavery has no lasting effects on present day descendants of slaves. 2. The issue of reparation is divisive, polarizing: Citizens who were never slave holders should not be forced through the government to compensate descendants who were never slaves. 3. Racism is not responsible for African-Americans to be twice as likely to live below the poverty line than “white Americans.” But “lack of responsibility, sinful/immoral behaviors, they don’t work hard enough, don’t marry, have babies outside of wedlock.” 4. The government would not know who to compensate. There is no historical data base of United States slave descendants. I reject the counter argument and narrative that slavery, and ongoing racism do not affect the economic welfare of “African Americans” as a group. I reject the idea of “blaming the victims.” Or the idea reparation is not necessary because some African-Americans have done exceptional well against the odds. The debt still need to be paid. I partially agree the government would not know who to compensate. My slave ancestors did not come as immigrants through Ellis Island, but in shackles on slave ships. There is no historical data base. Not surprising! My people were considered non- human beings but property. But there is the possibility of extrapolation and census records. How does anyone know how I have been affected or anyone like me who cannot trace their ancestors back to their homeland because they were stripped of their name, identity, their heritage? I do not remember anyone asking or anyone caring. There is a lot of denial in the United States. Denial of racism, Denial of “white privilege.” Expectation when you African- American that the “auto back wheels should catch up with the auto front wheels.” Denial that regardless of education or profession African-Americans make less than their white peers. Denial of how government programs after World War II enabled the development of the “white middle class, such as the GI BILL and FHA which often discriminated against African-Americans. The Redress: 1. Passage of HR 40 for a Federal Commission to explore reparations for descendants of U.S. Slavery is the first step. 2. Acknowledgement and apology for U.S. complicity in the Transatlantic-Atlantic slave trade. 3. An accurate rewriting of history of slavery in the United States and dissemination. And re- education of current day population about slavery and Jim Crow. 4. Collective monetary compensation paid to Historical Black Colleges and Universities, and expanded STEM Programs. On August 11, 2002, I attended the Reparation Rally in Washington, D.C. I applaud the late Congressman John Conyers Jr., Representative Shelia Jackson Lee and others who have continued to work for reparative justice.