Reparations for slavery is a political justice concept that argues that reparations should be paid to the descendants of slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa who were trafficked to and enslaved in the Americas as a consequence of the Atlantic slave trade. The most notable demands for reparations have been made in the United Kingdom and the United States.
These reparations are hypothetical; that is, they have never been made. In contrast, some slave owners received compensated emancipation, the money that some governments paid some slave owners when slavery was abolished, as compensation for the loss of their property.
United States
Slavery ended in the United States in 1865 with the end of the American Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,
which declared that, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
their jurisdiction". At that time, an estimated four million African Americans were set free.
Support for reparations
Within
the political sphere, only one major bill demanding slavery reparations
has been proposed, the "Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for
African Americans Act," which former Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) proposed unsuccessfully to the United States Congress every year from 1989 until his resignation in 2017.
As its name suggests, the bill recommended the creation of a commission
to study the "impact of slavery on the social, political and economic
life of our nation".
In 2014, prominent American journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates published an article titled "The Case for Reparations", which discussed the continued effects of slavery and Jim Crow laws and made renewed demands for reparations. Coates makes reference to Rep. John Conyers Jr.'s
aforementioned H.R.40 Bill, pointing out that Congress's failure to
pass this bill expresses a lack of willingness to right their past
wrongs.
In September 2016, the United Nations'
Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent encouraged
Congress to pass the aforementioned H.R.40 Bill to study reparations
proposals, but the Working Group did not directly endorse any specific
reparations proposal. The report noted that there exists a legacy of
racial inequality in the United States, explaining that, "Despite
substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the
fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group
over another, continues to negatively impact the civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today." The
report notes that a "dangerous ideology of white supremacy inhibits
social cohesion among the US population".
In 1999, African-American lawyer and activist Randall Robinson, founder of the TransAfrica
advocacy organization, wrote that America's history of race riots,
lynching, and institutional discrimination have "resulted in $1.4
trillion in losses for African Americans".
Economist Robert Browne stated the ultimate goal of reparations should
be to "restore the black community to the economic position it would
have if it had not been subjected to slavery and discrimination". He estimates a fair reparation value anywhere between $1.4 to $4.7 trillion, or roughly $142,000 (equivalent to $153,000 in 2019) for every black American living today. Other estimates range from $5.7 to $14.2 and $17.1 trillion.
2020 presidential candidate endorsement for reparations
Andrew Yang said that he supports HR40 while speaking on the Karen Hunter show.
In January 2019, Marianne Williamson detailed a plan for reparations in an interview for Ebony Magazine.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker have both indicated some level of support for reparations, according to NPR.
Tulsi Gabbard is a cosponsor of H.R.40, the only piece of legislation in Congress to study and develop reparations proposals and Bernie Sanders is a co-sponsor for the Senate version of the bill.
Kamala Harris declared in April 2019 she supports reparations.
Beto O'Rourke is "open to considering some form of reparations," according to U.S. News & World Report.
Tom Steyer in the 2020 Democratic Primaries Debate in South Carolina voiced his support for reparations.
Opposition to reparations
Opposition to slavery reparations is reflected in the general population. In a study conducted by YouGov
in 2014, only 37% of Americans believed that slaves should have been
provided compensation in the form of cash after being freed.
Furthermore, only 15% believed that descendants of slaves should receive
cash payments. The findings indicated a clear divide between black and
white Americans on this issue. The study summarized their findings,
noting: "Only 6% of white Americans support cash payments to the
descendants of slaves, compared to 59% of black Americans. Similarly,
only 19% of whites – and 63% of blacks – support special education and
job training programs for the descendants of slaves."
In 2014, in response to Ta-Nehisi Coates's article, "The Case for Reparations", conservative journalist Kevin D. Williamson
published an article titled "The Case Against Reparations." In it,
Williamson argues: "The people to whom reparations are owed are long
dead".
Another article opposing reparations to slavery was also
published in 2014 by Canadian-American neoconservative political
commentator David Frum.
United Kingdom
In 2004 descendants of Africans enslaved in America enlisted lawyer Ed Fagan in a class action lawsuit against insurance market Lloyd's of London,
among other British and American corporations, stating that by insuring
and financing the slaving ships they were complicit in genocide. The case was not successful. In Jamaica in 2004, a coalition of Rastafari movement and the Berber Moors
who claim to have built the infrastructure of nations but never fully
got paid for their building knowledge, and other groups argued that
European countries formerly involved in the slave trade, especially
Britain, should pay 72.5 billion pounds sterling to resettle 500,000
Jamaican Rastafarians in Africa. The claim was rejected by the British
government, which said it could not be held accountable for wrongs in
past centuries.
On 27 November 2006, British Prime Minister Tony Blair
made a partial apology for Britain's role in the African slavery trade.
However African rights activists denounced it as "empty rhetoric" that
failed to address the issue properly. They feel his apology stopped shy
to prevent any legal retort. Blair again apologized on 14 March 2007.
On 24 August 2007, Ken Livingstone (then Mayor of London) apologized publicly for London's role in the slave trade.
"You can look across there to see the institutions that still have the
benefit of the wealth they created from slavery", he said pointing
towards the financial district, before breaking down in tears. He
claimed that London was still tainted by the horrors of slavery. Jesse Jackson praised Mayor Livingstone, and added that reparations should be made.
Africa
In 1999, the African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission called for the West to pay $777 trillion to Africa within five years.
In September 2001, the United Nations sponsored the World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa. The Durban Review Conference
sponsored a resolution stating that the West owed reparations to Africa
due to the "racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related
intolerance" that the Atlantic slave trade caused.
Leaders of several African nations supported this resolution. The
former Minister of Justice of Sudan, Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin, stated
that the slave trade is responsible for the current problems plaguing
Africa.
Caribbean
In 2007, Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo formally called on European nations to pay reparations for the slave trade.
President Jagdeo stated, "Although some members of the international
community have recognized their active role in this despicable system,
they need to go step further and support reparations."
In 2014, the Parliament of Guyana established a "Reparations Committee
of Guyana" to further investigate the impact of slavery and create
formal demands for reparations.
In 2011, Antigua & Barbuda called for reparations at the United Nations,
saying "that segregation and violence against people of African descent
had impaired their capacity for advancement as nations, communities and
individuals". More recently, in 2016, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, called on Harvard University "to demonstrate its remorse and its debt to unnamed slaves from Antigua and Barbuda." According to Sanders, Isaac Royall Jr., who was the first endowed professor of law at Harvard, relied on the slaves on his plantation in Antigua when establishing Harvard Law School. Sanders recommended these reparations come in the form of annual scholarships for Antiguans and Barbudans.
In 2012, Jamaica
revived its reparations commission, to consider the question of whether
the country should seek an apology or reparations from Britain for its
role in the slave trade. The opposition cited Britain's role in the end of the slave trade as a reason that Britain should issue no reparations.
Also in 2012, the Barbados
government established a twelve-member Reparations Task Force, to be
responsible for sustaining the local, regional and international
momentum for reparations.
Barbados is reportedly "currently leading the way in calling for
reparations from former colonial powers for the injustices suffered by
slaves and their families."
In 2013, in the first of a series of lectures in Georgetown, Guyana, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the 1763 Berbice Slave Revolt, Principal of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles urged Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) countries to emulate the position adopted by the Jews who
were persecuted during the Second World War and have since organized a Jewish reparations fund.
CARICOM Reparations Commission
Following Sir Hilary Beckles's advice, the CARICOM Reparations Commission
(CRC) was created in September 2013. In 2014, 15 Caribbean nations
unveiled the "CARICOM Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice" which
spelled out demands for reparations from Europe "...for the enduring
suffering inflicted by the Atlantic slave trade". Among these demands were formal apologies from all nations involved (as opposed to "statements of regret"), repatriation
of displaced Africans to their homeland, programs to help Africans
learn about and share their histories, and institutions to improve
slavery descendants' literacy, physical health, and psychological
health. Representatives of Caribbean states have repeatedly announced their intention to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, as of 2019 no action has been taken. Moreover, from the perspective of international law, it is disputed
whether slavery, genocide and other crimes against humanity had been
outlawed at the time they were committed in the Caribbean. As
international law knows the principle of intertemporal law, in principle today's prohibitions cannot be applied retroactively. Still, some lawyers
have argued that exceptions to the principle of intertemporal law are
applicable in cases of crimes against humanity, as European states and
their representatives could not expect slavery to be legal in the future
(referred to as teleological reduction of the principle).
