Reparations

Many questions can come up when the word reparations is brought up. Why should American taxpayers who never owned slaves pay for the sins of ancestors they don't even know? And what about those whose ancestors arrived here long after slavery ended? And how would the economy be affected? How do you put a price tag on 2 1/2 centuries of legalized inhumanity? In what form would reparations be paid? How would you establish who's a descendant? It all still comes down to one basic question, Should the descendents of slaves' masters have to pay for their ancestors' direct involvement and economic compensations from the institution of slavery in America? The answer is yes, reparations should be paid to the descendents of slave's. Since descendents of slaves' masters still live off the wealth of companies, products, and labor that slaves generated over the course of four hundred years there should not be a doubt in anyone's mind that slavery should be compensated.

Alternatively, since it was initially the ancestors of Caucasian's that enslaved African's their descendents should not have to compensate African Americans for what they performed. The descendents did not have any direct involvement in any way and can not change the actions of their past and should not be held liable. If Caucasian's were to give reparations to African Americans how would they know for a fact they were giving it to the descendant of a slave? Most African Americans can not trace their history back telling if their forebears were in deed slaves so Caucasian's would be giving reparations of a speculation that one's antecedent was a slave.

Though this may be the case, the descendents of slave masters still reap the benefits from the institution of slavery. Many companies, products, and labor that slaves established were taken from African's while slave master's claimed it as their own were which Caucasians have prospered from. These inventions and companies made African's slave master's wealthy individuals causing them to be apart of the elite; meaning their money is being passed down from generation to generation and where they will still have wealth even if they choose not to work. Another aspect of reparations is that Africans/African Americans were denied education for centuries. Reparations can be in the form of free college education.