We Should Not Be Responsible Today for Simon Lagree's Actions

Yes! Simon Legree was a fictional character. But, in a way, he still represents the unfair treatment of African-American brought over for generations to serve as slaves. It is perhaps one of the most devastating periods of human indignities perpetrated by whites against another race. It may also be a possibility that until the Civil Rights and Affirmative Action legislation of the 1960s and '70s, African Americans still were treated unfairly and with bias. However, financial restitution for the sins of generations past is not the answer. The answer likes in the fact that the current occupant of the White House is African-American and that the considerable growth in acceptance of America's once-oppressed minority is increasing.

Nevertheless, there is a movement to seek reparations from the U.S. government for the indignities of slavery. The proponents seem to feel they have precedents on their side: "Native Americans were offered land reserves as substitutions for land lost to European settlers. After World War II the U.S. government offered an apology to Japanese Americans held in detention camps and recently agreed to pay millions of dollars in restitution to survivors...'(Black)People are angry and frustrated,' says Chokwe Lumumba, chairman of NAPO (New African Peoples Organization). They realize that they have gotten the short end of the stick'" (Kecia 16). Money for today's African Americans for what their ancestors underwent may be a rallying cry for some, but just not feasible. How would such money be divided? Would everyone share equally? How would someone prove that their ancestors were slaves? Even if Congress might tentatively approve such reparations (and in today's economy that might be nearly impossible) a huge bureaucracy would be needed to administer, check, identify and eventually pay out some dollars. Would suich repasrations be tax free? How would they be spent? All legitimate questions and concerns for which there simply are not adequate answers to approvce the idea of restitution or reparations.

One recent tactic by those seeking reparations are to go past the government and go after private corporations, including Aetna, Union Pacxif Railroad and fionancial insitutions such as JP Morgan Chase. "The corporations vow they will fight any efforts to make them pay. Slavery was abhorrent. But should government contractors have to go back 140 years, spending millions on research and legal fees?" (Roosevelt 20).

Here is probably the best argument against reparations: "Perhaps the worst thing about the call for reparations is that it disses all these major steps forward that blacks are making. Instead, reparations reinforce the stereotype that they are a benighted, bedraggled and bamboozled people who need white people's money" (Murdock 44). Many states and corporations have already issued formal apologies to African Americans. Congress may do the same one day. But providing money and creating an enirely new and probably contentious payout system that may not satisfy anyone is not the answer to America's continuing but suppressed guilt.

References:

Kecia, Haneard: "Reparatrions Debate" Roslyn NY: Emerge

Sep 1990. Vol. 1, Iss. 10; pg. 16

Murdock, Deroy: "Should the U.S. payreparation for slavery?"

Vital Speeches of the DayApr 15, 2002. Vol. 68, Iss. 13;

pg. 404,

Roosevelt, Margot: "A new war over slavery" Time Magazine

Jun 9, 2003. Vol. 161, Iss. 23; pg. 20