This essay will assess the value of individual reparations against corporation funding for social change. In doing so this essay will address slavery outside of the plantations. It will specifically assess the long-term effects of socioeconomic slavery and how best to calculate and address reparations.
Should the U.S. government provide reparations for slavery? The answer to this is a definitive yes. The purpose of this essay is to determine how to scale this. It would require large scale funding with a daunting scope to repay individual inheritance, with interest, for slavery earnings. It is imperative to note, however, that slavery was not limited to plantations or to the nineteenth century.
Redlining, black mortgage contracts and segregated …show more content…
For example, Solomon Northrup wrote on the punishments for slaves starting work after daybreak. He wrote “it [was] an offense invariable followed by a flogging to be found at the quarters after daybreak.” For time off, “incidental labors” such as “drawing and cutting wood, pressing cotton fattening and killing hogs” burdened any spare time. To Northrup, quantification of the hours worked to calculate any reparations would be almost impossible. “Incidental labors” would not necessarily be counted towards a slaves daily tasks on a …show more content…
Blight noted that “slaves were the single largest, by far, financial asset of property in the entire American economy.” However, while the cotton and slave industry provided the backbone to the American economy, Epstein challenges how much tangible wealth is still accessible for reparations today. For individual reparations he states that, “resources were largely consumed […]. At most a small sliver of wealth was passed down by inheritance for a generation or two.” Herein lies the issue of individual reparations. Who is to pay? How much? How can we quantify a justifiable amount not only for hours worked but also trauma suffered? The answers do not present
Should the U.S. government provide reparations for slavery? The answer to this is a definitive yes. The purpose of this essay is to determine how to scale this. It would require large scale funding with a daunting scope to repay individual inheritance, with interest, for slavery earnings. It is imperative to note, however, that slavery was not limited to plantations or to the nineteenth century.
Redlining, black mortgage contracts and segregated …show more content…
For example, Solomon Northrup wrote on the punishments for slaves starting work after daybreak. He wrote “it [was] an offense invariable followed by a flogging to be found at the quarters after daybreak.” For time off, “incidental labors” such as “drawing and cutting wood, pressing cotton fattening and killing hogs” burdened any spare time. To Northrup, quantification of the hours worked to calculate any reparations would be almost impossible. “Incidental labors” would not necessarily be counted towards a slaves daily tasks on a …show more content…
Blight noted that “slaves were the single largest, by far, financial asset of property in the entire American economy.” However, while the cotton and slave industry provided the backbone to the American economy, Epstein challenges how much tangible wealth is still accessible for reparations today. For individual reparations he states that, “resources were largely consumed […]. At most a small sliver of wealth was passed down by inheritance for a generation or two.” Herein lies the issue of individual reparations. Who is to pay? How much? How can we quantify a justifiable amount not only for hours worked but also trauma suffered? The answers do not present