Questions Regarding Reparations
Posted: Friday, September 7, 2001

( Jeff ) Date: Thursday, 6 September 2001

Greets All

I was wondering how ones and ones here on the board felt about these questions I have regarding reperations: do the descendents of the Ashante Kingdom (as well as other African tribes) also have to pay reperations for the millions of Africans that they sold to the Europeans and Americans? And does reperations also include all the Arab nations that had their hand in the slave trade? And what of the Cherokee Nation? Do they also have to pay reperations for the African slaves they owned? Who gets the money? Is it right that I have to repay money to a person of African descent even if they are ten times richer than me (Thinking of 'ol Jesse Jackson, whose a walking economic entity here in America)? Is that right to take away from my own children to repay that person who is richer than us simply because of the color of the skin? Or does the money go to educational institutions to help us all overcome future racism?

In the Spirit of Reasoning, no disrespect intended.

Peace
Jeff
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( Ayinde ) Date: Thursday, 6 September 2001

There are two sets of payments to be made.

1: All who participated in the colonization of Africa especially through the Berlin conference must pay reparations to those African nations.

2: All who profited from Slavery should pay reparations to all Africans who are nationals of other countries outside of Africa.

Once there is proof that anyone or group, including African people, participated and profited from the Slave trade they should pay reparations. This payment is due to all Africans both rich and poor. The money should be distributed proportionally to the countries with African populations to be administered by bodies in those countries. NO guilty party has the right to determine what Africans should do with their money. Africans who are wealthy today are also victims of the experience and they are equally entitled to compensation. Yes, Jesse is also entitled to the same amount as a poor African.
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( Jenny ) Date: Thursday, 6 September 2001

Reparation is not charity it is compensation. If a rich man is wronged, the courts award him damages. They don't say he is not entitled because he is rich.

I agree with Ayinde, if you can show that some Africans profited, then they must also pay.
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( Jeffrey ) The United Nations Racism Conference was marked with controversy even before it started due to efforts of some delegates to 1) equate Zionism with racism and 2) demand reparations from countries that benefited from the African slave trade.

The first African-American Secretary of State has decided to boycott the Summit at Durban in South Africa. After all, he represents an administration that has its roots in capitalism in the Confederate states of south USA.

While the evergreen Cuban President was articulating the views of the African diaspora on the need for reparation, two West African countries, even at the highest level of delegation, took a different stance.
Followers of African history would take note of the fact that slavery resulted from tribal wars and that was not the only reason. With the advent of the Europeans to the African shores, kidnapping of fellow Africans was the norm and the perpetrators became known as slatees!
The use of sugar cane rum was encouraged to weaken the fighting skills of African warriors as well. There, the reasons put forward by the Senegalese president was a rather honest one, while the Nigerian President Olosegun Obasanjo called only for an apology.

The Jews, who had been compensated for the holocaust they suffered under Nazi Germany, are accused of being racist by the Palestinians. One must look at the Israelis through the Ethiopian Falashas indeed to see the evidence.

Surely, the Middle East crisis, along with the conflicting views on reparations, caused discord among the delegates in Durban, South Africa.

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