An Argument Against Reparations
In 1860 just 4% of the slave-holding southern state and only 1% of ALL Americans everywhere owned slaves. And, it wasn't just whites who owned slaves in those days. Blacks and Indians owned slaves as well. While it is true that some blacks were able to free their loved ones by buying them, MOST were bought by plantation owning free blacks who worked them on their plantation.
In New Orleans alone, 3,000 free blacks owned slaves. Here's an 1830 census of free black slave owners by State:
By the start of the Civil War in 1860, the Indian nations, and mostly the Cherokee, owned over 10,000 black slaves. They were also deeply involved in the slave trade, and the buying and selling slaves.
In fact, the very first LEGAL slave-owner in the New World was a black man named Anthony Johnston who worked black slaves on his own plantation.
One thing that always seems to be overlooked is the financial burden of owning a slave. The fact remains that 99% of Americans could not afford to own even a single slaves, even if they had wanted to. Each slave cost around $35,000 in today's money, and you would have to face the additional and ongoing costs of having to clothe, feed, and house them. Slaves were simply too great a financial burden for most Americans to bear.
Rolling up to today, most Americans here and now are descended from people who first came to America some 25 to 35 years AFTER slavery had been abolished, meaning that more than 99% of Americans today have NO history of slave ownership. None whatsoever! So why are we suddenly expected to pay for something that was not only 154 years ago, but that also more than 99% of us had absolutely NO part in?
And, as far as "reparations" go; reparations have already been paid with the blood of over 360,000 mostly-white Union soldiers who fought and died to end slavery and gain their freedom. Reparations have already been paid with the pain and tears of their families, and reparations have already been paid with the efforts of the Republican Party to author and pass the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (despite total opposition from Democrats).
In addition, promises of reparations may even be unconstitutional as they constitute a "Corruption of Blood" which is expressly prohibited in our Constitution.
Article III, Section 2, Clause2: "The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted."
In the final analysis, this talk about reparations is nothing more than a scheme to get around the illegality of buying votes. Black votes, that is. And, as long as we're being completely honest here; we all know that Democrats have no intention whatsoever of actually paying out those reparations. They'll just find a way to kick all that money back to themselves, like they always do.
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