Slavery was Wrong
Millions of Africans died in slave ships en route from Africa to America. A lifetime of bondage awaited those who survived the trip. This crime against a people-enslavement, exploitation, of millions of Africans is an American tragedy at its highest level. The legacy of slavery continues to bind many African Americans. Slavery was wrong and African Americans should be paid reparations, for illegal transport, abduction, and unpaid labor.The historical record of slavery deals almost completely with the beliefs and actions of whites in Europe and North America. The contribution of the slaves themselves has been incompletely documented. How slaves transformed their African experiences into revolutionary action against the institution of slavery still has to be explored. Even specialists of Africa have inadvertently overlooked the importance of black abolitionist thought and action. African slaves were transported to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central & South America, starting very early in the 16th century. Landowners in the American colonies originally met their need for forced labor by enslaving a limited number of Natives, and "hiring" many more European indentured servants. In exchange for
Another solution can be rendered to resolve this dilemma: Reparations. "Reparation," according to the American Heritage Dictionary, means "the action of making amends for a wrong done; amends; compensation." In international law, it means that when a country has committed an international crime such as the invasion of another country or the genocide of a people, it must make amends to the victims, including the descendants of the original victims who still suffer from the consequences of the crime. (Gifford) 16. Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What America Owes To Blacks. New York: Penguin, 2000. International lawyers believe that the Charter did not create new law but declared and developed concepts of international criminality that had become accepted over time. 13. Mullin, M. Africa in America: Slave acculturation and resistance in the American south and the British Caribbean 1736 - 1831. New York: Univ. of IL Press. 1995. Slavery continues today in a few countries: "According to the United Nations, the United States and a number of human rights groups," slavery continues in the Sudan 10 (The Sudanese government vigorously denies that the practice exists.) The Christian Solidarity announced that it had released 5,066 Sudanese people from slavery in the previous four years by buying their freedom. It is not clear whether they were actually slaves who were purchased. They might have been prisoners of war being redeemed, or kidnap victims being ransomed. The Muslims in the north of Sudan are engaged in a long-standing civil war with the Animists and Christians in the south. Abraham Lincoln signed the "Emancipation Proclamation" in January 1863 because he felt slavery was wrong. In 1964, President Kennedy recommended the "Civil Right" (congress approved) because he saw it as a necessity. It is evident that some measures have eradicated slavery as a deed in name, but equalities in deed are left undone. 15. Bennett, L. Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America/25th Anniversary Edition. New York: Penguin, Johnson 1988. Slavery was an attractive proposition to landowners. In 1638, "the price tag for an African male was around $27.00 while the salary of a European laborer was about 70 cents per day." (Inner-city) A slave had less value at the time than 40 days of labor by a European. The economic benefits to Europeans of owning African-Americans, as chattel property must have been enormous. Reparations received $1.3 billion and large areas of reserve The Jewish Holocaust ended in 1945 with the surrender of Germany. The Slavery period of the African Holocaust, ended only 80 years earlier in 1865 with the surrender of the southern states. It was at that time that the right to own African-Americans outright, was given up throughout the United States.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4515
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page double spaced)
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