Sophia Dela Cruz Ong

Mrs. Scharf

APEL

2020 March 01

Reparations Final Draft

About 150 years ago, slaves from Africa were brought to the United States. The slave

owners mistreated, overworked, and abused the slaves for the longest of time. And just like how

Native-Americans receive reparations for having their land taken away, a lot of people believe

that the descendants of slaves also deserve reparations for all the suffering and hard work their

ancestors went through. Now what are reparations? Some might ask. Reparations are the making

of amends for a wrong one has done, it can come in the form of money, land, etc. That being

said, slave descendants should receive reparations, however, not in the form of instant money.

Reparations for slave descendants has long been discussed among people of different

backgrounds. Some believe that they deserve said reparations and some don’t. A common

question that can be heard is why do we need to “be held reliable for something that happened

150 years ago?” or “How do you put a cash value on hundreds of years of forced servitude?”

(Sources B and F). Personally, I believe that even though it happened many years ago, what the

slaves went through cannot be erased from history and in our minds, which is why they deserve

reparations.

Now, reparations do not always come in money form. “Reparations could come in the

form of special social programs. It could mean giving away land” (Source F). An example of

such reparations the “forty acres and a mule” formed by Major General, W.T. Sherman.
Sherman’s address to his army states that “ex-slaves throughout the old Confederacy would be

given the confiscated lands of former plantation owners” (Source A). Though said order wasn’t

put into action, said piece of land may be given to slave descendants as a form of reparation.

Another way of giving reparations are through special programs. Some universities like

Georgetown University, offer lesser tuition or more scholarship money for those who are proven

to be descendants of slaves (video). There are many ways to give reparations, however, “the best

reparation we can get is better treatment and the improvement of America as a whole” (video).

Lastly, the question of where the money would come from is a given in the discussion.

According to data, “the United States alone benefitted from a total of 222,505,049 hours of

forced labor” (Source F). With that much amount of work, the money that’s supposed to be given

to slave descendants would have our country in deep debt. Not only that, if we are to give every

single slave descendant reparations, tax payers would have to give so much more in order to gain

money for the reparations.

In conclusion, Reparations should be given not lump sum, but gradually. Said reparations

could take form in special programs, giving promised lands to slave descendants, or better

treatment to African-Americans. Acknowledging the slaves’ hard work and honoring them being

the best ones, I truly believe that African-Americans deserve reparations.