Should African Americans be paid reparations? The thought of my black ancestors brings vivid memories of history books describing conditions the slaves lived under before, during the “Middle Passage,” and after.
The description of their treatment was horrible and too brutal to describe here, but the fact remains, my Ancestors endured inhuman treatment for over 400 years as Slaves!
Moving forward; One of my male family members would often tell me how as a young man, he was treated poorly by his immediate Supervisor and paid fifty cents a day for his work on the roads of a small Kentucky town. White men doing the same work were paid $3.00 a day and more. The disparity of wages still exists today and separates the working poor from the middle classes.
The dehumanization of black people in America started before the Mayflower and continues right up to the overcrowded prisons today.
However, even under discrimination, many black people sought education and became outstanding citizens and leaders in all phases of professional careers and escaped the incongruity of wage scales!
Millions of our Ancestors were enslaved, denied Civil Rights, and worked without pay for hundreds of years; Making America a giant among Nations. This brings the question to me; Should African Americans be paid reparations?