Coates expresses his main point of the deepness in which racism was rooted in the U.S. and he travels all the way back from the beginning with examples to support this. from the very first colony in Jamestown , he begins to explain and break down how the oppression of the black slaves came to be. here he notes that whites were also used as “slaves” except they were actually servants that served a certain time. he does this to proceed to the point that eventually, the black slaves came to overtake the free labor field and white indentured servants gradually began to fade. furthermore, he continues down the timeline and includes scenarios that paint the picture of how common and disgusting racism was back then, in its most blatant forms. from treating blacks as pure property and not people, to literally lynching a black person and crowding under the body, Coates is able to demonstrate the roots of racism against blacks. by doing this he emphasized his ultimate point of the way that racism has been embedded in the U.S. since the beginning. one statement that is extremely powerful and captures the main aspect of his central idea is “Slaves were the single largest, by far, financial asset of property in the entire American economy”. this to me really summarized the point that Coates was trying to make because it embodies the way that he paints the roots of racism to a nation that depended on it so financially that it became a reality that blacks were opressed for centuries.
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The Case for Reparations
Throughout this text the author, Coates, discusses how African Amercians have suffered over the years. By using stories, and quotes from former slaves he builds up a very strong argument about what is owed to the African American community because of all the horrific things they went through. The author states in section 4 all of the facts of how slavery came to be, the extremtly harsh work they were forced to do, and the trauma of being forcefully speraerated from there families. A point that was really strong in this text was how in section 5 he discusses how slaves were seen as a luxury to white people, and white people viewed them as buying a piece of property, like they weren’t even humans at all. How black individuals and their family would decrease the overall value of the houses or properties they lived next to, they weren’t even allowed to own houses to begin with and if they wanted loans, etc, they would be declined because of the fact that they weren’t seen as humans. They were sadly treated as such. As these topics are discussed throughout the text, it gives insight into how he supports his argument with valid evidence.
The Case for Reparations
Throughout the ‘The Case for Reparations’, I kept on thinking about Michelle Alexander’s statement in’The New Jim Crow’ that revealed how the racial caste system in America is just redesigned. This re-branding of discrimination towards the black community prevents them from fulfilling their natural rights. John Locke stated that an individual’s natural rights includes life, liberty and property. However, individuals from the black community are unable to execute their natural rights due to the disadvantages America implements on them. According to Ta-Nehisi Coates, during the 1930s through the 1960s, black individuals were cut out from the “legitimate home-mortgage market through means both legal and extralegal”. Coates also includes sections throughout the reading illustrating this social hierarchy that is dominated by whites as well as the normalization of segregation. Now post 50 years, some may say that segregation does not exist, however, it does take into new forms as society modernizes. It’s harder to distinguish and easier to manipulate which connects to Alexander’s statement that America is utilizing legal methods to induce discrimination. For example, the faulty infrastructure of the criminal justice system that allows others to immediately call black and poc individuals ‘criminals’. This is harder for us to realize because to us, we are just completing our duty by following the laws as a devoted citizen.
The Case for Reparations
Throughout the article, the author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, explained the racial discrimination that the black community had faced, even under the laws of the nation. Coates gives evidence to how in the 1930s to 1960s, black families had great disadvantage which prevents them from owning their own property. The laws of the nation didn’t protect black people and how they were prevented to represent in their government and owning property all throughout the history of the nation. The author stated “When President Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935, 65 percent of African Americans nationally and between 70 and 80 percent in the South were ineligible.” Black people lived their lives under the control of the larger, more powerful white community. They lived in a nation who sought to respect everyone’s unalienable rights, but failed to give the them the same treatment as whites. Coates supported his case with evidence about housing, property, slavery, ghettos, incarcerations, war veterans, and more. The evidences range from all sorts of topics which strengthens his claim of the national laws not protecting the rights of the black community. It is such a common issue everywhere all throughout the nation’s history, but justice has yet to be accomplished.
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Throughout these three sections the author is telling the reader what occurred during slavery and how even though America is meant to be a whole nation making sure every man is equal; the reality was that slaves did not end up as fortunate as the white man. Throughout these three sections and the piece as a whole the author does not include any bias and writes in order to inform. Although not every white man felt comfortable with owning slaves, they did not go against their inheritance and this only led to a worsening situation for the black man. The author defends his claim about the black man not being able to progress individually and as a whole in society due to the systemic racism which held them back from success by mentioning laws made specifically to put them at a disadvantage. As mentioned in section 4, “In 1650, Virginia mandated that “all persons except blacks” were to carry arms”. Another quote from section 5 stated, ” The demobilization of soldiers after the war, which put white and black veterans into competition for scarce jobs, produced the Red Summer of 1919: a succession of racist pogroms against dozens of cities ranging from Longview, Texas, to Chicago to Washington, D.C. “. The examples presented demonstrate the system in America which was purposely implemented to prevent blacks from getting the opportunities to make a better life for themselves.
The Case for Reparations
The author of the article writes about the suffering of African Americans throughout the years, since America was founded. In sections 4,5, and 6 he describes these struggles and a lot of information on what it was like during the 250 years of slavery through anecdotes and quotes from former slaves. This would educate his readers and also cause them to really think about what he is writing about. He makes sure to add a lot of historical information to make his readers understand the point he is trying to make, which is to have reparations for the black community. In section 4, he writes about slavery and what the life of a slave looked like, and how white people treated them. In section 5, he writes about how white people saw black people as property and luxury. They would talk about them as if they were talking about a house. In section 6, he writes about how the ghetto and how the black people had to live in terrible conditions. He talks about how white people would have more privileges than black people in these neighborhoods. So, the author provides all of this historical information to get his point across about reparations for the black community. He does this in a very meaningful way because of the anecdotes and quotes from people that will definitely grab his readers’ attention and evoke emotions to make sure he gets them on his side.
The Case for Reparations
Coates makes his case of the irreparable damages the dehumanization of African Americans caused by using historical context of how African Americans were treated. In section IV, Coates notes how at one point, Blacks and Whites joined forces. Some African Americans were free and were able to marry Whites. They escaped with White indentured servants. African Americans allied with Nathaniel Bacon. However, with the need for cheap labor, African American slaves were exploited for 250 years. In section V, Coates describes the consequences for this., and the irreparable damages it has caused. America relied on African American labor, and many people didn’t want to lose it. After the Civil War, terrorism wreaked havoc upon the South, crushing dreams of Reconstruction. African Americans were discriminated against for a long period of time. Segregation created created separate black ghettos, as described in section VI, and redlining destroyed the possibility of investment wherever African Americans lived.
Case for reparations
Within this long text, Coates makes his argument in favor of reparations for the black community. Reparations in this case means the compensation of the torture, inequality and discrimination blacks have faced since the founding of this country, and in this article, he does make the case. Within section IV, he talks about development of slavery, how slaves were painfully separated from their families and sent here, the tedious work they undergo, and even individuals wrote articles about how to maximize the effectiveness and profits of slaves. And within section V, the author states how slaves are considered somewhat like property, where they are considered a luxury to have, into how blacks living in houses or even next to a white individual’s house naturally depletes the overall value of the property, into how blacks were not allowed to own houses whatsoever, and they were either declined any form of loan or charged with excessive interest. With these stated, it gives readers proof and evidence as to why we should stand with him on the case for reparations
The Case of Reparations
In the article “The Case of Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author makes his case in sections IV, V, and VI. Section IV highlights how the men who founded the United States wanted to create a country that was dedicated to freedom and equality. This was rather hypocritical because of their beliefs in the slavery. Coates referred to how the founders of the nation held slaves or were willing to join together with others who had slaves. In section V, Coates explains that even people who did not own slaves wanted to own them. He provided an example of how homeowners in today’s society will discuss adding on a patio or painting their living room. The same type of nonchalant conversation happened among slaveholders. They traded tips regarding breeding workers, exacting labor, and punishing slaves. Furthermore, there were journals slave owners could subscribe to. This is similar to how someone would subscribe to The New York Times today. Section VI of the reading focuses on the shift in housing. He writes about how in the old black ghetto, doctors and lawyers lived among meatpackers and steelworkers. Prostitutes and the unemployed lived by as well. No matter what your occupation, those who called the old ghetto home were exposed to unfair living conditions like rats and arson. Furthermore, this environment denied black people privileges which white people had the opportunity to take advantage of. Even though actions were taken to try and integrate neighborhoods, white homeowners eventually fled the area. On the other hand, white home owners who stayed behind were effected by decreased property value due to racism and segregation.
Coates: Reparations
In these three sections, Coates provides substantial historical evidence for his point of why reparations for African-Americans and their families are not only a justifiable idea, but a necessary one for the wholeness of America.
He establishes the concept of “moral debt” through a reconstruction of America’s timeline of abuses and atrocities towards African-Americans. Centuries of slavery, followed by 90 years of Jim Crow, 60 years of “separate but equal” and 35 years of racist housing policy have accumulated an overbearing ledger towards the black community.
By including these abuses’ direct involvement with African-Americans’ wealth, opportunity, and livelihoods, he makes a solid case for the public and the government’s debt towards this community. White slave owners profited off of free labor, white citizens plundered black schools, churches, homes and places of business without consequence to themselves during and after reconstruction, and white segregated neighborhoods as well as lobbyists and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation raked in the money made off of shunning and intimidating the black community from owning land or a home; “the emblem of American citizenship”.
In this way, Coates makes the case for a not only moral but fiscal debt accrued over centuries of robbery from African Americans of their fortunes, opportunities, families and lives.