Month: November 2020

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.

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

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.

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.

In section IV-VI, Coates presents the argument that through the dehumanization of African Americans during the integral stages of America’s development, there is an immense amount of irreversible damage that needs to be acknowledged. In Section IV, he establishes that both poor whites who were indentured servants and African American slaves had similar amounts of rights and were both looked down upon by the Elitist groups. Eventually it was realized that indentured servants had too many legal protections, and with African Americans being “aliens” they became free rein to turn into property. This is the point in history when the Black vs White mantra was instilled in America. African Americans no longer had any value as people and were treated horribly; There was no regard for family or life, but instead insurance policies to benefit the white man in case their slaves were no longer useable.

After the Civil War when slaves were freed, white supremacists still did everything they could to hold the African American population down and discriminate upon them. Bills such as “The G.I. Bill”, kept African Americans from having the same privileges as whites, and painted the clear picture that no matter what this country was not made for you and will continue to be this way. For years it was still purposely made a hurdle for African Americans to own property, yet they still blamed the “colored man” for being at fault to not live up to the standards of the white man.

All of these actions have affected Black American’s lives up to today creating the argument for “The Case for Reparations”. As Coates stated “Today Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the country, a fact that reflects assiduous planning.” The zoning of cities by race and years of putting a group of people down to live in impoverished conditions has made it hard and even impossible for a large majority of people to escape the subservient conditions that existed since the beginning of this country’s formation.

Throughout his writing, Coates describes just exactly how much suffering and discrimination African-Americans in the country have faced. From being torn away from their family, to being sold as commodities, to being refused entry and loans, and many many more. To top it off, African-Americans still in this day and age have an extremely hard time receiving treatments that their white counterparts would receive. Clyde Ross, being one example, has faced a lifetime of discrimination despite never having doing anything wrong to draw the enmity he experienced. By 10 years old, Ross’s family had been exploited by the landowners with the sales of the bales, lost the horse with the red coat, and lived under the constant threat of being killed. Even as Ross grew up and started integrating himself into society, when attempting to buy a house he was cheated out with an undesirable contract. He was tricked into signing “a predatory agreement that combined all the responsibilities of homeownership with all the disadvantages of renting—while offering the benefits of neither.”

It should be noted that, Ross’s experience is among one of tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. African-Americans were often taken advantaged of by white realtors. They were forced into unfavorable terms and often left with no option but to live in neighborhoods that were undeveloped. Many realtors also prevented many African-Americans from moving into neighborhoods that were predominantly white because they feared they would decrease the values of the properties. If this does not lay the grounds for the need for reparations, nothing would. The treatment many African-Americans received is simply inexcusable.

Coates in the passage of “The Case for Reparations” makes a resounding argument about the facade of separation. His goal is to illustrate that no matter what people try to scapegoat as the reason for discriminations is, it all leads back to black and white. To portray this argument he compared the poor white man to the black slave, and their progression over time. They had similar tasks and similar points in society, but their improvement was significantly different. If anything at one point the Slaves degreased as poor white men were granted citizenship and right to bear arms. Thus, pushing the racial gap even bigger as the threshold for blacks to gain rights seemed to grow larger. All the dreams that Americans had for equality ,during the reconstruction era after the civil war, went out the window as klansman, white liners and red shirts seized the opportunity to terrorize black people. By doing this, they dehumanized African Americans and made them feel as though no progress had been maid, regardless of all their fighting. This essentially depicts the picture that Coates is painting. No matter the amount of improvement made, separation of black and white people seems to be an everlasting theme that people do not want to truly let go of.