Coates makes his case of African Americans always being mistreated unfairly either through law or society by showcasing a timeline of events that especially hindered African American growth and integration into society.
Coates goes as far back to slavery to showcase the unfair start that African Americans had in American society. Coates summed up their situation the best when he said, “Whereas indentured servants were still legal subjects of the English crown and thus entitled to certain protections, African slaves entered the colonies as aliens. Exempted from the protections of the crown, they became early America’s indispensable working class—fit for maximum exploitation, capable of only minimal resistance”. African Americans were thus not given any rights, discriminated against within laws, and were stripped away from basic human necessities/fundamentals, one important one being family ties. African Americans were often separated from their wives and children, thus “the parting of black families was a kind of murder”, due to the lack of telecommunications at the time, especially for African Americans back then.
Coates then takes us to a time when slavery was abolished, but discrimination towards African Americans persisted. This came in the form of African Americans being denied the right to secure any loans from banks and denied the right to own a house. Certain deals and organizations such as “The New Deal” and “The G.I. Bill”, were shaped in a way that prevented African Americans getting the same benefits as white Americans. These dealings were influenced by earlier American sentiment and public guidelines/treatment that painted African Americans as not worthy of being treated the same as White Americans. An example of this being, “The American real-estate industry believed segregation to be a moral principle. As late as 1950, the National Association of Real Estate Boards’ code of ethics warned that “a Realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood … any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values””.
The long, lasting effects of these acts can be seen through certain neighborhoods such as when, “By the 1940s, Chicago led the nation in the use of these restrictive covenants, and about half of all residential neighborhoods in the city were effectively off-limits to blacks”. Chicago was able to build “second ghettos” in black neighborhoods and thus enforced even more segregation within the city due to the lack of appeal and quality in them.
Coates thus shows that African Americans were denied equal treatment all throughout American history, thus connotes to the fact that African Americans should be reparated for the wrong doings that have been done to them over the course of American history.
First off this is extremely well written, thought out, and organized. Furthermore, I love how you move in a smooth chronological order, mirroring Coate’s style of argumentation in making the case for reparations. I also think that your last paragraph/concluding thought sums up the totality of historic mistreatment. Very astute! I also love your seamlessly transition from the overt mistreatment of African American’s during the colonial era, to the oppressive acts of familial segregation during the Civil War Era. This is really a solid piece of writing man!
Your response is spot on to the Coate’s thesis of the historic mistreatment of Black Americans. I particularly enjoyed how you chronologically organized your points, giving multiple examples within the article. In a way, you summarized Coate’s summarization of the long list of offenses which helped me better understand her point. In addition, you made the points clear so very nice job.