When British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica a few weeks ago, he couldn’t ignore the dilemma of post-colonial nations and their former owners paying reparations for slavery.
Two years ago, Caribbean governments proposed to seek reparations from the Netherlands, Britain and France “for slavery and the genocide of native peoples,” according to the Associated Press.
Cameron rejected the proposal in the hopes these countries could “move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future.” However, we can’t focus on the future without historical wrongs.
Though we like to remain blind and deaf to the injustices of the past, there’s no denying the effects outrageous atrocities Western nations have had on other parts of the world.
Slavery and genocide scratch the surface of these atrocities, but the socioeconomic wounds linger for Caribbean and West African nations.
The United States and the United Kingdom accumulated profits through the slave trade and slavery, according to a New York Times opinion column by Ayesha Bell Hardaway, an assistant law professor at Case Western Reserve University.
But why should we cling to what happened in the past? To put it simply, history repeats itself. Though the past is gone, the effects are still there. The injustices of the slave trade and colonialism are relevant now.
As a nation founded on ideals of democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality, it is our duty to protect those ideals across the planet. According to the Library of Congress, the American Dream promises this type of freedom.
Reparations for nations in West Africa and the Caribbean in the aftermath of the slave trade and colonialism are part of the American Dream and far from the white-guilt-ridden “I’m sorry” card. As part of the way our nation was founded, we have an obligation to protect those ideals.
Critics say, since African heritage has been mixed into the American experience, we can’t identify who benefited from the slave trade.
But this criticism ignores the nature of reparations, as they are paid to nations, not people. Even when we don’t know the individuals who benefited, it’s clear nations profited off injustice from the atrocities of the past.
Some critics would argue African nations played a huge role in the slave trade and Africans benefited from it.
However, arguing against reparations because Africans received benefits of the slave trade ignore the enormous exploitation they experienced. If emancipated slaves had been allowed to possess and retain the profits of their labor, their descendants might now control a much larger share of American social and monetary wealth.
Critics cite the slippery-slope, “Well, why don’t we just give reparations for every injustice in history?”
But we only seek to mend injustices relevant today. Issues between the Egyptians and Romans from thousands of years ago are not relevant today, but the slave trade still has effects on the global economic climate.
We find ourselves stuck in 21st century postmodern moral relativism. We pretend like the past never happened, but those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Among the unalienable rights are the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Across the world, nations have given reparations to victims of the Holocaust and Japanese-American internment camps. Reparations for West African and Caribbean nations are part of the fulfillment of the American Dream.
No apologies. No guilt. Just equality.
