African Salvery and Reparation

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Ladies and gentlemen; I don't believe that anyone in this

chamber would move to disagree with the idea that slavery was an

atrocity, committed from the depths of the darkest parts of the human

sole. Africans were seized from their native land, and sold into

lives of servitude into a foreign land. Indeed, it was a tragedy on

such a scale that cannot be measured nor quantified. And it is this

very notion of unquantifiable tragedy which speaks to the matter of

reparations for slavery. To be quite blunt, reparations, even if they

may be deserved, are not feasible under any system or economic tangent

- indeed such an undertaking would only not remedy the situation, but

it would sink Africa and her people deeper into the cycle of poverty

and oppression that they have so struggled to free themselves. While

the arguments against reparations may seem shallow or self-serving to

advocates of such a system, upon examination, the logistics of what to

give, and whom to distribute it to, preclude any potential benefits of

such a system of indemnity and requite.

The point of the follow

critique is not to say that Africans were not mistreated, nor that

they are not worthy of reparations, but that perhaps reparations are

not an adequate solution to this situation, and indeed will only serve

to worsen.

Africa is a continent in dire straits. European colonization

and colonialism damaged the native structure and society - some might

say that this simply proves that European man caused, and ought to pay

for, the damages done to Africa and her people. However, I would

argue that simply placing a 'band-aid' blanket over Africa, would

serve only to mask their problems, and relieve us of our guilt. It

was this same attitude that the early European...