Length: 612 Words Reading Time: 3 Minutes
The daughter of a good friend who worked for me in Saudi Aramco asked me to review and comment on a “Declaration of American Truth and Reconciliation” that she and her friends had prepared. Their declaration focused on slavery and its legacy in America. It also discussed bias and discrimination in the United States.
I have included part of my response in the following post. I have also added several additional points to comment on the issue of reparations.
I initially wrote that historical context and the social conditions that existed at the time are of paramount importance in understanding the institution of slavery. Let me present several points that bear on a more comprehensive understanding of slavery as it existed in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries in the Americas.
Caveat: Please note that none of my comments is meant to excuse or condone slavery. I agree with President Lincoln when he stated, “Since I will be no one’s slave, I will be no one’s master.”
1. Slavery and indentured servitude were widespread throughout the world at the time.
2. Slavery had been practiced by all cultures and civilizations, from the earliest recorded history.
3. The first African slaves were brought to North America in 1619 to the British Colony of Virginia by a Dutch trader or a British privateer.
4. European slave-traders brought African slaves from West Africa to North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
5. Slavery in the British North American colonies was not based solely on race. There were thousands of white slaves and indentured servants in the colonies, primarily brought from England, Scotland, and Ireland.
6. The British North American colonies were responsible for the practice of slavery from 1619 to the start of the War of Independence in 1775.
7. The United States of America became a sovereign nation with the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789.
8. The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1807 that prohibited the importation of new slaves into the United States. The law took effect in 1808.
9. The United States fought the American Civil War from 1861 to 1864. During this war, historians estimate that between 600,000 to 850,000 soldiers died.
10. Slavery in the Confederacy was a secondary cause of the American Civil War.
11. The Confederate States, at the start of the American Civil War, owned 3.5 million slaves. At this same time, the Union States owned 490,000 slaves.
12. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This proclamation freed 3.5 million slaves in the South.
13. America and England took a leadership role in ending slavery in December 1865, almost 154 years ago.
14. The United States Federal Government did not own any slaves, nor did it sanction slavery.
15. No American citizens living today, either owned any slaves or were slaves.
16. Slavery still exists in Africa and other parts of the world as well.
In light of the above facts, I believe that the concept of reparations for slavery is irrational, unreasonable, and unrealistic. I write this because the importation of African slaves started with the British in 1619; their importing of slaves into the British Colonies in North America continued for 156 years. Moreover, slave owners in West Africa sold slaves to the slave-traders who participated in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Both the African slave owners and the European slave-traders were equally at fault in the continuation of the slave trade. The question before the court is a most serious one: How can anyone assess blame or responsibility for the institution of slavery given the complexity of the issue and the many players involved?
