Difficult, but it's important to realize that some African tribes sold other Africans into slavery. Any discussion of reparations needs to take this into account. Many other cultures practiced the abomination of slavery back in history: Irish, South American indigenous cultures, Islam, and more.
I don't believe the sins of the fathers should be visited on their descendants.
Coincidentally later today I read a review of Justin Marozzi's "Captives and Companions
A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World"
The book's description notes that the Islamic slavery practice "has been overshadowed by its notorious, but shorter-lived, Atlantic counterpart." "Sanctioned by the Prophet Mohammed, legitimated by the Quran and holy law, slavery endured for fifteen centuries. ... hereditary slavery continues even today in Mali and Mauritania."
Interesting. Thanks. If reparations are unethical in your view, how do you feel about donations to charitable causes to support people who have been less fortunate for any number of reasons? I don’t think I used the word reparations.
That is a separate question from reparations and/or slavery. Consideration of the question and answers needs to discuss:
What amount of donation may be appropriate? Is expected tithing a donation? Are taxes which pay for benefits to low-income persons a donation? What degree of "less fortunate" is enough to make a difference? What level of higher income separates those who would donate from those who should receive? What form should the donation take -- money, loan, discount, goods, labour?
Many questions -- I'd be interested in a discussion but it would take a chapter's worth of talking/writing at the very least to even agree on and explain why certain parameters.
I don't think any of those questions have answers. I'm not proposing any parameters at all. I'm just sharing my story. In terms of charitable giving, it's up to individuals to decide how to share their funds, their labor, their goods and services. Interestingly, poor people tend to donate a larger portion of their income than rich people.
However we can't ignore that if reparations are paid by descendants, who are persons existing now, those reparations do harm the descendants.
It's also questionable if persons whose ancestors were slaves have unjust treatment now. They're certainly not slaves in the US or UK, and in those countries there are already programs which offer financial help to low-income persons, such as a certain amount of free food, reduced utility fees, scholarships and more.
I'm surprised to hear arguments against giving away money, and it seems like an argument that racism no longer exists. But good for me to learn about this point of view. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, Mariah. What a discovery and what a challenge in making sense of it from your perspective in 2026! I know you will turn this into a learning experience that others can share and benefit from. In the current context, it will help people navigate the cultural differences and debates around them. Progressive agency is certainly needed in today's US racial context.
Hey Jay, thanks so much. A discovery, a challenge, making sense of it... that sums it up. Along with the agency part: figuring out what can be done, given my skills and resources. Great to hear from you.
What a revelation that must have been! Must be hard to wrap your head around it. I think it’s admirable that you’re doing what you can to come to terms with the past and put the information to good use going forward.
I had the good fortune to hear you read a version of this at the art in the a.m. event you mentioned. I now appreciate the chance to read it which gives me time to "chew"and reflect on it further. Coincidently, this Friday is Juneteenth, the day when almost 3 full years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation word of it finally arrived in Galveston Texas, abolishing slavery in the last place where it still existed. Your project comes at a time when the current administration is trying to erase and/or "white wash" our nation's sad history making it particularly timely.
So striking to read of your project, as I am midway through Trevor Jackson’s “The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World.” https://newrepublic.com/article/208809/historian-wants-imagine-alternative-capitalism. I wonder whether you might find the book interesting, actually, as it offers a succinct analysis of the larger context into which your own family’s history fits. Many tips of the 🎩 to you not only for taking this project on, but also the thoughtful way you are going about it.
I realize that some readers will not be interested in "going there" with me... but it's helpful to know that you and some others are. Yes, I'm sure I would enjoy - or at least benefit from - the book. Thanks.
If only more people could separate their own discomfort from the TRC work, it feels like a generation of truly committed work could be enough to put our forebears’ sins behind us, having worked in good faith to resolve the *ongoing* harms that continue to plague our societies.
But until that happens, those who continue to bear the burden of those original harms can’t reasonably be expected to set aside their grievances — whether they be Black, Indigenous, female, and even the otherwise relatively “privileged” poor (male, White, etc.).
Difficult, but it's important to realize that some African tribes sold other Africans into slavery. Any discussion of reparations needs to take this into account. Many other cultures practiced the abomination of slavery back in history: Irish, South American indigenous cultures, Islam, and more.
I don't believe the sins of the fathers should be visited on their descendants.
Coincidentally later today I read a review of Justin Marozzi's "Captives and Companions
A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World"
The book's description notes that the Islamic slavery practice "has been overshadowed by its notorious, but shorter-lived, Atlantic counterpart." "Sanctioned by the Prophet Mohammed, legitimated by the Quran and holy law, slavery endured for fifteen centuries. ... hereditary slavery continues even today in Mali and Mauritania."
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Captives-and-Companions/Justin-Marozzi/9781639369737
Reparations paid by living Americans is a unethical idea.
Interesting. Thanks. If reparations are unethical in your view, how do you feel about donations to charitable causes to support people who have been less fortunate for any number of reasons? I don’t think I used the word reparations.
That is a separate question from reparations and/or slavery. Consideration of the question and answers needs to discuss:
What amount of donation may be appropriate? Is expected tithing a donation? Are taxes which pay for benefits to low-income persons a donation? What degree of "less fortunate" is enough to make a difference? What level of higher income separates those who would donate from those who should receive? What form should the donation take -- money, loan, discount, goods, labour?
Many questions -- I'd be interested in a discussion but it would take a chapter's worth of talking/writing at the very least to even agree on and explain why certain parameters.
I don't think any of those questions have answers. I'm not proposing any parameters at all. I'm just sharing my story. In terms of charitable giving, it's up to individuals to decide how to share their funds, their labor, their goods and services. Interestingly, poor people tend to donate a larger portion of their income than rich people.
Of course one can't harm persons who are dead.
However we can't ignore that if reparations are paid by descendants, who are persons existing now, those reparations do harm the descendants.
It's also questionable if persons whose ancestors were slaves have unjust treatment now. They're certainly not slaves in the US or UK, and in those countries there are already programs which offer financial help to low-income persons, such as a certain amount of free food, reduced utility fees, scholarships and more.
I'm surprised to hear arguments against giving away money, and it seems like an argument that racism no longer exists. But good for me to learn about this point of view. Thanks for sharing.
Nothing in what I said was against giving away money or to argue that racism no longer exists. Bye.
Yes. Thanks.
How about if one's ancestors fought and died to free their ancestors?
Reparations are an op to divide Americans.
Maybe in Georgia or the other Dixie states … at a very very long stretch. Where I live, in CA, they're absurd.
Wow, Mariah. What a discovery and what a challenge in making sense of it from your perspective in 2026! I know you will turn this into a learning experience that others can share and benefit from. In the current context, it will help people navigate the cultural differences and debates around them. Progressive agency is certainly needed in today's US racial context.
Hey Jay, thanks so much. A discovery, a challenge, making sense of it... that sums it up. Along with the agency part: figuring out what can be done, given my skills and resources. Great to hear from you.
What a revelation that must have been! Must be hard to wrap your head around it. I think it’s admirable that you’re doing what you can to come to terms with the past and put the information to good use going forward.
I had the good fortune to hear you read a version of this at the art in the a.m. event you mentioned. I now appreciate the chance to read it which gives me time to "chew"and reflect on it further. Coincidently, this Friday is Juneteenth, the day when almost 3 full years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation word of it finally arrived in Galveston Texas, abolishing slavery in the last place where it still existed. Your project comes at a time when the current administration is trying to erase and/or "white wash" our nation's sad history making it particularly timely.
So striking to read of your project, as I am midway through Trevor Jackson’s “The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World.” https://newrepublic.com/article/208809/historian-wants-imagine-alternative-capitalism. I wonder whether you might find the book interesting, actually, as it offers a succinct analysis of the larger context into which your own family’s history fits. Many tips of the 🎩 to you not only for taking this project on, but also the thoughtful way you are going about it.
I realize that some readers will not be interested in "going there" with me... but it's helpful to know that you and some others are. Yes, I'm sure I would enjoy - or at least benefit from - the book. Thanks.
Truth & reconciliation writ personal 🙏
If only more people could separate their own discomfort from the TRC work, it feels like a generation of truly committed work could be enough to put our forebears’ sins behind us, having worked in good faith to resolve the *ongoing* harms that continue to plague our societies.
But until that happens, those who continue to bear the burden of those original harms can’t reasonably be expected to set aside their grievances — whether they be Black, Indigenous, female, and even the otherwise relatively “privileged” poor (male, White, etc.).
Hi DC, good points. Thanks for your interest and encouragement!
Thank YOU for sharing your efforts, Mariah, truly.