[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 74 (Friday, May 25, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E981-E983]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SLAVERY REPARATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CHAKA FATTAH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 25, 2001

  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following editorials for the 
Record.

             [From the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 20, 2001]

                       Forward on Race--Together

       Try this sometime: Say the words reparations for slavery in 
     a crowded room.
       Then watch the stereotypes and anxieties roll in like 
     thunderheads: Hands move protectively over wallets or extend 
     to receive a check; eyes scan the floor for an escape hatch 
     or roll back in exasperation.
       For 136 years, stereotypes and anxieties have stifled the 
     conversation. But change is coming--and it's long overdue.
       Recent investigations into race riots in places such as 
     Rosewood, Fla., and Tulsa, Okla., have brought reparations to 
     the fore. Businesses have apologized for slavery-era 
     practices. The writings of people such as Randall Robinson, 
     author of The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, and 
     conservative columnist David Horowitz have broadened and 
     energized the debate. A class-action lawsuit is possible. The 
     issue will arise at a United Nations conference on racism 
     this summer in South Africa.
       But the reparations issue is too weighty, too unsettling to 
     be left to individual communities or businesses. Books, 
     conferences or lawsuits by themselves won't be enough.
       Slavery and the century of government-sanctioned 
     discrimination that followed were national policies that 
     denied fundamental rights--justice, equality, freedom--to 
     African Americans. It will take a national effort to answer 
     for that.
       An excellent starting point is a bill that U.S. Rep. John 
     Conyers (D., Mich.) has introduced annually since 1989. It 
     would ``acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, 
     brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States.''
       And it would create a commission to study the impact of 
     slavery and post-Civil War discrimination and to recommend 
     remedies.
       Mr. Conyers' colleagues and President Bush, who has 
     eloquently spoken of taking on the mantle of Abraham Lincoln, 
     should rise to the moment and turn this bill into law.
       A reparations commission, handled fairly, could give 
     America an honest grasp of the past that would help it seize 
     a better future. It would show how by-products of the past--
     stereotypes, demagoguery, denial--block the path to progress. 
     It would allow an open airing of wrongs, not to define the 
     country by its sins but to help Americans see history through 
     each other's eyes.
       Most of all, it would remind America that the idea of 
     reparations is not about who gets a check. It is about 
     justice. But if Washington can't stir itself to pass the 
     Conyers bill on its merits, America may be forced to have 
     this conversation anyway.
       In court.
       Last year, a powerhouse team of lawyers and advocates 
     formed the Reparations Coordinating Committee. It is 
     considering strategies to address the legacy of slavery and 
     discrimination, including lawsuits. The group includes 
     Randall Robinson; Harvard professor Charles J. Ogletree; 
     attorney Johnnie Cochran; Alexander J. Pires Jr., who won a 
     $1 billion settlement for black farmers in a discrimination 
     suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 
     Mississippian Richard F. Scruggs, who helped win the $368.5 
     billion tobacco settlement.
       Mr. Ogletree says the committee is hoping ``for a serious 
     examination of the issues that provides some sense of healing 
     and an ability to move forward.''
       Who can blame advocates for thinking of lawsuits? In the 
     nation's civil-rights history, courts have often been the 
     place where minorities finally got action after appeals to 
     community conscience or legislatures failed.
       But while lawsuits can further justice, they are not 
     designed to promote healing. The best approach to reparations 
     is one that manages to serve both those goals.
       What's more, if you put the words lawsuit and reparations 
     together, most Americans will focus on one thing: money. How 
     much? Who gets paid? Who has to pay? Those questions get 
     sticky in a hurry. Critics of the idea have a field day.
       That's why the courts, with their adversarial tone and 
     necessary focus on legalistic details, aren't the best venue.
       It is in Congress, elected by the people to talk through 
     America's challenges, where the nation could best begin the 
     moral process it urgently needs.
       That process has three steps--acknowledgment, atonement and 
     reconciliation.
       The idea of atonement is as delicate a part of this 
     discussion as money. Similar questions swiftly arise. Who 
     should atone? To

[[Page E982]]

     whom? Are you exempt if your ancestors came to America after 
     1865? If they lived in a ``free state'' before the Civil War? 
     If your black ancestors ``crossed over'' to live as whites?
       Ten seconds into such a discussion, you risk confusion, 
     anger and defensiveness. That's why many Americans argue the 
     nation should just duck this question and ``move on.''
       And that is why it should be made clear from the start that 
     a national initiative to study reparations must not be a 
     festival of finger-pointing.
       White Americans should not be required to apologize 
     individually for benefits that they or theirs received from 
     the exploitation of African Americans. Regardless of station 
     or ancestry, no one person should be expected to shoulder all 
     the years of moral, political, economic and social 
     exploitation. Besides, words alone won't be enough.
       No, atonement must come through actions--actions by the 
     federal government. That government, acting for white people, 
     allowed slavery for the first 76 years of its existence. That 
     government, acting for white people, stood aside for almost 
     100 years as atrocities were committed against freed slaves 
     and their descendants. That government now must act for the 
     sake of all the people and take the lead in making amends.
       As for acknowledgment, Americans need to grasp certain hard 
     truths about their country.
       First and foremost is that horrible wrongs were done to 
     African Americans during the years of slavery and the century 
     of government-sanctioned discrimination that followed.
       But not just that. Those wrongs weren't done by just one 
     evil region or contingent while the rest of white America 
     innocently went about its business. Those wrongs were a major 
     part of America's business. The unpaid labor of millions--
     even the slave trade itself--helped set in motion the U.S. 
     economic juggernaut and fueled world trade. In 1790, the 
     value of America's slaves was estimated at $140 million, 
     twice the national debt, and 20 times the budget of the 
     federal government.
       So this truth may come as a surprise: The race that has 
     been so vilified throughout U.S. history, that has often been 
     depicted as a drain on the country's resources, worked side 
     by side with white people in building America, in war and 
     peace, right from the start.
       Here is another necessary acknowledgment: Other ethnic 
     groups in the United States have suffered. American Indians 
     endured unspeakable atrocities. Many immigrants were cheated 
     of fair pay for their labors and felt the sting of bias. Race 
     hatred has claimed victims of all colors. All these stories 
     should be heard and a reparations commission should be 
     prepared to hear other requests for compensation.
       But the African American experience is unique. As hard as 
     other groups' roads may have been, none of them suffered 
     chattel slavery and zero compensation for their labor and a 
     hundred years of racebased discrimination.
       A national dialogue on reparations will also have to 
     acknowledge that America has made down payments on its debt.
       Not every young man who went off to battle in the Civil War 
     did so to free the slaves, but many on the Union side did. 
     And, at the end of the war, the slaves were free. Not equal, 
     but free.
       The hundreds of thousands of war dead--black and white--the 
     millions wounded, maimed, widowed and orphaned, can't be 
     denied. The post-Civil War amendments to the Constitution, 
     however imperfectly enforced, must be placed into the ledger.
       The war on poverty will have to be counted as well. Yes, 
     that war was waged on behalf of all poor people. But high 
     rates of black poverty were part of the legacy of slavery and 
     segregation, and many see the trillions spent to alleviate 
     poverty from the New Deal onward as a good-faith attempt to 
     address that legacy. The effort known as affirmative action 
     also must be counted.
       So, while America hasn't wholly atoned, it hasn't been 
     wholly coldhearted either. Acknowledging that fact might help 
     Americans see reparations not as an out-of-the-blue demand, 
     but a logical, useful next step.
       After acknowledgment and atonement, the final goal is 
     reconciliation.
       A national reparations commission would not make distrust 
     over race disappear. It would, however, lift the veil of 
     secrecy.
       It would allow whites to see more clearly how race does 
     impact today's public-policy issues. It would assuage blacks 
     who feel that white America's constant refrain of ``Let's 
     move on'' negates their experiences. It might, in the very 
     best case, build enough trust that Americans of all races 
     could begin to curb harmful reflexes ingrained by culture and 
     experience.
       Of course, there is more to reconciliation than government 
     policy. Here's where individuals would play the largest role, 
     as described by Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa in his 
     book No Future Without Forgiveness:
       ``Reconciliation . . . has to be a national project to 
     which all earnestly strive to make their particular 
     contribution--by learning the language and culture of others; 
     by being willing to make amends; by refusing to deal in 
     stereotypes by making racial or other jokes that ridicule a 
     particular group; by contributing to a culture of respect for 
     human rights, and seeking to enhance tolerance--with zero 
     tolerance for intolerance; by working for a more inclusive 
     society where most, if not all, can feel they belong--that 
     they are insiders and not aliens and strangers on the 
     outside, relegated to the edges of society.''
       Acknowledgment. Atonement. Reconciliation. A good-faith, 
     national effort dedicated to those goals could make this the 
     last turn of a century in which America is haunted by this 
     intractable problem.


             [From the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 20, 2001]

                       Justice and Reconciliation

       What is the scariest thing about a discussion of 
     reparations for slavery?
       Is it the money? No. The country would have a long and loud 
     argument over this, but, at heart, Americans are a generous 
     people. Convince them of a genuine need or wrong, confront 
     them with an emergency, and they'll dig deep to make things 
     right.
       Is it the fear of dividing the country? Only for those who 
     don't recognize the divisions already there. Look at the 
     black-white fault lines on issues such as affirmative action, 
     the criminal justice system, support for political parties.
       Is it that even reparations might not be enough to 
     eliminate racism or demagoguery? Well, they won't. They won't 
     fully make up for the horrors of slavery and segregation, 
     either. They'll be a step, as much symbol as substance, to 
     acknowledge wrong and atone in some way in hope of 
     reconciliation.
       No, the thing that is scariest is also what will have the 
     greatest long-term benefit.
       Knowledge.
       Knowledge, above all, is what America would gain if 
     Congress moved ahead on U.S. Rep. John Conyers' bill calling 
     for a commission to study the impact of slavery and 
     discrimination and to make recommendations on remedies.
       And knowledge can heal, even as the gaining of it causes 
     some pain.
       A national study will reveal some truths about race in 
     America--maybe more than many want to know, but much that the 
     nation needs to know.
       The challenge will be keeping this knowledge in 
     perspective, in remembering that this racial history is one 
     truth about America, but not the sole defining truth. That 
     the seeking of this knowledge is itself part of the process 
     of atonement. That acknowledging these truths is a necessary 
     step to true reconciliation.
       How can the past teach about race in America today?
       Consider, for example, the charges about black 
     disenfranchisement in Florida last November. How different do 
     those events look when viewed not in isolation, but from the 
     perspective of America's tradition of turn-of-the-century 
     disenfranchisement?
       In the 1790s, as the revolutionary principle ``all men are 
     created equal'' waned, free blacks were disenfranchised in 
     Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky. In the early 1800s, many 
     Northern states followed suit (New Jersey in 1807; 
     Pennsylvania in the 1830s).
       At the turn of the next century, despite civil rights 
     gained by blacks after the Civil War, Southern states 
     enshrined disenfranchisement in law, with such things as poll 
     taxes and literacy tests. Consider the political impact in 
     just one state: In Louisiana, the number of African American 
     voters dropped from more than 130,000 in 1896 to 1,342 in 
     1904.
       So what does this tradition tell us? First, that ``Let's 
     move on'' will never be an adequate response to concerns 
     about political disempowerment of African Americans. History 
     demands vigilance in protecting fundamental rights. Second, 
     though, it also suggests how much has changed for the better. 
     However you judge the unproven charges in Florida, they 
     hardly resemble the wholesale, deliberate disenfranchisement 
     that occurred in Jim Crow or slavery-era America.
       That's the scary thing about knowledge. It leads to new 
     places. Instead of giving either side the trump card in the 
     ongoing racial debate, it might challenge old assumptions and 
     raise new questions.
       But running away from knowledge poses even greater risks in 
     the long run.
       Studying the impact of slavery and segregation is not just 
     a task for historians. A reparations commission could provide 
     an opportunity for Americans of all descriptions to come 
     forward and tell their stories and the stories of their 
     families; to fill in the gaps, to give voice to those who 
     were silenced.
       This education process has great potential to heal. There 
     is tremendous power in airing what has been denied for 
     generations. Just by listening, this commission, representing 
     the people of the United States, can acknowledge and honor 
     what has been endured. It can show that America is ready to 
     hear and accept responsibility for the full story of its 
     history.
       Then the question arises: How can the living symbolically 
     repay for political, economic and social wrongs stretching 
     back over more than two centuries?
       Some argue that the next step is for the government to 
     issue checks to descendants of slaves. Many assume that's all 
     reparations mean.
       Not so.
       Individual checks would have made sense and been just if 
     given directly to slaves or their immediate descendants.
       But today, the complications and logistics of issuing 
     checks to descendants five generations removed boggle the 
     mind. It's hard to see justice in that. It's even harder to 
     envision it leading to any forrn of national reconciliation.

[[Page E983]]

       A commission studying slavery and reparations will be 
     besieged with alternatives. It should give any creative, 
     legitimate idea its due. But it must ensure that any 
     recommendations are made with an eye toward balancing the 
     justice that is deserved with the reconciliation that is 
     needed.
       What follows is one way to handle reparations.
       A commission that has spent so much of its time educating 
     America might consider it appropriate to carry on that theme 
     in three ongoing projects.
       The first project would meet the need for broad, symbolic 
     restitution for the 76 years that slavery was legal under the 
     U.S. government.
       As an example, what if a national reparations fund--say 
     $500 billion spread over a decade--was devoted to addressing 
     the shortfall in academic resources and expectations facing 
     black children?
       One use of the money could be to build, renovate and repair 
     schools in the nation's neediest school districts. The U.S. 
     General Accounting office said in 1996 that it would cost 
     $112 billion ``just to achieve `good overall condition' '' in 
     the nation's schools. Such a program would benefit minorities 
     primarily, but not exclusively. It would attack the 
     inequality that does the most to turn differences of race 
     into differences of income and opportunity.
       Framing a national act of atonement around such a positive 
     agenda would be both spiritually satisfying and pragmatic. It 
     would help poor urban and rural districts do a much better 
     job of preparing young African Americans and other students 
     for work and citizenship; it might help revive urban centers 
     and curb suburban sprawl.
       A second project could address the 100 years of 
     unconstitutional discrimination and segregation that followed 
     slavery. It would compensate African American families who 
     could demonstrate, subject to reasonable limits, that they or 
     their ancestors suffered substantial losses because of racial 
     discrimination.
       Foremost among these would be the descendants of the almost 
     5,000 victims of lynchings. But also included could be 
     victims of riots in which whites attacked black communities 
     in places like Wilmington, N.C., in 1898, New Orleans in 
     1900, Atlanta in 1906, Tulsa in 1921, or dozens of others.
       Again, the reparations need not be in the form of 
     individual checks. For example, it could be college tuition 
     credits for a generation of members of that family.
       Finally, the nation could begin a third project dedicated 
     to continuing education for everyone. It would include a 
     museum in Washington, equal in stature to the U.S. Holocaust 
     Memorial Museum, that would lead an ongoing exploration of 
     issues related to race and ethnicity in America.
       Through this project, Americans of all ethnicities could 
     answer the questions that arise often during any reparations 
     discussion: What about us? What about our story, our unhealed 
     wounds?
       The point would not be to stage a contest to see who 
     suffered the most. It would be an effort to show the range of 
     experiences--and the similarities. Study them together and 
     maybe America can see more clearly the patterns of hate and 
     discrimination that rise up at certain points in history and 
     damage the nation's soul.
       Maybe that knowledge can help the country do right by 
     future immigrants, sparing them some pain and showing that a 
     nation can learn from its mistakes.
       A thoughtful study of slavery, discrimination and their 
     aftermath would, no doubt, bring forward other good ideas to 
     handle reparations.
       But first, America must accept that it must face this 
     unfinished business. As W.E.B. DuBois wrote,
       ``We have the somewhat inchoate idea that we are not 
     destined to be harassed with great social questions, and that 
     even if we are, and fail to answer them, the fault is with 
     the question and not with us. . . . Such an attitude is 
     dangerous . . . The riddle of the Sphinx may be postponed, it 
     may be evasively answered now; sometime it must be fully 
     answered.''
       President Bush, Congress and the American people can heed 
     Mr. DuBois' wisdom and take up his challenge. The Conyers 
     bill shows how to take the first step.

     

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