Congressman Wants Study of Slavery Reparations

"Django Unchained" actor agrees

Rep. John Conyers wants an official study on whether the federal government should pay black Americans reparations for slavery. The Michigan Democrat introduced the measure on the first day of the 113th Congress.

Conyers has been pushing a study of slavery reparations since 1989. His latest proposal aims to "acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes."

The issue has received renewed interest with the release of "Django Unchained," Quentin Tarantino's slave revenge fantasy. Set in the Deep South two years before the Civil War, the film follows a freed slave who treks across America with a bounty hunter on a mission to rescue his wife from a remarkably cruel and sadistic plantation owner.

Samuel L. Jackson plays an "Uncle Tom" character he describes in a Movieline interview as "the most reprehensible negro in cinema history." Jackson says it's reasonable to study the issue.

"When the subject of reparations is raised, everybody goes: 'Well, I didn't have slaves. Those were my ancestors. Get over it.' Well you didn't ask those other mother-----s to get over it. Why do we got to get over it?'"

Politix reporting and via Movieline.

Should the federal government pay black Americans reparations for slavery?

[Romney_Rube]

The stupidity of Congress will only increase in the days and years to come.

[PoliticalSpice]

That is a given, but since you said it first you're due reparatio... errr... Royalties, everytime it is mentioned in the future.

[S-N-A-F-U]

He wants to compare himself and his ilk wtih the hard working Japanese that were American citizens uprooted during WWII -- lost their homes and businesses because of a callus move by FDR! Hey Conyers, are you comparing that indignity suffered by THEM with your puny overture, hmmm? However, if you and your constituents can prove they came over on the slave ship with Kunta Kente - Lets talk...<wink>

[XLP]

*sigh* true. Slavery was bad. But all the Slaves and their Owners are now dead. In the UK the government just said it was wrong it's over and now lets move on. I dont understand this at all. How does this not seem crazy in the US?

[vws]

Obviously nothing more important to talk about in DC.

[marine1]

WHO says that racisim in goverment is not alive and strong

[Mogal]

Wheres my money for being a female?
We were chattel for millenia, I want some money!
-facepalm-

[Waynestew]

And you have got your reparations it's called divorce. 1/2 Yall get broken off well.

[Mogal]

@Waynestew - You do realize that for centuries, not only was their no divorce, but women were literally chattel to be done with as men pleased, right?
I'll make sure to include any further replies to you in my special sarcastic font.

[Mogal]

*there, not their

[Waynestew]

@Mogal Yes sweetie. It was a joke. Don't get your panties twisted and start pulling out your special font on me. I understood the point you are making however my rebuttal to that would be that if you are a black woman than You still were lower than a white woman. And a white woman was still higher than a black man.

[PoliticalSpice]

Reparations? Do you know how expensive it is to have a girlfriend?

[Thunderchicken]

"When the subject of reparations is raised, everybody goes:'Well, I didn't have slaves. Those were my ancestors. Get over it.' Well you didn't ask those other mother-----s to get over it. Why do we got to get over it?'"

This is just more stupid rabble rousing. And who are "those other mother-----s"??

[Waynestew]

I'm curious have you ever asked yourself or desired a study on what are the true lasting impacts of slavery? And that is on any culture?

[Thunderchicken]

@Waynestew

I'm sure studies of that already exist. As for my wanting to know, no not really.

[PoliticalSpice]

Exactly what i thought when i read the quote. Love to see him talk his way out of that. No wonder he played the uncle tom...

[Waynestew]

@Thunderchicken Never an official government study. Freep slaves were promised 40 acres and a wheel from the US government. Some looked into how much 40 acres and a mule will cost in today's money and realized this would bankrupt the government if given.

Why are you uninterested? Please be detailed I'm really curious.

[MBernard]

@Waynestew I know why he's interested... He's a republican. Loll

[Real4WheelDrv]

As long as I get paid for every disabled person who was ever thrown into an asylum to be brutalized till they died, locked away as a dirty family secret etc. sure. Honestly, why does everyone wanna have their cake and eat it too here? "we wanna move forward and be accepted like everyone else" but we WILL constantly remind whitey and everyone else about an evil institution that while it still exists does not affect the modern american, white OR black. Affirmative Action, Black history month, NAACP, the ACLU which while not entirely an organization devoted to racial issues handles many of them. How much more is there to do? Any MODERN discrimination that exists is the fault of BOTH sides.

[MBernard]

You are incapable to critically examine the topic to understand the impact of slavery back then and it's impact on American society and how it's shaped even the modern time. You are only capable of looking at this on the surface and making ignorant comment about something that was so serious that people lived and died bc of it and that some were brave enough to stand and fight to end it. Now, can the govt ever repay back or even make any reparations that could cover America's greatest sin, Hell No, & am I even for it? Not entirely, but try to understand b4 post some stupid comments that showed your lack of compassion, sensitivity and care.

[Bobolinsky]

@MBernard-- If 4x4 is showing lack of compassion or whatever for whichever group you think he insulted... then you are showing a complete lack of compassion for every disabled person who was ever thrown into an asylum to be brutalized till they died, locked away as a dirty family secret etc.

Maybe you should have critically examined 4x4's comment before spouting off the way you did.

[Bobolinsky]

I know you're perfectly capable of defending yourself... I just couldn;t stop myself from stepping in. :-)

[CATTLEPROD]

@MBernard "some were brave enough to stand up and fight to end it" Just fight? Didnt more americans die in the civil war than all our other wars combined? Does the blood at gettysburg mean anything? I dont nessacarily believe in ghost stories but that ground is filled with unfinished lives I think. How much is enough? I as a white man am not allowed to have an opinion on it. I am allowed to pay at the office. This looks like even more money to be thrown in an attempt to satisfy the never enough crowd. How much is enough? If you get reps, will the complaint then be it was too small?

[MBernard]

@CATTLEPROD of course I know it was more than just fight and that ppl died to end it though I did not explicitly stated that. as for your other questions, well, some sins you just can't pay up.

[Heavy-Fed]

More dividing of the people, this administration has been most successful at dividing the American people and pitting them against each other at every opportunity.

[Waynestew]

Why is this a divisive issue? Do you not want to know if there is a lasting impact of slavery? or do you not care?

[DARSB]

"this administration" had nothing to do with this Congressman's proposal.

[Mogal]

"This administration"?
Where have you been for the last few decades?

[Heavy-Fed]

@Waynestew Ummm... I am an anti-racism activist. All I care about is bringing people together. When you start talking about reparations for slavery lots of folks start seeing dollar signs and more start feeling like they are owed something. People that feel like this country owes them something... are bad for this country!! It's a division along racial lines, get over yourself.

[Waynestew]

@Heavy-Fed There is nothing for me to get over. My question is Simple. Why is this something that is divided upon racial lines? I don't believe information could ever hurt anyone. I believe a formal investigation into the necessity or lack thereof of reparations would do a great deal to bring people together. I don't understand the opposition to this.

[seedtick]

No one in the USA today owes anyone anything because of slavery that ended in 1865.

[Waynestew]

Maybe I read the wrong history books, but was there ever anything given let's say in 1866 or 67 to make up for the 400 years of slavery. NO oh then I guess the debt is still outstanding.

[Heavy-Fed]

@Waynestew Fine... lets dig up the folks who were offended any pay them... but lets dig up the people who offended them to pay them.

[PoliticalSpice]

The country is broke. We cann't afford reparations. How about we just give anyone who can prove slave ancestry a white republican from a slave owning family as their own personal slave?

[methinks]

@PoliticalSpice Uh....the slave owners were Democrats. That's why we had a civil war.

[methinks]

I agree. No one in my family was in this country until after 1885. I guess if we're going this route, what about reparations for descendents of Irish indenture?

[Sharpshooter]

SURE!!!! I'm all for paying a million dollars to ANYONE who was a slave between 1619 and 1865. Enslaving them was wrong and we should make it right with them.

Their descendants are entitled to the same thing all of us are... opportunity to the pursuit of happiness. Paying them enslaves me and I'm not expecting to be seeing reparations.

[Realthinker]

I suppose I could demand reparations for being Irish. But as a Christian I cannot hold a grudge against the people who denied jobs to my ancestors. Such hatred and bitterness would harm only me. The past is over and done. Doesn't Conyers introduce this every year? The real cure for race relations in this country is forgiveness. The apologies have been issued long ago. What is required now is forgiveness.

[methinks]

I just posted something similar about Irish indenture. Brilliant post! Conyers is just relighting the torch for race baiting again...

[Realthinker]

@methinks I agree.

[Middleman]

Too funny, being of Irish descent, I was think the same thing... For me it would get even more interesting as I a related to English aristocracy as well... Would I be taking from myself to pay myself?

This guy is a joke as is his proposal.... Yes slavery was a terrible thing... For ALL people's who been enslaved of the millennia, but that it is part of the nature of we humans... Perhaps one day we will learn ( hopeful, but doubtful)

[Realthinker]

@Middleman Have you ever pondered over what would happen if the government said "Fine. Each adult gets $1000 (for instance) in reparations. Now we have paid our debt in full. There will be no more welfare, or affirmative action. Nothing."

[Brychan]

Hmmm what about all the White slaves that were in colonial America? Or does that muddy up the perpetual victim status of African Americans?

[DARSB]

The reparations argument surfaces every few years but all it seems to accomplish is a blurring of recognition of the injustices still endured by racial minorities in America today.

[harold_lloyd]

It's a little past the time to pay reparations to anyone. It's also possible to make a case for the idea that reparations have already been made in the form of civil rights laws and affirmative action programs.
But in truth, the congressman doesn't care about reparations, he cares about headlines, and the folks back home who elected him.

[MongoAPillager]

this is just a ploy to further divide the races,i don,t know of any black people except the ones in the public spotlight that are naive enough to fall for this crap

[Waynestew]

Un oh. This will be a hot topic. I absolutely am for reparations. However I am against monetary reparations. Slaves built this country and help make this country what it is today. I think the least that could be done is a formal investigation by the US government into what the true effects, the lasting effects are. And then decide from there how best to remedy these lasting effects. If it's possible to remedy and what the cost might be.

[Politicskid]

Do we really need a pointless investigation with our tax money? Blacks are worse of economically, bottom line.

How do YOU think we should give them reparations?

[Dan_Tien]

Any surviving slave from the era when slavery was legal would definitely have a case. Their descendants... not so much. The money that would be spent in reparations for them would be better spent fighting modern day human trafficking.

[Realthinker]

Excellent point. Let's put a stop to the slavery that is happening right now. You would think the decendents of former slaves here would be leading this fight. The lead is being taken by Christians, the same people who stopped slavery here.

[FollowTheMoney]

He wants something for nothing.

[WMCOL]

Reparations yes, but in the form of eradicating racism and its negative effects from this nations institutions. Also legislation establishing crimen injuria laws that are strictly enforced to deal with deliberate, intentional racist attacks on dignity and respect and designed to solely lessen a persons value as a human because of the race they belong to.

[FollowTheMoney]

Conyer's is panhandling inside the hauls of congress, despicable.

[DARSB]

Inside the slave-built "hauls [sic] of congress" no less

[FollowTheMoney]

@DARSB Builders are still paid like slaves...a damn shame. I would think a congressman would have more self respect. But then...he is a career politician after all

[DARSB]

@FollowTheMoney I'm sure by "paid like slaves" you didn't mean to imply slaves got paid.

[FollowTheMoney]

@DARSB beans...

[FollowTheMoney]

@DARSB as I'm sure by "slave built" you didn't mean to imply slaves were the only builders.

[lochlomond]

There are practical reasons for passing on this one. The first consideration is money. The country is broke and will remain so for some time to come. Secondly, it will involve a whole new bureaucracy which we can't afford. Thirdly, it will be a genealogy nightmare. Even prior to the end of the Civil War, there were many in bondage who had more Caucasion ancestry than African. From among this group there is a population that has been passing as white for 150 years, give or take a few. To the best of my knowledge., there is no one alive today who owned slaves. Thanks to the Civil Rights movement and legislation and Johnson's Great Society, great strides have been made to level the playing field or with affirmative action tilt it toward minorities. Conyers's study will show that great harm has been done but will not say who is to pay for it.

[Litdes]

Why. This chapter of history is closed, and there is no one alive who was directly impacted. To reopen the issue defies logic.

[Raptor]

Slavery Reparations are a joke, my great great gran daddy fought in a war to free the slaves, so were are my "Reparations" for his blood sweat and tears!!!!

[Real4WheelDrv]

Your great granddaddy didn't fight to free the slaves, that was just the most significant impact of the war. He fought to keep the country from splitting. Lincoln only declared emancipation because he hoped it would cripple the south and swell the ranks of union armies through slave militias and actual joining of the Union army. Lincoln WAS a passionate abolitionist, but he initially felt it wasn't the right time to do anything about it.

[Raptor]

You sir are wrong, he joined the army because he beleaved that no man should own another, he was from Ky witch was neutral in the war, while his neighbors around him owned slaves he did not, he thought it was inherently wrong to do so!

It is called morals.

[PoliticalSpice]

@Real4WheelDrv can i ask how you are so familiar with @Raptor family history that you know why his granddad fought in the civil war?

[kyrebel]

@PoliticalSpice when the war started and the north was trying to get people to join the north. They would say join to preserve the union, meaning to defeat the south and make the states rejoin the united states. People like to think it was over slavery but it wasn't. The moral of the north was going down and Lincoln had to come up with something to boost moral. So he did emancipation proclamation and boosted the moral.

[PoliticalSpice]

@kyrebel I know the history. Read Lincoln's first inagural address...