Could the goverment retroactively pay slaves descendants for damages and for pay while working on the plantations and farms ?

Could the government? Sure, if they wanted to. But there are some pretty big issues to deal with.

1) where would the money come from? Why should taxpayers in 2018 pay for something that happened in the 1800s? (Assuming you get the idea through Congress, which will never happen) In my case, my ancestors were in Europe in the 1840s—why would they be asked to pay for something in a country they never lived in?

2) the government didn’t own slaves – private farmers and plantation owners did. Why would the government be on the hook for paying?

3) who would you pay? Sure, some slave descendants can trace their lineage, but many, even most, cannot. How would you know who is to be paid? Down to how many generations? Suppose it was a mixed-race – white male married black former slave. Would they qualify? What about compensation for people who died in slavery? Etc.

4) There is no basis on which to calculate the dollar amount. Back then, there was not a free labor market, nor any idea of minimum wage. So on what basis could you calculate what is owed? It would be a wild-assed guess at best.

Bottom line – it’s utterly unrealistic in every way.

@elbanditoroso Good insight. Thanks. I don’t know.

Reparations is what you are generally describing.

While I have not read it, I have heard that Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Case for Reparations is a decent article. If you’re interested in some of the variables that are considered, this might be a good start.

Not feasible. The best we can do is to treat their descendants fairly and with respect. A work in progress.

General Sherman promised reparations.

Forty acres and a mule refers to a promise made in the United States for agrarian reform for former enslaved black farmers by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865.

I’m Caucasian-American & my Grandfather worked for his brother-in-law from sun up until sun down for 50 cents a day.He built the guy a well running farm. My Gramps NEVER had slaves working for him & neither did his Dad. He PAID for every hour worked plus allowed them to take home any food grown with which to feed their family.

My Dad & his siblings parents died & he was raised by an evil Aunt who hired them out without paying them a dime. She told them that they should be grateful she cooked them a meal every night. My Dad could be as racist as anybody else; but he did NOT believe in using slave labor!!!

I consider 50 cents a day using my Gramps as a slave & my Dad, Aunt & Uncle never got paid a dime so they were being used as slave labor. So, will I be able to apply for restitution…IF so, where???

@LadyMarissa Sounds like we are heading for everyone vs. Everyone court case. Looks like nothing works but forgiveness.

Technically it could, but it won’t, and it’s probably not logistically feasible. I prefer other things like UBI as a general compensation for being poor, propertyless and/or in some shit low-income job. It could act as a sort of permanent strike fund.

I do want to address some of @elbanditoroso‘s points though.

1) The money would literally come from the Federal Reserve—as all money does. And unless the economy is at full employment and capacity, or any budget allocation toward compensation descendents of slaves would put it so—there’s little to no opportunity cost to “tax payers”.

2) The government is the only institution that could feasibly make such a redress. It’s not “on the hook”, since the government isn’t an individual household that’s somehow burdened by having to allocate budgetary spending.

4) Many existing compensation decisions aren’t objectively quantifiable.

Assuming some hypothetical group that really should be compensated for whatever historical suffering and marginalisation they endured, and all the invididuals could be identified and there’s some clear evidence that there’s been an inter-generational affect on them. It wouldn’t follow that no compensation should be given just because it’s not objectively quantifiable. A “wild-assed guess” would still be better than nothing at all.

@RedDeerGuy1 That was my point without specifically spelling it out!!! My family never had slaves. My Great Gramps fathered 16 children in order to have plenty of farm hands

Why would the government pay for a private enterprise??

@kritiper Because they allowed it. Doesn’t have to be limited to the USA. Could be wage slavery and current slaves. The world still has slaves.

@RedDeerGuy1 Not buying it. It wasn’t the current administration. Besides, why should today’s generation benefit?? It wasn’t on their shift!

@kritiper thanks. I’m just asking for fun. Thats why I put in social. I’m not about to start a crusade. Almost everyone has been screwed over at least once in their lifetime. So it would end up being everyone vs. everyone and society would collapse.

@RedDeerGuy1 I gotcha. I have wondered, at times, what the world would’ve been like if the Nazis had won WWII and killed off all of the minorities, cripples, Jews, Catholics, gays, ... you know, all people who weren’t pure white, etc., by Nazi standards…

@kritiper You should read Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle”. The Germans start murdering everyone in Africa.

@flutherother Does it mention what the world would be like after the killing is/was over?

One thing I always find interesting about conversations such as these is that every white person will claim their ancestors never owned slaves. An outside observer might get the impression that, despite being an institution for hundreds of years, nobody ever actually owned any slaves.

As for myself, I know my ancestors’ background. I know the times and regions they lived in. I know the social strata they occupied and I know the kinds of professions they were engaged in. I believe I can safely say they probably did own slaves.

My ancestors were here before black or white or Latin or extra terrestrials, well, maybe not the last one.
Where is our restitution for our lost homes, right of way, and the game we hunted?
Also, what about those who fought for independence from England? There were peasants, and gentry. Does the homeland owe them, for taxing ancestors to starvation? Does England deserve restoration from upstarts who made use of British supplies and titles, to populate a fabulous new land of bountiful resources, and then turn their backs to their supplier to keep it all for themselves?

@Darth Algar A branch of my family had slaves. Maybe not the direct branch, but I know a great, great, great uncle owned them. (Supposedly treated them well, too. From Virginia, family originally came here in about 1680 from Scotland, grew tobacco, probably.)
CSA General Albert Sidney Johnston bled to dead at Shiloh after getting hit by a stray bullet. Had sent his surgeon away to help some Union wounded so wasn’t there to help him.
My grandfather’s grandfather fought for the South with a contingent of Texas infantry along with his brothers.

I think the idea of reparations is silly. Think about it. Somebody did something to your ancestors so you should be paid damages? So what about all the white folks that fought and died in the Civil War that allowed slavery to be abolished? Should the blacks have to pay reparations to their ancestors? What about if, instead of paying reparations, the descendants living today were offered to be moved back to Africa, from where their ancestors were enslaved? There are dozens of “what if” things that could be suggested and none of them make a bit of sense. It happened, it was an evil in our history, time to move on and stop clinging to the past.

WHAT IF we all decided to forget the past & just GET ALONG NOW???

But if we just forgot the past, how could we play victim today? Sorry, my sarcasm runneth over this morning

I think the sarcasm should accompany the past on its way out!!! :)

When you’re right, you’re right!

No.