Editors’ note: This
article was written in response to Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery
is a bad Idea - and Racist Too by David Horrowitz. This article by this
“ex-radical” is permeated by the bitterness of his own personal loss and
disappointment with the movement in which he became involved. Fortunately
for Mr. Horrowitz, and other whites, the vast majority of people of color
have not turned their untold losses and immeasurable disappointments at
the hands of white supremacy against white people in general, but have,
even when fighting their oppressors maintained a humanity and dignity,
which will be the very salvation of the human race. In this article we
have respond briefly and succinctly to Horrowitz’s 10 reasons but we recommend
further reading on the issues raised. When our enemies are forced to attack
us we know our movement is gaining strength!
1. Horrowitz: “There is
no single group responsible for the crime of slavery.”
NPVM: Euro-Americans
were definitely responsible for the many crimes of African slavery, and
their ancestors’ refusal to acknowledge and attempt in some measure to
repair this debt continues that legacy. The success of slavery in America
depended most of all on one thing, the tacit support of the vast majority
of white people. As Wilhelm Reich explained in The Mass Psycology of Facism,
Hitler could not have sent millions of Jews to the gas chamber without,
at least, the tacit support of the vast majority of Germans. The oppression
of the Jews in Germany lasted some ten years. The trade in Africans in
America lasted hundreds of years and the oppression arising from that slave
trade
is on-going. The “mass psychology of racism” was and continues (in a more
subtle form) to be a critical factor. Even the poorest whites benefited
from “white-skin privilege.”
2. Horrowitz: "There is
no single group that benefitted exclusively from slavery.”
NPVM: Whether they
were Europeans or their colonists in the Americas, white people benefited
exclusively from Trans-Atlantic slavery. The modest wealth that a few Black
people in America may have today is not the shared profits of slavery but
a result of further toil and sacrifice on their part against all the racist
hurdles that still exist in America. The considerable wealth of a small
handful of Blacks is the result of individual effort, a specific skill
or talent and a lucky break. Furthermore their wealth is a result of the
limited opportunities that were opened up by the massive civil rights movement.
Nevertheless the vast majority of Blacks in America remain poor, and are
over-represented in every single statistic that is an indication of poverty.
3. Horrowitz: "Only a
minority of white Americans owned slaves, while others gave their lives
to free them".
NPVM: Only a very
tiny minority of white Americans did anything to fight slavery directly
and only a few notable exceptions gave their lives in such a quest. John
Brown was a remarkable hero who the vast majority of whites hated for his
anti-slavery efforts. So incredulous was white opinion that a white man
could be so staunchly against slavery that John Brown was widely believed
to be mentally ill. This situation was only possible because whites benefited
from slavery whether they owned slaves or not. Trade, commerce, the growth
of American (i.e. white) industry, everything depended on slavery. Ironically
it was this growth and the new power of the Northern industrialists that
led to the civil war with the Southern Slaveocracy. The war was not fought
to free the slaves but was a power struggle between two factions of whites.
Africans were used by the Northern Capitalists to help win this war and
were then callously betrayed by them. We have not forgotton the broken
promise of "40 acres and a mule."
4. Horrowitz: "Most living
Americans have no connection (direct or indirect) to slavery.
NPVM: All the Euro-American
corporations, insurance companies, banks, the judiciary, the government
and many other institutions have an indirect link with slavery and are
steeped in the blood of Africans. All living Americans and in fact many
other people in the world today are one way or the other reliant upon and
affected by these institutional legacies of slavery.
5. Horrowitz: "The historical
precedents used to justify the reparations claim do not apply, and the
claim itself is based on race not injury."
NPVM: The demand for
reparations for the descendants of African slaves is based on a great deal
of historical precedent. This claim is based on serious and ongoing injury,not
only economic but also psychological. The need to justify the barbaric
nature of European conquest, before and after African slavery, led to the
pseudo-scientific theories of race and racism. The vast majority of Blacks
in America are direct victims of the legacy of slavery, the “continuing
violation” of institutional racism.
During slavery there were
few “free” Blacks, fewer still who “owned” slaves
themselves. “Free” Blacks
were always subject to recapture with the full support of the legal system,
as shown by the Dred Scott decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857.
There is much evidence to suggest that the few Blacks and indigenous people
who did “own” slaves, did so more as a “front” to white society. In any
case these incidents are so few that they are negligible.
6. Horrowitz: "The reparations
argument is based onthe unsubstantiated claim that all African Americans
suffer from the economic consequences of slavcery and discrimination."
NPVM: The majority
of Africans living in America and indeed those living throughout the diaspora
suffer from the economic consequences of slavery and discrimination. However,
the reparations argument is not only based on the economic consequences
but also on the non-economic damages, which are immeasurable and could
never really be compensated monetarily. There is no evidence whatsoever
that the Black middle class is larger than the majority of poor Blacks.
It is worth noting that the growth of a Black middle class has been partly
the result of a conscious attempt by the government to create a counter-weight
against the potentially radical masses of poor Blacks. The majority of
Blacks in the “West Indies” and anywhere else in the world are poor as
are the majority of people of color on this planet. To compare the incomes
of “African-Americans” with new Black arrivals in America is mis-leading,
because they have a different history. The incomes of Black Americans should
be compared with the incomes of whites in America. Furthermore, not all
Blacks arriving from the diaspora have a positive experience; in fact many
experience the same institutionalized racism as American Blacks, as shown
by the brutal police murder of Amadou Dialo and the savage beating of Abner
Louima. African slavery was a Black holocaust that caused irreperable
injury to its victims.
7. Horrowitz: "The reparations
claim is one more attempt to turn African Americans into victims. It sends
a damaging message to the African American community and to others."
NPVM: The Reparations
claim is in fact a very positive message for Africans living in America.
It helps us to understand that our condition is the result of an historic
wrong that has been compounded over time. The damaging messages are those
that we are bombarded with daily, that we just aren't as clever or hard-working
as white people and are in fact responsible for the difficulties we face.
Getting back what was stolen from us is not a handout. Africans are
no more or less victims than the Jewish people.
8. Horrowitz: "Reparations
to African Americans have already been paid."
NPVM: Black people
have never been paid a cent, in fact chattel slavery was replaced with
other means of exploiting and cheating us. The majority of welfare benefits
in America have been paid to poor whites. Racial Preferences have provided
a very small percentage of African Americans with contracts, job placements
and educational opportunities, the majority of Blacks remain unaffected.
To achieve healing, first the truth must be told. The second requirement
is payment to correct the wrong. What about our "forty acres and a mule,"
into today's value.
9. "What about the debt
Blacks owe to America?"
NPVM: Freedom can
never be given, but must be taken. Ancient slavery existed in many
societies before the African slave trade, but there is no resemblance whatsoever.
African rebellions against slavery occurred from the time slavery was begun
by Europeans and have been written our of the history books. White Christians
did not create any anti- slavery movement; in fact the most heinous crimes
against Africans were committed in the name of Christ or his father. Some
of them did grudgingly go along with anti-slavery sentiment when it suited
their needs; the end of slavery was nothing more than the beginning
of an American nightmare for African living in America and what was left
of the Indigenous people.
10. Horrowitz: The Reparations
claim is a separatist idea that sets African Americans against the nation
that gave them freedom.
NPVM:
The Intercommunal Reparations Campaign of the NPVM addresses the issue
of reparations for African Americans, Africans and all indigenous people.
We understand that reparations is really a global issue which demands a
major redistribution of the wealth on a global level. The western
(white) nations have achieved their dominance over the world through wholesale
robbery, rape and pillage. Furthermore, they continue to exploit people
of color throughout the world through multi-national corporations which
are gobbling-up the worlds precious resources at an alarming rate, for
the benefit of a tiny minority, but to the detriment of the global environment.
The majority of Africans in America have no stake whatsoever in America's
heritage, which is steeped in the blood-money generated by our ancestors'
labor. There is nothing separatist about demanding what was stolen from
us all. It is this understanding that will help us loosen the shackles
from our minds and teach us what "true freedom" is.
Cubans Demand $181 Billion
in Reparations
The People of Cuba vs.
the Government of the
United States of America
for Human Damages
FIRST: That, the triumph
of the Cuban Revolution on January 1st, 1959 meant for the people of Cuba
for the first time in its long history of struggles –the conquest of true
independence and sovereignty, with a death toll of about 20,000 people
who perished in direct and heroic combat against the the forces of a military
dictatorship trained, equipped and advised by the United States government.
Pursuant to international
practice, a State is responsible for the damages caused by its behavior
and actions-in legislative, as well as, in administrative and judicial
terms-by its agents and officials, and even for the actions of each country’s
natural persons, if the corresponding authorities in said State would avoid
taking preventive of suppressive measures. Thus, it is its duty to compensate
for such damages in compliance with what is universally rated as civil
liability.
SECOND: That, the
recent declassification in the United States of a report produced bt the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick on
October 1961, with a review of the reasons for the failure of the Bay of
Pigs invasion-as it is called in America-has revealed that the covert operations
organized in Washington against Cuba began in the Summer of 1959, a few
weeks after the adoption of the Land Reform Law on May 17, that year. The
Inspector General of the CIA recognized that “from January 1960, when it
had 40 people, the branch [the CIA station in Miami which concentrated
on activities against Cuba] expanded to 588 by April 16, 1961, becoming
one of the largest branches in the Clandestine Services”
THIRD: That, barely
15 months after the revolutionary victory, armed banditry was planned and
finally unleashed by the United States government, practically all over
Cuba. It began in 1960 under the Republican Administration of President
Eisenhower and lasted 5 years until 1965. Between 1959 and 1965, a total
of 299 bands, with 3,995 mercenaries operated throughout the national territory
in the service of the U.S. government.
The number of casualties
in that struggle, regular troops and militiamen combined taking part in
the operations against the bandits, as well as, people murdered by the
bandits whose death it has been possible to document, were as high as 549.
Also, a considerable amount of people were injured whose number it has
not been possible to accurately determine 34 years later, when this demand
was prepared. However, there are still survivors incapacitated as a result
of those criminal plans. Many civilians who had nothing to do with the
military activities also died.
We have attached to this
document the corresponding certificates of the 549 people who have so far
been registered as dead due to that criminal action against our people,
as well as, a detailed list of all those currently incapacitated due to
injuries sustained in the period described.
FOURTH: That, among
the most significant events in the history of the Cuban revolution-for
its military, patriotic and political impact-is the Bay of Pigs mercenary
invasion organized by the United States CIA on instructions given by President
Eisenhower on March 17, 1960.
Although the Bay of Pigs
invasion was a major political and military defeat for the United States
government, this war conflict left a high number of victims and countless
grieving or badly afflicted Cuban families, since 176 people died and over
300 were wounded by enemy weapons. This included people living in the area
who were machine-gunned by the mercenary air force; 50 of them were permanently
incapacitated for their obligations.
FIFTH: That, terrorism
has permanently been used by the United States of America as an instrument
of its foreign policy against Cuba.
SIXTH: The Guantanamo
Naval Base, set up in Cuba almost a 100 years ago following a confusing
and treacherously drafted agreement by virtue of which the United States
leased the territory occupied by the base “for the time required,” without
a clause safeguarding our full right to sovereignty over the said territory,
has been used by the United States as an instrument of its aggressive policy
against our country.
SEVENTH: That, in
all these years of Revolution, the United States government aggressive
actions have had a significant impact on our people’s health. This criminal
policy has been aimed at obstructing and hindering the impressive achievements
that Cuban social policy has won. For this purpose, the United States has
used, among others, the biological aggression, which has cost precious
human lives, including children and pregnant women.
EIGHTH: That, throughout
the Cuban revolutionary process, a strictly internal affair which our people
carried out exercising their right to full sovereignty as citizens of an
independent nation, our homeland has had to face, and still does, the constant
danger of a direct military aggression from the United States.
NINTH: The undeniable
reality, proven by facts and documents that nobody would dare challenge,
explains the huge expenditures in economic and human resources and the
sacrifices imposed on our people over 40 years to defend themselves from
the danger of a direct armed aggression by the United States of America.
CONCRETE PRETENSION
That, pursuant to
the concept of reparation for material damages, the Court would rule that
the defendant, as a debtor with civil liability, is ordered to pay for
the lives of the 3,478 people, being it impossible to replace them and
their value incalculable, at a rate equal to an average of 30 million U.S.
dollars for each dead person, which amounts to a total of 104,340
million U.S. dollars, and that it shall pay for the value of the illegally
impaired physical integrity of 2,099 people, also irreplaceable in integrum,
at a rate equal to an average of 15 million U.S. dollars for each incapacitated
person, amounting to a total of 31,485 million U.S. dollars.
That, pursuant to the concept
of compensation for damages, as reparation for the fringe benefits that
the Cuban society has had to assume, as well as, other earnings the victims
and relatives have failed to receive due to the events related ut supra,
it is ordered to pay 34,780 million U.S. dollars, equal to an average 10
million U.S. dollars for everyone of the deceased, and 10,495 million U.S.
dollars, equal to5 million U.S. dollars for every incapacitated person.
In accordance with the aforesaid,
a ruling is requested as would demand only one payment for the sum of the
181,100 million U.S. dollars.
Likewise, it is requested
that, pursuant to our Statutory Law the defendant is urged to publicly
recant for the moral damages caused to both, the relatives and the victims
of the events exposed in this claim.
