Reparations Definition
What are reparations?
Reparations Defined
Reparations Are Owed to Freed African Slaves
Before we can ask for reparations we need to be sure what reparations are. When most Black or African-American people hear the word “reparations,” the only thing in and on their minds is a song by the OJAYS money, money, money, money…MONEY.
This is true but for us and our ancestors, who were enslaved in America, reparations mean a whole lot more.
What Are Reparations?
The word reparations comes from the Latin word reparare which means “to make ready again.” It has morphed into a compensatory amount to repay for damages or loss caused to an individual or people due to war or suffrage. Reparations in modern and capitalistic terms means to make amends for a wrong that has been done by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.
Reparations Synonyms
Reparations are synonymous with Amends, Restitutions, Reimbursements, Recompenses, Compensations, Returns, Damages, to name several. So when Black people of America ask for reparations, what are we asking for? The majority is asking for the repayment of wages lost by our ancestors who were worked for years without receiving a single dime or penny for their labor.
Reparations Are More Than Financial Compensation
Reparations means to make ready again! Money will not make us ready again when we were not ready in the beginning. So what does it mean to make Black people ready again? In reality it means to return us to African status. Prior to being brought to America we were a people with identity, ethnicity, nationality, tribal recognition language, culture, diet, religion, and even family ties. We had names and names of our fathers. With all of that taken away we were first erased, then left in limbo, then reconstituted into blank pieces of human flesh without spirit, life, brains, souls, or any human qualities. We were whipped into shape like animals and mules and became the beasts of burden for White people of all nationalities that benefitted from American slavery.
To make us ready again means to replace every thing that was taken away: husbands lost their wives and children; wives lost their husbands and children; brothers and sisters were separated from each other and from their parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents, and vice versa. So how can America repay and repair these losses? It cannot and is definitely not willing to do anything to go that deeply into the lives of mules and sheep. So the distraction is to pass out money! America allowed for the idea but never fulfilled the promise and thus the idea of having money dangling like a carrot in the eyes of a donkey, keeps Black people searching for the payday that they believe they are due.
Read our post “Reparations Defined” to learn more about how we can ready ourselves to receive reparations.
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