Should African Americans Receive Reparations Because of Slavery?

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                Hayden

Nick Hayden

Dr. Washington

PHI 135

22 April 2006

Should African Americans Receive Reparations Because of Slavery?

We discussed numerous topics during our ethics class concerning reparations and the harsh reality in which blacks lived as they were put into slavery and entire communities were destroyed by rioting.  We watched movies and read articles concerning this topic and discussed our ideas.  The debate on reparations is an ongoing concern because it reflects not only a single town or state, but also an entire nation.  This is a very sensitive issue and that at times has the power to offend people of different races. The term equality is almost impossible to avoid in this discussion.  Should blacks receive reparations for slavery? Also, why are so many people opposed to this idea?  In this essay, I will explain my opinions and thoughts on reparations and how they should be dealt with in the utmost ethical and just way.

Since the beginning of time slavery has been an issue in all races and all countries.  Generations of Egyptians and slaves shackled to each other and boulders, forced to build immense structures out of solid stone.  Obeying all orders and suffering though the treacherous heat and unforgiving deserts in Egypt.  Going though times where prisoners were forced to fight in coliseums for the sheer entertainment of rulers and emperors. And even some countries today still have forms of slavery.  Yes all horrible and dramatic instances in which races, and even counties suffered through.  However on one of the most monumental and harshest of these included slavery during the United States Civil War.  

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This background information is often times looked over but the African Americans went though a lot more than serving their masters and picking cotton. We, as Americans, went into another country and forced Africans on ships packed away in quarters much like the Jews went though during the Holocaust during World War II.  They had minimal room, hardly any food or water and the water given was often times contaminated with disease or left over from the crew.  They often stood and even slept in feces or bodily fluids because there wasn’t a bathroom.  When someone died they did not ...

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