Africa-America Foundation
across the globe, we are united in our dedication to rights of African Americans and diaspora africans
OUR APPROACH
Reparation For Centuries of Black Slavery in the World
Africans have been enslaved by various peoples of the world among them the countries of Arab, USA, UK, France and Portugal. For centuries, the peoples of East African Peninsula were carted away by Arab merchants and enslaved. Later, when the Europeans with formidable merchant ships invaded the lands of the Americas and the Caribbean Islands, slavery exploded because of the need for labor to work the plantation economy. For over 300 years there was inexhaustible supply of black slave labor from Africa for the economies of the US and Americas with tremendous benefits to individuals and present day multinationals.
United Kingdom, France and Portugal utilized slave trade and free slave labor to build their various economies at home and abroad and some of the Arab enclaves benefited from this human tragedy to some appreciable degree.
After the abolition of official slavery in America following the end of the civil war, Africans continued to be smuggled into America in large number , for where as the Europeans provided leadership, manpower needs continued to be met by Africans. After the civil war, civil and political concessions were made to the freed slaves but none economic. It is an up hill battle to exercise civil and political concessions without economic wherewithal for a people who were disenfranchised for hundreds of years.
In the United States of America (USA), during the so-called Reconstruction Era following the end of the civil war, it was proposed to resettle the freed slaves with an economic assistance of 1 mule and 40 acres of land which was a pittance to lost earnings of centuries of slave labor. This proposal never materialized because the enabling legislation was never passed. Resettlement of freed slaves as envisioned in the Reconstruction was de-emphasized because of this perception that acceding rights and economic assistance to blacks means taking away white rights and also de-possessing the whites. This perception has continued till today and that is why programs like affirmative action will not work
— Reparation Now
The value of lost earnings by slaves from centuries of slavery runs in the trillions of dollars today. Governments, individuals and organizations like the catholic and corporations gained financially over the past 300 years from slavery. Restitution programs should be instituted now to replace present day affirmative action which is not working and degrading. Reparation Funds should be established in every western and Arab country that gained most financially from slave labor. Those entities corporate or otherwise that benefited from slave labor should pay into this fund according to a formula that would be worked out. Governments should also contribute to these funds from public coffers.
As a prominent black professor emeritus of history of Duke University said, “it is never too late to pay reparations, make amends”. Reparation is debt owed the former slaves and their descendants for hundreds of years of slavery. It is not necessarily a penalty for the gross violation of their human and civil rights and worse still the crimes against humanity committed against them. However, those violations and crimes make it more compelling to make meaningful restitution.
— Setting a Precedent
There are numerous instances in history to point to when restitution have been made to other injured peoples.
The Japanese-Americans, interned during World War II received an apology and compensation from the U.S. government in 1988 and 1990. The American Indians will make billions of dollars from gaming in their sovereign enclaves. Jewish Holocaust survivors will receive billions of dollars in settlements paid by the Germans and the Swiss. The time has come therefore for the enslaved Africans to receive their own economic restitution. “They are the only group of Americans that have not received reparations for the war crimes of slavery”. The African slaves are the only ones who suffered more than a hundred years of pain and crimes in recent memory.
— Recent Historical Facts
- 1988-1999 Indian Gaming Regulatory Acts Making Billions + for the AMERICAN INDIANS
- 1990 USA $1.2 Billion or $20000 each – JAPANESE AMERICANS
- 1990 AUSTRIA $25 Million to Holocaust Survivors – JEWISH CLAIMS ON AUSTRIA
- 1988 CANADA 250,000 Sq. Miles of Land – INDIANS & ESKIMOS
- 1988 CANADA $230 Million – JAPANESE CANADIANS
- 1986 U.S.A. $32 Million – 1836 Treaty OTTAWAS OF MICHIGAN
- 1985 U.S.A. $31 Million – CHIPPEWAS OF WISCONSIN
- 1985 U.S.A. $12.3 Million – SEMINOLES OF FLORIDA
- 1985 U.S.A. $105 Million – SIOUX OF SOUTH DAKOTA
- 1980 U.S.A. $81 Million – KLAMATHS OF OREGON
- 1971 U.S.A. $1 Billion + 44 Million Acres of Land – ALASKA NATIVES LAND SETTLEMENT
- 1952 GERMANY $822 Million to Holocaust Survivors – GERMAN JEWISH SETTLEMENT
— Inhuman Acts for Reparation
The following are some of the crimes and violations against humanity perpetrated against the slaves and their descendants:
- Invasion and depopulation of the African Continent.
- The abduction of the African people
- The killing of the individuals not strong enough to make the trans-oceanic journey. (It is estimated that hundreds of millions of Africans were killed this way alone, making it the worst holocaust in the history of mankind).
- The enslavement of Africans for hundreds of years.
- Creating a market for slavery and displaying humans for sale.
- General torture, whipping, burning, kicking, hitting, cutting, chaining, hanging, raping, murder, etc., all acts committed against the slaves and their descendants.
- Breeding of humans for slavery
- Creating intentional psychological damage by demeaning acts.
- Segregation because of skin color.
- Financial neglect by government and lending institutions.
- Facilitating the criminal activities of secretive hate groups against slaves and their descendants.
- Secret medical experiments on African Americans
- Government inaction for safeguarding voting and other constitutional rights.
- Other damages caused by discrimination , for example, for approving restitution to other groups while denying same to African Americans who have suffered the most.
Provide care to millions of needy children including those orphaned by AIDS/HIV
Please support Africa-America Foundation’s campaign to provide relief materials to the poor and needy, and victims of disaster and other displaced persons and urgently needed medicines, foods and food supplements to victims of AIDS/HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis including orphaned children.
The Present Value of Reparation
The reparation fund should then be utilized to uplift the former slaves and or their descendants. This could be done by providing free and universal education at all levels, grants to start up businesses and favorable loan instruments to existing ones. Part of the reparation fund should also be disbursed to the benefit of native Africans and their government for worthy programs. Non-profit organizations like Africa-America Foundation and other civil society organizations should be utilized for the disbursement of the money in the reparation funds and implementation of any relevant programs. These non-profit and civil society organizations should be formed, run or managed by people of African ancestry or descent.
Affirmative action initiatives in United States, which whites feel are taking away their rights and which some might argue are demeaning to African Americans should then be abolished. Anti-discrimination laws already in the books should be strengthened and vigorously enforced.
Although there has been some litigation in the courts for the payment of reparation, the problem should ultimately be resolved politically. Recently, some candidates for the United States of America presidential election and other state and local political offices acknowledged that payment of reparation is the right thing to do.
Please support Africa-America Foundation’s efforts to actualize Reparation or Restitution for the slavery of Africans.