Clyde Ross's Childhood
Clyde Ross was born in 1923 near Clarksdale, Mississippi. During the 1920s, majority of the locals in Mississippi were continuously robbed of the vote, a control plotted through the deceit of the poll tax and the influence of the lynch mob. The state’s regime at the time associated robbery of the permit with robbery of the purse. As a result, majority of the Mississippi’s back farmers led lives of debt at the expense of the cotton kings. During his childhood, Mississippi authorities claimed Clyde Ross’s father $3,000 in back taxes. Because elder Ross was illiterate, and had no lawyer, there was no hope of the police being impartial. As a result authorities seized the land, took the cows, hogs and mules.
II. A Difference of Kind, Not Degree
Recent statistics indicate that North Lawndale, currently lies on the wrong end of nearly every socioeconomic gauge. During the 1930 it has a population of 112,000, however in 2014, the population had dropped to 36,000. North Lawndale characterized as an extreme representation of the various trends among black Chicago. Chicago impoverished black neighborhoods are features high levels of unemployment and single parent households, which does not imply poverty, but ecological distinction. Rates of poverty among the black Americans have reduced as compared to a half a century ago. Cultural pathologies that could possibly be altered by discrete determination and good behavior have a significant influence on the high levels of segregation and isolation of the African American community.
III. “We Inherit Our Ample Patrimony”
Belinda born in modern-day Ghana, spent 50 years as a slave at the hands of Isaac Royall and his son. In 1783 after she was free from slavery, Belinda petitioned the commonwealth of Massachusetts for reparations. Belinda was approved a pension of 15 pounds a d 12 shillings, a successful attempt to petition for reparations. During the time of her reparation, black people in America had undergone more than 150 years of slavery, which ignited the idea that they might be owned something in return. Today the topic on reparations raises inevitable questions. Some of these questions include who will get paid? How much will they be paid?
IV. “The Ills That Slavery Frees Us From”
The men and women who sacrificed themselves for the sake of the independence of the United States were dedicated to freedom and equality. Majority of these individuals were held slaves or willingly joined hands with those who did. The wealth bestowed America by slavery did not only comprise of what the slaves pulled from the land but also accounted for the salves themselves. The sale of slaves particularly in Mississippi valley led to the emergence of millionaires per capita. The indispensable working class in America existed as property beyond the realm of politics, a situation that left several white Americans to enjoy freedom democratic values.
V. The Quiet Plunder
The after effects of 250 years of enslavement, of war upon black families and black people, were weighty. Slave ownership at the time was aspirational which similar to the present day homeownership. The slave trend attracted those that owned slaves as well as those that aspired to own. Radical Republicans tried to rebuild the country after the Civil War on universal equality aspect. However, they were unsuccessful because of a campaign of Redemption. Terrorism became common in the South. The increased incidences of terrorism shuttered the dream of reconstruction. Political violence was evaluated upon blacks wantonly, with special treatment projected towards the black people of ambition.
VI. Making The Second Ghetto
Chicago is today considered as one of the segregated cities in the United States, due to careful planning. The city has been a pioneer of upholding white supremacy at each level up to neighborhood level. The city has to pursue its agenda by adopting discreet approaches after the Supreme Court made a ruling against racial zoning in 1917. The lethal racism of Chicago’s white citizens influenced the government to embrace segregation. Embracing of segregation by the government result in the white neighborhoods becoming vulnerable to black encroachment that groomed block associations with the aim of enforcing segregation. After the failure of terrorism, white homeowners fled the neighborhood.
VII. “A Lot Of People Fell By The Way”
Investors in North Lawndale, and black ghetto realized the potential to make money off white panic. Therefore, they opted to spook whites into selling cheap before leaving the neighborhood and the American Americans occupying. Some people had to take second jobs to make extra money. Money became a major problem, because without it one would not be in a position to educate his/her kids, or cannot provide them with the right kind of food. Contract sellers allowed some members of the Contract Buyers League to shift into regular mortgages and in some cases, taking over their houses downright.
VIII. Negro Poverty is not White Poverty.
Fatherhood is the greatest remedy to all that affects black people is a common myth that cuts across the country. However, by observing middle-class norms, it has on no occasion stopped black people from plunder. Racism is today perceived by liberals as distinct evil equivalent to white poverty and inequality. Politics centered on the issue of racial evasion are seductive. Various policies have been adopted and embraced focused on placing black America’s utmost determined and energetic countrymen past the pale of society and categorize them as fair targets for legal theft.
IX. Toward A New Country
Various scholars have documented the various methods that America could assume to make reparations to those on labor in addition to segregation by the nation. Charles Ogletree has argued job training and public works that assume racial justice as the primary mission but takes account of the poor individuals from all races as a way towards a new country. Patriotism a la carte refers to people celebrating freedom and democracy while they forget about the origins of America in a slavery economy. Imagining a new country would involve reparations implying full acceptance of collective biography with its associated consequences.
X. There Will Be No Reparation from Germany
West Germany in 1952 started the process aimed at making amends for the Holocaust. The process was conducted under the condition that it would be instructive to the public. The no reparation from Germany was attributed to the nation’s reluctance to directly face its history went beyond polls. Those that survived the Holocaust dreaded tarnishing the reputation of Germany with money as well as the mortgaging the memory of the dead. Reparations from Germany did not make up for the murder committed by the Nazis. However, they led to Germany’s reckoning with itself and probably providing a roadmap for civilization.
