Slavery and segregation in the United States have led to chaos in African America, unparalleled in the western world. The two S's, slavery and segregation, have led to Black folks’ present day experiences of inadequate education, lagging in economic development, constant struggle for ample representation in every respectable field of endeavor, and being over represented in the doldrums of the criminal justice system. 
The government of this country manufactured a Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde personality and set in motion an immoral institution that, on the one hand jeopardized the sanity of everyone it touched, and on the other, was justified by the development of laws and lies which included: The three/fifths clause, that implied the inhumane status of African people; the fugitive slave act, that deputized all Whites to return Black people to slavery; and the continuation of the slave-trade for twenty years after the birth of the nation, to ensure the new nation of an adequate labor supply to build this country. The foregone were enshrined in the foundation of America through its Constitution. Those sections of the Constitution are the basis of the law that has led to present-day racial relations. The justification of the law with lies has helped to sustain the unacceptable relative condition that the descendants of Africa have had, and continue to experience.

Many Whites defensively argue that neither they, nor their family ever owned slaves. It is a fact that only 20 to 25 percent of White Southerners were slave owners. Though, this writer suggests that the vast majority aspired to be members of that class of Southerner. Although never able to join those who controlled the South, the majority of Whites took advantage of, and continues to take advantage of White skin privilege. One was advantaged based upon a dubious qualification, the tone of one’s skin. Even lighter skinned Black people were advantaged over the darker skinned Black persons, but could not break the barrier into the arena of full inclusion based upon merit. Yes, it is understood that many poor Whites could not break into the good-old-boy network. However, if they cleaned themselves up, accepted the rules and agreed to live by the White supremacist ethos, they could blend in and become an "accepted" part of the system. One of the reasons why Africans were selected for the institution of slavery was because they could not blend in and hide from their pursuers.

Why reparations? Because the world knows that Africa and its descendants were singled out by the European world, attacked, colonized, divided, kidnapped, enslaved, forcibly transported to foreign lands, beaten, castrated, raped, tortured, dehumanized, brutalized, maimed, and forced to deny their own humanity. In the European tradition of African destruction, the likes of the Songhay Empire, Timbuctoo, the Haya, and the looting of Benin are examples. On this side of the Atlantic, comparable destruction include that of the “Negro Fort” in colonial Florida, the Republic of Palmares in Brazil, Fort Pillow, the Red Summer of 1919, Tulsa’s Black Wall Street in 1921, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the Scottsboro Boys, and Birmingham in 1963. All are examples that illustrate the barbarism practiced against Africa and its descendants.

Lord Anthony Gifford, British Queens Counsel and Jamaican attorney, who wrote a legal basis for reparations, said, “The enslavement of Africans was a crime against humanity.” He quoted the Nuremberg Tribunal defining crimes against humanity as: “Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population...whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country here perpetrated.” The best example of the above description of crimes against humanity is the plight of Africans in the Americas.

The physical and mental atrocities committed against Black people are well documented. However, to really understand the significance of reparations, the material loses must be investigated. The loss of kin goes without saying. African people were kidnapped away from mother, father, sister, brother, and the community of relatives and friends. There is no way to assign a dollar value to such devastation. However, according to the Permanent Court of International Justice, “...reparation must, as far as possible, wipe out all the consequences of the illegal act and re-establish the situation which would, in all probability, have existed if that act had not been committed.” The court further explains that “Restitution in kind or, if this is not possible, payment of a sum corresponding to the value which a restitution in kind would bear; the award, if need be, of damages for loss sustained which would not be covered by restitution in kind or payment in place of it – such are the principles which should serve to determine the amount of compensation due for an act contrary to international law.”

With the above in mind, let’s do some rudimentary calculations. The fact of African- American enslavement and uncompensated work in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean from the 15th century is well documented. The area that became the United States participated in this system of labor from at least 1630 to 1865. In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, there were 4,000,000 enslaved persons. According to Joe William Trotter, Jr. in his The African American Experience, there were an average of 750,000 enslaved descendants of Africa for the 235 years from 1630 to 1865. Those figures go from a low of 60 Africans in the colonies in 1630 to four million in 1860. Let’s speculate for a minute and say that 700,000 of the 750,000 were workers. Let’s further speculate that they were due a minimum of 50 cents per hour in wages in current money. Based upon these facts and suppositions, the following figures can be surmised; 700,000 persons times 12 hours per work day equal 8,400,000 hours per day times seven days a week which equal 58,800,000 hours per week. If they were paid 50 cents per hour, collectively sons and daughters of Africa were due $29,400,000 per week. Therefore, in one year, multiplying the per week amount by 52 weeks, we arrive at an annual figure of $1,528,800,000. The 235 years of enslavement times the annual figure amount to $359,268,000,000. This figure is the amount owed in back pay only. It does not include restitution for the multitude of atrocities throughout the colonial and antebellum periods. Nor does it factor in the losses encountered after Reconstruction due to the U.S. Government giving the reigns of control back to traitors of the United States, the loses due to bogus rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in the years after Reconstruction, and the loss of life and limb during the nadir of the 19th century. The monetary payment suggested is just a beginning in the process of turning the world right side up.

The twentieth century provides similar evidence. On the dawn of the 20th century, the Plessy vs. Ferguson United States Supreme Court decision ushered in the “Separate But Equal” era. This doctrine guaranteed massive disparities in every area of life between Blacks and Whites. Inequitable funding of schools; inadequate housing; less than suitable treatment in transportation; elimination from the voting rolls; nonexistence in elective office; systematically barred from participation in big business, professional sports, agricultural management, and most of the trades. The lack of opportunities to enter these various arenas has served as retarding influences on the children of Africa and their descendants.

In this society, land and other resources of wealth are imperative to establish and sustain one’s well being. Because Africans in America have been systematically disadvantaged, remedies must be forthcoming that will “wipe out all the consequences of the illegal act and re-establish the situation which would...have existed if that act had not been committed.” What various forms can the re-establishment take? Several cities have adopted resolutions demanding reparations. Cities in conjunction with state and federal governments must take the lead. In a city such as Birmingham, Alabama for instance, rather than a 10 percent set-aside for governmental contracts, the set-aside should be comparable to the population ratio. Seventy-three percent of the population should be presented with seventy-three percent of the contracts. There must be all-out efforts to develop African Americans’ skill levels to the point where we are capable of performing at the highest level of expertise. Black institutions must be funded to the extent that they become self-sufficient and capable of competing with White institutions in every endeavor. A national and international “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” must be established. Professionals and practitioners from every field must be employed to deal with the massive problem of correcting this enormous “crime against humanity.” Psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, historians, sociologists, criminologists, economists and others must be employed to develop answers to this most egregious problem that continues to divide this country.

Even with the above facts, a young graduate student at Emory University shared with me his opposition to receiving reparations. “Personally, I don’t believe that I should be benefiting monetarily from the hard work of someone else, to whom I can’t relate, due to the fact that there may be a 200 year gap since the time that the “service” [was] rendered. I do believe that we, as Blacks in America, should be allotted the same benefits as others that migrate to this country. By saying that I mean, we need the overwhelming support of the government in the way of financial backing to establish our own entrepreneurial spirit.”

I responded, “Yes, we should be accorded the same benefits as any other people. However, we did not migrate, we were kidnapped, forcibly removed, unlawfully detained, “legally” labeled less than human, worked like beasts without compensation and forced to deny our own humanity. You may not be able to relate to your parents’ great-great grandparents, but that does not negate the fact that they served this nation as no other people have. If not for the foregone facts, nothing could have kept your great grandfather from being a true stakeholder in this country, giving humanizing directions, opening new and unimaginable possibilities for you, your children, Black America and the World in general.”

This young brother will join the upper middle-class and believe that if he supports “militant” Black causes, White America will deny him a good job. This mentality embellishes the belief that he and his people are unworthy of an improved economic standing if it disturbs White America. In general terms, those who share this position could believe they will lose White friends if they support reparations, and more specifically, they fear that Black reparations will anger White folk. Similar to the enslaved of antebellum days who, in the presence of mas'er, denied any wish to be free, because he/she was satisfied with their lot, and offered testimony to how well their master treated them. This person is of the same stripe as those Blacks who counseled against Martin Luther King, Jr. coming to Birmingham in 1963, because they felt it would hamper the "progress" made between the races during the segregation era. They argued we were moving too fast. Dr. King simply said, "Justice delayed is justice denied." I add that the lack of economic self-sufficiency after generations of unpaid labor and second-class citizenship is tyranny.

My grandmother provided care to cuts and scrapes by cleaning them to avoid infection, applying ice to stop bleeding and administrating an antiseptic to kill germs. Although this process was very painful, she saved lives and limbs by applying tough love. This same principle must be adhered to in the case of redressing the questions of slavery and segregation. W.E.B. DuBois said of the Reconstruction era that the nation had failed because it had come under the influence of those leaders who would compromise with truth in the past, to make peace in the present, so they would be able to guide policy in the future. In the 21st century, we face that same dilemma, particularly on the issue of reparations.

Dr. Horace Huntley is the director of the Oral History Project at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, AL.