Reparations? The Debt’s Been Paid Already!

June 20, 2019 Posted by D.W. Wilber, Counterterrorism Analyst, Former CIA  

But forgotten, or purposefully not mentioned in all the reparations rhetoric is the fact that the U.S. was far less involved in the importation of African slaves than other nations. In fact slavery was actually banned by the U.S. Congress in 1808, though it obviously continued even after the time of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The U.S. slave population rose through what was called natural increase, which was an interesting way of referring to procreation. Slaves had babies who were themselves born into bondage, increasing the American slave population.

But by 1860 seventy-five percent of white families in America did not own a single slave. The vast majority of slaves were located in what’s historically considered to be the traditional south. And even in the south only a minority of white families owned slaves. Most slaves were owned by the larger, wealthy plantation and property holders........... To Read More...