8th Grade Regional Studies

The current generation can not be held responsible for the actions of the past genorations. The fact is thats people whether they have gotten over it, forgot and moved on or not it is settled and at rest. Past genorations are not only in us and that we would have to pay for whta are ancesstors did and how they acted but it is also for the slave decendants. They could not feel really deeply that they deserve this because of the hard ships that they went through in thier lives because they may be in a bad place. Even if they are there are also white people that are and if some africans have made a better life that shows that we are not at fault for the reprecutions of slavery. becides that they U.S. government has no way of changeing what happened and so they can not be held responsible of what they had no way of controling. They should not be payed for slavery of thier ancesstors.

The Legacy of slavery continues to impact us today. African Americans are not socially accepted as well as white Americans are due to slavery. Slavery impacts people today because when the slaves were brought to America they didn't make as much as they would have if they weren't slaves. This puts their decendents today at a disadvantage because they started off with much less money than the could have started off with if they weren't slaves. Slavery still impacts people today and we should give money to the decendants to even out the starting line and help them become better socailly accepted.

I think that it would be a very difficult task to achieve if the U.S. were to give reparations to every single relative of the slaves. Some may not even want the reparations. I think that the U.S. should give the money to organizations or groups who are dedicated to giving money to relatives of the slaves. Then, the government will know that the money is being put to proper use. I don't know if the U.S is in the state right now to be giving money away since there is a war going on in Iraq.

I dont think that this generation should be held accountable for the actions from the past generation. WE know that it was wrong to put africans through slavery, but the past generation probably thought it was ok, and that they were "inferior". We should be held accountable for our own actions, not someone else's, or our past fathers and mothers. I do think, however, that we should apoligize for their actions, since they arent alive to do that anyways. We should apoligize, and move on. we can't keep trying to make up for past actions that WE ( this generation) didnt commit. we also are in debt, so it woundn't be a wise decision.

The legacy of slavery impacts us today in two main categories, it instilled a prejudice of racism in our society and it also hindered African-Americans ability to succeed in America today. First, the racism instilled in our society comes from European slave traders treating Africans as sub-human and that prejudice is still a part of society. Also descendants of slaves have to work harder to do as well as others in society because their ancestors didnt make money as slaves. And because their ancestors didnt make money as a slave then their ancestors didnt have money to pay for their childrens education, which then caused them to not make money. This disadvantage has made it very difficult for African-Americans to succeed in today's America.

The US should give money to the descendants of slaves because it is a symbol of righting a wrong that past generations have committed. When one makes bad decisions you should always right it and not just pretend that it doesn’t exist. We should face the fact that our country has committed a horrible sin towards the African Americans of this country. In repentance we should remembers them through money or another means such as better heath care or something.

I think that we have no reason to be held responsible for what happened so long ago. We didn't hold them as slaves and the majority of African Americans know that, and so it's pointless. Lets say that we pay a generation of African Americans for this, but then we would have to pay previous generations and future generations reparations. I even asked a number of my African American friends if they think that we should pay reparations, and all of them said no, one said this

"For the simple fact is that they didn’t do any of the work and it happened in the past they should just let it stay in the past its not like slavery hurt them in any way."

In response to Annelise's comment I would like to point out that while it is true we have commited wrongs against the African community it is not true that we have not recognized these actions. America is currently attempting to eliminate all of the gender biases that infect our country. It is my belief that giving money to the descendants of slaves is not only ligistically challenging but also increases old gender biases. Giving money to descendants of slaves will not create a less racist world.

The legacy of Slavery does not live today. Exept in the minds of the people that think they should recieve reperations. Giving repertions will not help make any wrongs right. Just giving the African Americans money will not make what the U.S. did right. Also how would the United States government keep track of who is an ancestor of a slave? How would they prove that they are the ancestors of slaves if a lot of the slaves werent even documented citizens becuase they were 3/5 of a man? I dont know the answers to these questionsm, I hope someone can tell me.

The people of the current generation cannot be blamed for the acts of our anscestors. We were not evan alive when our anscestors did these bad things to the African Americans, how can we be getting blamed. We were not the ones who held the African Americans as slaves. Current generations have no part in what went on back then. They should not be held responsible and the African Americans of this time should not be getting paid for what happend to their ancestors. I highly doubt that African Americans are actually feel that they should get paid

I disagree with Annelise's comment on how the U.S. should pay those who are descendents of slaves in the past. This was way in the past and there is nothing wrong about it now a days. If the U.S. gives the descendents of slaves money what will all the others think. Many homeless people and immigrants also need the money and can't even afford to pay for a home. The U.S. shouldn't have to repay them, but give those that are in need for the money rather than those that just want it.

We can not be blamed for the actions that our ancesters did. we had nothing to do with the slavery. though it impacts us today, we had nothing to do with it. the desendennce of the slaves had nothing to do with it either. we should not pay people for nothing. i know that we did horrible things to the slaves but that was a long time ago. there is not enough recoards for the african american people to prove that they had a ansester that was a slave.

I believe that the current generation cannot be held responsible for actions made by many generations before. What happened years ago was very horrible, but that is the past. Now slavery doesn't exist in America. There are still many people in America that are prejudice against blacks, but at the same time there are people who aren't. By saying that people who are decendents of those that have treated blacks unfair doesn't make sense. What did they do??In my opinon is absolutley ridiculous to think that people who are decendents of those who mistreated blacks in the past should be held responsible.

I think that this generation should not be responsible for the past, nor should we give the black slaves money. I say this because how do you know if they are full slave or if they are just 1/10 slave because so many generations have gone by. Also I do know people that have slaves from there past and they live the same life as me with no slaves in my background. So I ask what if you were 1/10 slave where do you draw the line 1/8 slave? Also if we pay the blacks for slavery, then should me pay the indians for the land, and the mexicans for the land? Also we didn't even sell the slaves to other countries. The blacks sold the blacks. So shouldn't Europe and Africa say sorry and pay them to. So I do not think that we should be responsible for what our ancesters did, even though it was wrong.

I do not think the current generation can be held responsible for the actions of slave owners long ago. But I do think the descendants of slaves should be paid reparations. Even though we were not responsible someone should pay them for there economic and moral hardships and that someone should be the US government. The government was around when slavery was happing and they just let it happen until 1865 when President Lincoln freed the slaves. And not only should they pay descendants of slaves but the governments of African countries that suffered a lot of economic and moral hardships when 10-13 million mostly male Africans were brought to "the new world" to work in plantations. You can not argue that the lost of 10-13 people cost them labor which led to economic hard ship for the entire continent

I agree with Howie that the current generation cannot be held acountable for the slave owners actions, however because of that I fell we have no duty to repay the slaves. I also think that it would not help heel the relationship between blacks and whites. I think that it would if anything make the whites more upseet and would creat more racism. It would also be much to hard to figure out the logistics of who gets money and how much. Overall I think that reparations wouldn't heel any sore feelings nor would it be able realistic to be able to assume it would be an easy thing to do.

This generation of people should not be held responsible for what happened hundreds of years ago. The US is not in an economically strong enough state to hand out money to all of the descendents of slaves. This money should be used on something that benefits ALL of the citizens of the US, like lowering gas prices and the war. Many decedents of slaves were able to rise from what happened and they do not need or want money from the government. Why give the money to someone who does not require it to live a full instead of giving it to someone who is living on the street?

It is my belief that the United States Government must pay retributions to the descendents of slaves living today in this country. It is, quite simply, a matter of debt that this country owes to the slaves and to their families. It is totally unreasonable to say that the acts of past generations do not affect us, nor are they our responsibility. We are part of this country, and part of what we gain from citizenship is a history, both the good and the bad. The failure to pay the slaves at the end of the civil war was a large mistake on behalf of the United States government, and the failure still to give money to the families of the slaves is simply wrong.

Reparations are long due to black America. Since the end of slavery has, and will continue, to effect generation after generation of blacks. This is cause alone to pay reparations. The argument that reparations will not end racism and might fuel it are at best unlikely but in reality irrelevant. Ending racism is not the objective of reparations; the objective is to but blacks on a level playing field that has never been available to them. Logistics is also a common excuse to put of reparations. But just because something might be difficult, and a few people might get money who do not deserve it, there is no reason not to follow through with the moral action in order to benefit many more. Granted some blacks who were slaves or had slave heritage succeeded but the majority remained at a disadvantage, which will never right itself. Finally, even if you cannot place blame on whites living now and taxpayers who would inevitably pay for the reparations, it is still in order for blacks to receive them. Not every form of aid or help is based on blame, reparation is not a punishment of whites it is a form of aid to blacks who were negatively affected by slavery.

Reparations are long due to black America. Since the end the civil war, slavery has, and will continue to effect generation after generation of blacks. This is cause alone to pay reparations. The argument that reparations will not end racism and might fuel it are at best unlikely but in reality irrelevant. Ending racism is not the objective of reparations; the objective is to but blacks on a level playing field that has never been available to them. Logistics is also a common excuse to put of reparations. But just because something might be difficult, and a few people might get money who do not deserve it, there is no reason not to follow through with this moral action in order to benefit many more. Granted some blacks who were slaves or had slave heritage succeeded but the majority remained at a disadvantage, which will never right itself. Finally, even if you cannot place blame on whites living now and taxpayers who would inevitably pay for the reparations, it is still in order for blacks to receive them. Not every form of aid or help is based on blame, reparation is not a punishment of whites it is a form of aid to blacks who were negatively affected by slavery.

We do not live in a perfect world. Everything is not fair. One of those 'not so fair' things is we have to take responsibility for what our past generations did wrong. They messed up, and they didn't fix their mistake. I am not saying that in any means giving decendants reparations will erase slavery from our past. It is simply giving African Americans the long deserved money and 'thanks' that should have been given to them long ago. If we were only responsible for our generation and the problems of our generation then what would be the point in worrying about the future? We worry about the future because we don't want future generations to have to deal with our mistakes. If we do mess up however, they will have to deal with it. The past generation messed up, and now it is up to us to deal with it.

I disagree with some people saying that it is righting a wrong by giving reparations because, even if the US would apalogise it shouldn't be with money. We should not give slave descendants money because they didn't do the acual suffering. There are also not enough acurate records that were kept stating who was related to whom. It would be like the descendants were using their relatives to get money just because they're great great grandfather was a slave, who they didn't even know. What's done is done! The slaves helped make America what it is today, we are grateful for that and African Americans should be happy that they're even here, not still in Africa. They have many more opportunities that they wouldn't have if slavery didn't happen.

I agree with many people above who said that our generation is not responsible for what people 200 yeras ago did. Once you start paying people for what happened to their great-great-great-great grandparents, where do you draw the line? You could take many of the affirmative arguments and use them to argue that, say, descendants of Irish-Americans should be payed. After all, they faced significant racism and "no Irish need apply" etc. Or you could say that since Hispanics have faced racism and have had job applications turned down because of it, they deserve reparations, too. Or you could even say that since for a long time women were denied employment because of sexism and in some instances still are today, that they also deserve a check from the government. I am not saying that these examples are the same as slavery, just that they are shades of gray you could argue once you start paying reparations. Also, how much would we be paying? $1000 per person? $5000? How can you determine how much each person's suffering is worth in terms of money? There is simply no viable way to enact a reparations program.

I dont think you can hold this generation acountable for the past generations mistakes because this generation was not even around when the slave trade was going on. As some other people commented you i dont think you can pay ancestors of slaves because what happens 50 years down the road. Will the slaves ansestors kids in fifty years be asking for money because their parents great-great grandpa was a slave? If I was running the United States i would turn them down. Again our generation now had no control over the slave trade. The only way we can be held acountable is if we are part of a racist group such as the KKK who support white power.

I think that they legacy of slavery still impacts people today. I don't think it is as strong as it was but, still there are some hard feelings between people. It wasn't our generation who had slaves and should not be held responsible. What happened was very horrific and should never be forgotton. I agree with others that we should build a monument for an apology to the slaves. It wouldn't make any sense to pay the families for what had happened. The slaves should have been paid a long time ago. As others said, there will be many relatives that you would have to pay, it would no longer be only one person who would recieve the money. What happen was horrible and the government should do something but, I don't think that they should go as far as paying families.

The current generation cannot be blamed for the actions of our ancestors, for the simple fact that we were not the ones commiting the slavery or being enslaved. And if we were to give reparations to the families of slaves than it would be very difficult to determine who to give the money to and how much money to give to them. We would also not know if the money would be spent wisely, and used to recover the damages caused by slavery.

In my opinion the current generation cannot be held responsible for previous generations. The main reason that i think this is because anything that we do now, does not help any of the men/women who were slaves. Nothing would be resolved from the U.S. government paying the decendents of slaves. one of the arguments for the decendents to recieve money is that it is an "unfair starting point" and that since your great great grandparents werent successful, that their decendents would also be unsuccessful. It is not your great great grandparents lives that define the decendents lives.

This generation cannot be held responsible for the past generations. We were not the ones who were enslaving the Africans therefore we shouldn't be responsible. We could give reparations to fix what others have done in the past, but that wouldn’t do any good for slaves because they are no here. I think we should give money to a fund for AIDS or to another fund in Africa to show we are sorry for what we did in the past, Since we can't give money to all the descendants of the slaves brought to the new world.

I think that slavery doesn’t directly affect any body in the united states any more. However, the effects of slavery are still felt throughout the southern United States and even into the area north of the mason Dixon line. Up until the 1960's, African Americans in the U.S. were not being given equal rights as white people. That was only 45 years ago. But our country has made giant strides to equalize the rights of black people. However, the effects of this and the distant affects of slavery have created a racist light on African Americans. Even though there is no announced, public racism in most of the country, many people still don't think black people should be treated equal. For example, in suburban America, it is common for a real estate agent to not sell a house to a black person, cause others in the neighborhood don't want to live next to a black person. In the south, it is even more severe, even in the last 5 years; the white extremists have killed many black people.
However, some people are still being treated like slaves. Many immigrant families are being forced to work in hard conditions at little pay, usually below minimum wage, with no benefits. However, authorities are beginning to crack down on these practices, but with more and more immigrants coming in, the U.S. needs to step up its crackdown on these types of crime.

While i do agree that slavery was a terrible thing that will and should never be forgoten i do not think that it is nessasary for the US to pay reparations to the decendents of slaves. The current generation of whites did not have anything to do with the acts of slavery, and the current generation of blacks were never inslaved. Nothing will ever make up for the horrible crimes that whites of the past commeted aganist the blacks, including money. I think that the best thing that we can to do make up for the mistreatments of blacks in the past is to make more severe punishments for acts of racism. It is no living person's fault about what happened so many years ago, so why should they have to pay for those actions?

I believe that the current government should take responsibility for it's actions. Past or present, a wrongful action should be acknowledged and corrected. It's true that the people in the government change, but it's history comes with the job and in joining that they have to accept the good with the bad. How did the laws against slavery get changed anyway? The United States government, a different set of people from the ones who had installed slavery in the first place, changed it. They took responsibility for what a past generation had done and changed what needed to be changed. Now it's our turn to finish the job.

I think that it doesn't affect the U.S. as much as it does to Africa. Africa has mostly African America so i think that Africa should get paid back more. Not paid back in money but back in like building houses and buildings. They can get better health/hospitals, so that there not all sick all the time and die. Then Africa can be a little more healthy

I think that there is no way to pay all of the people effected by slavery on our current budget. I also think that coutries in africa should not be payed because we can not afford that either. Because people suffered because of the choices of few people who did not contribute to the problem should not have to pay for it. If the government did pay these people would it really make them feel better.

I think that the whole slavery issue has affected African Americans. They educational and financial starting line for them has been was pushed back much farther than other races. I think that if we would pay in reparations they would be able to, in a sense, catch up to the financial status that other races in America live. We paid reparations to the Japanese after the Internment camp, we should have paid the freed slaves after the civil war. Since we didn’t do it then, we should do it now. People pass down money from generation to generation, and who knows what could of happened to many of the families if they would of had that money.

I think that the current govrnment is responsible for past generations in this case. The past generations governments have left the african american community far behind. The governmaent now needs to pay for the wrong that has been made. If they do not repay the african american community the wrong wil not have been righted

I go with many people on the topic of should our generation be responsible for our past generation. I believe that why should we be responsible about it just because so long ago our decedents were the ones. I and many other people never took in slaves or did anything so why should we pay for things that we didn’t do. Why should we pay people who never worked and are half white also none of them are "full" or hardly half blood decedents from the actual slaves, and the people who want money haven’t done any slave work most of them have jobs that pay way more then any of the past slaves so why should we pay them, there’s no reason to, and having decedents doesn’t mean their getting paid at all you are who hasn’t done any hard labor like them and in a way even though welfare has changed over the years it is still a helpful thing for people who actually need money and are poor. People now in our generation don’t want slaves and think the slave trade was horrible, and judging use about what people we don’t even know had done to people you had never met doesn’t make any sense it was such along time it doesn’t work like that for use to pay it back and be responsible.

I am commenting on question C. I really dont believe that our current generation should be held acountable for the past generations. I feal that what happened in the past generations didnt involve us at all. if what the past generations have affected us though then you could say that they are to be held accountable for. we couldnt have done anyhting to stop there generation from what ever they did or whatever they didnt do.