Justifying slavery reparations
Letter to the editor
For the past two years or so, I've been following the often heated and controversial issue of reparations for slavery, and across the nation, most white folks are vehemently against reparations of any sort. Hell, you mention a mere apology for slavery and their shorts get all knotted. I truly believe that there would be another civil war if the U.S. government ever considered this measure. Let me share with you why I'm still waiting on my 80 acres and a mule.
On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves. On that very same day, the Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted. Under this act, the United States Congress literally gave away 160 acres of land per person or family, free. For more than 100 years, more than 2 million white Americans received more than 270 million acres of land and the only stipulation was that they had to "homestead" the land for five years and it would be theirs. Imagine that: 160 acres of land, free. And the settlers didn't even have to be U.S. citizens to qualify, only working on becoming one. This act, the Homestead Act of 1862, was, to my knowledge, never repealed.
In 1866, another homestead act, possibly known as the Southern Homestead Act, was also enacted by Congress. It stipulated that public lands in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida be disposed of according to the stipulations of the Homestead Act of 1862. There was no distinction for race or color. Settlers were to receive no more than 80 acres. This act was part of the Reconstruction Period.
Some ex-slaves did indeed receive a few southern acres, which were eventually returned to the pardoned Confederates. In 1876, this second homestead act was repealed. America preferred to keep the freed slaves, my ancestors, as sharecroppers for another 100 years. The rest is history.
The United States government could give away 160 acres of land, free, even to noncitizens but could not give 80 acres, as enacted, to a people who provided them 200-plus years of hard, free labor. Instead, they gave my people 100-plus more years of hate, Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, the KKK, lynchings, segregation, oppression, miscegenation, poverty and more hate. I ask you, would black America, no, would America as a whole be a better nation if we'd gotten our acres, as promised? Hell, right now, I'd take an acre and a chicken.
Pamela A. Hairston
Washington, DC
April 5, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, April 10, 2001
