REPARATION: A JUST DEMAND.

ICHEOKU says have closely followed the calls for reparation, as well as listened to the voices against it, and have come to the conclusion that the effort at reparation is a morally justifiable cause to redress a wrong which is long overdue. You cannot extract another's 200 years of forced free labor and with a straight face try to explain it away as circumstantial, without making necessary recompense for it. 

Slavery is callous, it is wicked and it is very mean spirited. The only way for America to be indeed truly sorry for it is to unequivocally apologize for it and take necessary measures to atone for it, such as unconditional payment of reparation to the descendants of slaves. 

A matter made more poignant because America was built on the backs of slaves, including the White House. Therefore, white Americans cannot still be benefiting from the forced free labors of slaves and in good conscience still refuse to make restitution for it. So, in order for white Americans to finally close that horrendous chapter of American historical past, the compensation for this forcibly obtained free labor should be made immediately and without any further ado or needless delay, or the futile attempt to wave it off as a bygone gimmickry, because it is not. As long as this is not done, Americans will never be fully united as the feeling of hate, repulsion and being mistreated, wrongly deprived and disadvantaged, will continue to resonate among the descendants of these slaves.

ICHEOKU appreciates the arguments on both sides of the debate, for and against reparation; especially those white people who are claiming that since the generation of those who participated in slaves have since past on, that the present day people should not be held liable for the moral sins of their forebears. ICHEOKU says what an argument in denial, a futility, which should be flushed down the sewer because the present generation were bequeathed with the wealth which slave labor created. So, rather than pursue this argument of passage of time, reparation should be treated as a debt which which white ancestors owe to black Americans, which repayment is not statutory barred for lapse of time. What is imperative here is whether the conscience of the white people have been pricked enough to decide to take this immediate remedial step to atone for a past wrong. 

Even in wrongful death cases, compensations are paid for the life of loved one to their survivors and there is no requirement that the decedent must be alive in order to be compensated. The debate should have since moved on from the need to pay reparation to how or in what form reparation should be. It should no longer be a WHY issue, but a HOW issue, not why reparation should be paid but how reparation should be disbursed. In fact, reparation should no longer be just a matter for only America, but the entire Western civilization which slave labor developed, including Britain, France, Portugal, Spain etc. Without slave labor, the economic revolution period preceding the industrial revolution, would not have happened.  Therefore it is outright immoral to reap a people off for over 200 years of free force labor, without compensation. It is more than the original sin for which Adam was indicted, convicted and evicted from the Garden of Eden by God. 

How could a people so demean and maltreat fellow human beings as commodities and freely trade them, rape their wives and daughters, force them in chains to do manual labor, farm and domestic work; and sometimes just summarily hang them by the neck with a noose just for merely asking to be treated with decency. It is such a shame that America and the rest of the world are not doing everything they could to make such past history go away, including paying reparation, if it is the quick silver magical bullet that will speedily and forever eviscerate that ugly chapter of American historical past. Just look at the White House and other American cities and infrastructures which slave labor built and somebody could sit and live in them and in good conscience not worry that fellow human beings were compelled without pay to build them.

So, please don't tell ICHEOKU that such stain on humanity 's conscience, particularly those of the descendants of the victims, had gone away or should rather be forgotten without a fair compensation to purchase such forgiveness and atonement of sin. America should just pay restitution for what they took from black people, 200 years of forced free labor. 

The gist of the reparation question or its meritoriousness is not the ending of slavery or passing the Civil Rights Act or even electing Barack Obama president. No, the issue of reparation is for arrears of the unpaid free forced labor which were extracted from black people during slavery and long before the Civil War, Civil Rights Act and Obama's presidency. The demand for reparation is for back payments for the period beginning from the arrival of the first slave in America to the abolition of slavery; and which continued until the Civil Rights Act was enacted. This unpaid labor is what America is being called out to make right, by paying for the labor which it extracted from black people for free. So, the real question should be what form and manner should reparation take place and how should America go about getting it done; and no longer whether it should be done or whether it is the right thing to do. 

Although it will be difficult to quantify the amount of money in dollars and cents of such centuries old forced labor and indignity to humanity; but a reasonable rational estimation and.or compensation will suffice. Good enough the areas of West Africa from which these slaves were poached is easily identifiable and the descendants of these slaves, black Americans, are too. So, ICHEOKU is speaking of two tranches of compensations, one for black Americans and the other for the West Africa sub Saharan region which lost millions of its best stock to slavery. The West wanted high quality slaves to till their lands and pick their cottons as well as hew their timbers and do other manual hard labor without compensation and they only took the best out of Africa. 

Americans should search their conscience, convinced that what their forebears did was wrong, be contrite about it and then make recompense for it; just like Germans did with holocaust. If slavery was so wrong that Americans went to war against fellow Americans to end it, then America should make up for that wrong, fully and completely, and have the issue permanently put behind them. The Congress should pass a formal Bill of "Sorry for Slavery", signed by the president; then with compensation paid, rest slavery permanently and for good. America should treat the issue of reparation as a debt owed to black people which should be amortized and consider it as a restitution for the forced labor which America extracted from black Americans for centuries. 

ICHEOKU says since people are frequently paid for wrongful deaths of their beloved ones, the argument in some quarters that the generation which suffered slavery is since long gone and the matter should be forgotten, is therefore moot. Their descendants and anyone traceable to them are the beneficiaries of such reparation and should be duly entitled to receive such benefits. The descendants of those slave owners and plantations masters, as well as those other white people who benefited from the forced unpaid labor of slavery, are enjoying the fruits of their ancestors' man's inhumanity to fellow man; so it should not be an aberration for the descendants of those black people who were enslaved by white people to enjoy the inheritance and bequeath of reparation which ordinarily should have been their forebears to enjoy. 

It is inarguable that but for the free unpaid labor of slaves that America would not be built into the country which it has become today. It is also true that majority of Americans who are rich and wealthy, particularly those who are enjoying generational wealth, benefited from free slave labor which their ancestors used to build their lasting wealth. Even the White House was built with forced slave labor, so it behooves of any occupier therein to understand the solemnity and seriousness of the reparation debate due to the slave hands which built the building, alongside so many others. These white Americans cannot be enjoying the benefits which are traceable to slavery, while at the same time questioning who the beneficiaries of reparation should be.  

First of all, we have to admit and accept that reparation is a worthy effort at atoning for the sins of slavery and then take necessary steps towards making it a reality by deciding how much it should be and the best way to effectively conduct the pay out. Whether it is going to be one trillion dollars or five billion dollars, is not necessarily the issue as the exact amount can always be negotiated; but such proceeds must be channeled into some lasting bequeath such as education, with free education scholarships at all levels awarded to all persons of color in America for at least twenty years running, all expenses paid. 

Then the six West African countries of Nigeria, Benin Republic, Ghana, Gambia, Ivory Coast and Senegal which bore the brunt of slavery and from which majority of the slaves were poached, should have one substantial project built for each of them from the reparation payout. Infrastructural projects such as power stations, electricity grids, airport/seaport, roads, retraining and reequipping of their security personnel are areas where such reparation amount going to these countries could be channeled into. But under no circumstances shall the money be given in cash to these countries because of the endemic corruption which will only divert such monies into private bank accounts in various banking safe heavens in the world, including Cayman Island, Zurich etc. 

ICHEOKU says therefore supports the demand for reparation for slavery, which is being championed by some members of Congress as well as other activists and interest groups. It is the right thing to do and it will help America to indeed truly heal and finally move on from its sordid, despicable and horrendous past. If Germany paid for Holocaust and other liable defendants in lawsuits pay for wrongful death of loved ones, then it necessarily follows that reparation has apparent beneficiaries and therefore the argument as to who is entitled thereto becomes moot. God's speed to the champions of reparation and may their effort be soon fruitfully rewarded IJN.