Shouldn’t there be Payments to African Americans for the Work They Did? Shouldn’t there be Reparations to Indigenous Native Americans whose Culture was genocided?
Image by Freepik
It’s funny how much people around the world believe that work that people do should be rewarded with money, or some other fair trade.
However, why have the African Americans of the United States not been repaid for the work they did under slavery? Shouldn’t their families be paid on a monthly basis what they are owed in modern-day dollars?
That only seems fair.
Think about your own life. If you put in work and are not paid, how would you feel? Angry probably. Wanting to go to court. It doesn’t make sense.
“Reparations are measures, including compensation, restitution, or apologies, taken by states or institutions to repair, acknowledge, and address the harm caused by historic injustices, such as slavery, colonialism, or human rights violations. They seek to address lingering inequalities and transform lives through material or symbolic amends.” — Google AI
Image by Freepik
Additionally, the indigenous population that was living in the Americas were genocided. Their cultures were taken from them. They were put in boarding schools, Christianized, and lost their way of life.
I am from South Dakota, and many of them then turned to alcoholism, have diabetes, commit suicide, rape, and somehow they got into the gambling industry. This is not their culture. This is not who they are. It is a travesty.
Lakota Values:
Respect (Wauonihan)
Generosity (Wacante Ognake)
Wisdom (Woksape)
Humility (Wahwala)
Compassion (Waunshila)
Service (Wawoihakikte)
Honesty (Wowicake)
Image by Freepik
I am now living in Peru, and the Incans here who used to have an incredible civilization, now drive motos around, have massive amounts of anemia and poverty, and have no idea how sacred their culture used to be. Again, it is a travesty.
Why have there not been reparations to the indigenous of the Americas? That only seems fair. This was their land, their way of living, their culture. They were stable. They were civilized. They had empires. They had advanced knowledge. They knew how to live peacefully with the land.
Now European colonizers have destroyed the Amazon, polluted the environment, and ruined their sacred cultures. They formed democracies that are actually corporatocracies and extremely corrupt.
In Latin America one egomaniac politician can be bought off by a foreign corporation, and an entire parcel of land where sacred animals and plants lived for billions of years could be destroyed because the corporation wanted to farm coffee there. How ridiculous is that?
Even more insane is this:
“The Amazon rainforest is now emitting more carbon dioxide than it is able to absorb, scientists have confirmed for the first time. The emissions amount to a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to a study. The giant forest had previously been a carbon sink, absorbing the emissions driving the climate crisis, but is now causing its acceleration, researchers said. Most of the emissions are caused by fires, many deliberately set to clear land for beef and soy production. But even without fires, hotter temperatures and droughts mean the south-eastern Amazon has become a source of CO2, rather than a sink. Growing trees and plants have taken up about a quarter of all fossil fuel emissions since 1960, with the Amazon playing a major role as the largest tropical forest. Losing the Amazon’s power to capture CO2 is a stark warning that slashing emissions from fossil fuels is more urgent than ever, scientists said.” — The Guardian
The Amazon currently is not able to absorb all the crap (literally) we are putting out into the environment — Life Herself is Dying.
The Amazon Rainforest; Image by Freepik
Read about the Sacredness of Life in my Evolution 3-Part Series:
So what if Latin America’s indigenous population was given reparations from Europe?
What if they used that money to restore the Amazon and remember their indigenous cultures? I have many solutions on My Website,Medium Profile, and my book, New Social-Ecological-Economic Theory for The World : Saving the Earth from Poverty and Pollution, and Preparing for the Rise of Artificial Intelligence.
Think about this seriously. We need an entirely new economic system.
I write about that in this article, Questions about Distribution of Wealth and the History of Inventions; An article about the history of technology and who really owns and deserves the money made from these products.
Please read this. Become a movement leader. A spokesperson. Remember Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln. Be brave, courageous, bold. Know what you deserve!
Written by,
Ashley Heacock, Researcher, Writer, Mentor, Healer, Guide
MIT Sloan School of Management, MBA
Harvard Kennedy School of Government, MPA
The George Washington University, BA Economics, BA International Affairs
Contact: ashleyheacock@gmail.com
Website: awakeningconsciousness.community
