The Whole World is Watching

On March 25, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution unequivocally condemning the transatlantic slave trade and calling for reparations. The resolution seems squarely aimed at the United States, although many other countries were involved in the trade, and many more have slavery in their histories. What’s going on?

Ghana proposed the resolution, which calls the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations.  Applause erupted in the hall as the result of the vote was announced: 123 countries in favor, 52 abstentions. Three votes against: Israel, Argentina, and the United States.

Israel, the country born because of the horrors of the Holocaust, voted against calling the slave trade the gravest crime ever. Argentina’s vote reflected the nation’s current foreign policy under President Javier Milei, critical toward the United Nations and aligned closely with the United States and Israel.

The United States? The idea of reparations seems to be the key here. Ambassador Dan Negrea, the alternate U.S. representative to the General Assembly, said  the United States “does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time that they occurred.”  Wrong, sure, but not illegal. So no reparations.

Why Now?

You might think the resolution is about two centuries too late. The date was chosen to commemorate March 25, 1807 when King George III approved the Abolition of Slave Trade Act. The act didn’t emancipate people enslaved at the time, but did lead the way for European countries to start shutting down their own slave trading.

So that’s why the day was chosen. But why this year? What current events drove it?

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama was at the United Nations advocating for passage of the resolution, and expressing concern about the direction of policies in the United States on U.S. history of slavery, citing actions in museums and national parks, especially those dismantling slavery-related exhibits. He also cited removal of Black history programs from schools.

So why is this the business of other countries? For one thing Ghana was profoundly damaged by the slave trade. Mahama also added, “These policies are becoming a template for governments as well as some private institutions.”

What the United States Does Still Matters

Ever since the American Revolution, other countries have looked to the United States for leadership in bringing freedom and dignity to people all over the world. We have been far from perfect; the model of slavery in the United States has been a model of injustice even as it has morphed through various forms in our history, and its foul legacy is still with us today. We cannot change the past, but we have been slowly, uncertainly on our way to changing the future. Many Americans feel that our influence in the world is waning, but people in other countries still watch us to see what we do. Even the UK, the EU countries and others who abstained, most of whom have strong human rights cultures and a long history of alliance with the United States, are not sure they can trust us any more. They’re watching carefully, too.

When I first read about this UN resolution, I thought it was hypocritical, to say the least, for certain other countries to vote for it. Brazil, for example, voted for the resolution, even though 40 percent of the Africans brought to the Americas as slaves went to Brazil, more than 10 times as many as the United States, and it has a history of deep-seated racism: “Cream on the top, coffee in the middle, chocolate on the bottom.” No way, I thought, is Brazil doing to do anything about the legacy of the slave trade. But within the past few years, apologies and reparations have advanced in Brazil. There are other examples: Russia with Stalin’s gulags in its history, China and its persecution of Uyghur people. What about reparations for those victims?

It might happen some day, but it’s  less likely if the United States does not continue to look for ways to end the evil effects of slavery in our own country. The whole world is watching us to see what we do.

Reparations Aren’t Just Money

Discussions for reparations often involve trying to figure out what sums of money to pay, for what, and to whom. Those attempts, while they are admirable in the way they strive for objective fairness, are very difficult to work out.

Here’s what I think: we can’t change the past, but we can make prospects brighter for the future. Changing our penal system so we don’t incarcerate far and away the largest percentage of our population of all the countries in the world. (At least the ones who report the numbers.) Keep on acknowledging our past and learning from it. Better access to education, to ways to build wealth. Stop trying to twist our election laws to make it harder for Black people to vote.

I haven’t done much. I want to do more. My main limitation is that I don’t have anywhere near enough money to make a difference. One thought I have had is to send some money to community colleges in counties where my ancestors had slaves. Turns out that those counties are often too poor to even have a community college. I’ll just have to keep looking.

What Do You Think?

What do you think you’d like to do to make sure the United States learns from its experience with slavery, that we find out how many of the injustices of our society began?

Are you doing something now for reparations? Please write to me and let me know.

For Further Reading

There’s a comprehensive compilation from Wikipedia sources about reparations in the United States, who’s paid whom. (Remember it was often former slaveholders who were compensated for their losses of property rather than the enslaved people who lost their freedom.) It also shows which states have done what: apologies, recognition of loss, payments.

I just finished reading Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance, and Slavery in the Caribbean, by Miranda Kaufmann. Nonfiction. Researched down to the tiniest detail, sometimes horrific, and deeply fascinating. Review to follow soon.

And of course there’s my book! In An Uncharted World a young African woman, Morayo, is kidnapped into slavery, and later captured by Francis Drake on his way around the world. Inspired by the true story of a real African woman, set against the worldwide slave trade of the 1500s. Buy the book here.