Featuring: Larry Kenneth Alexander
Transcript:
Uncover the enduring impact of slavery on America’s foundations and the urgent call for restitution to heal historical injustices and honor the promise of liberty and justice for all.
Transcript in Paragraph Format:
Liberty was denied to 500,000 Black Englishmen in violation of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. These individuals were denied due process of law, enslaved, and exploited for their labor. Families were torn apart, their humanity denied, and their enslavement perpetuated through state-supported systems of oppression that violated international norms. Colonial America’s slave codes, Negro laws, and other legislative acts of exploitation had been repealed under Parliament’s American Colonies Act of 1766. Yet, in 1776, the Patriots declared King George III a tyrant for abolishing “our most valuable laws,” exposing the Founding Fathers’ culpability in perpetuating the enslavement of Black Englishmen after the Revolution.
While some argue that the Civil War and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments resolved this issue, history tells a different story. Reconstruction’s initial fervor for justice, led by Radical Republicans, gave way to political compromise and reconciliation at the expense of true equality. The reversal of General Sherman’s “40 Acres and a Mule” plan symbolized this betrayal. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 had promised freed people land and economic independence, but Andrew Johnson’s presidency restored confiscated Confederate lands to their former owners, leaving freed people dispossessed and trapped in systems like sharecropping. The Compromise of 1877 further prioritized national unity over protecting the rights of freed people, paving the way for segregation, Jim Crow laws, and systemic racism—each a continuation of the crime of slavery.
Today, we are left with the question of what is owed to the descendants of those who suffered under slavery. Reparations, often discussed as compensation for harm, are insufficient. What history demands is restitution—a return of what was unjustly taken and accountability for the profits amassed through exploitation. Restitution is not about dividing America; it is about healing the deep wounds of its past and ensuring the ideals of liberty and justice are not hollow promises but lived realities.
This is a pivotal moment for America to confront its flaws and strive for a more perfect union. Restitution offers a chance to align actions with principles, turning the page on centuries of injustice and writing a new chapter of shared prosperity and unity. America’s greatness has always been measured by its willingness to confront its flaws. Let us rise to this challenge with courage and conviction, doing what is right at long last.
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