How Much Does The US Owe African-Americans For The Unpaid Work They Did?

[Consider this post more like notes about a concept.]

I came across this Newsweek  article about how much reparations for African-Americans would cost if they were reimbursed for the work they did as slaves.

". . .[Craemer]  also has come up with what he says is the most economically sound estimate to date of what reparations could cost: between $5.9 trillion and $14.2 trillion.

Craemer came up with those figures by tabulating how many hours all slaves—men, women and children—worked in the United States from when the country was officially established in 1776 until 1865, when slavery was officially abolished. He multiplied the amount of time they worked by average wage prices at the time, and then a compounding interest rate of 3 percent per year (more than making up for inflation). There is a range because the amount of time worked isn’t a hard figure. 

Previous estimates of reparations have ranged from around $36 billion to $10 trillion (in 2009 dollars), Craemer says. Those calculations mostly looked at wealth created by slaves as opposed to services provided, resulting in underestimates. Craemer believes that “the economic assumptions underlying [his method] are more sound” than those used in previous papers."

It's really hard for people to give back what they stole, especially after enjoying it for a long time and assuming that it was rightfully theirs.  My step-mother told me stories about getting back to her home after being in Nazi work camps.  Neighbors had taken over her family's home and she saw her family furniture and other belongings in the houses of other neighbors.  But it's not simply the labor of black slaves that allowed many white southerners get rich and pass that wealth on to their heirs for generations.

From American Slavery: Separating Truth From Myth,  Daina Ramey Berry writes:

Myth Four: Slavery was a long time ago.
Truth: African-Americans have been free in this country for less time than they were enslaved. Do the math: Blacks have been free for 152 years, which means that most Americans are only two to three generations away from slavery. This is not that long ago.
Over this same period, however, former slaveholding families have built their legacies on the institution and generated wealth that African-Americans have not had access to because enslaved labor was forced. Segregation maintained wealth disparities, and overt and covert discrimination limited African-American recovery efforts. [emphasis added.]

Some of those covert discriminatory practices included red-lining, restrictive covenants, unequal school, job discrimination, and internalized racism that still causes people to make discriminatory assumptions about black Americans.

War reparations are not anything new.  The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law defines them this way:

"1 War reparations involve the transfer of legal rights, goods, property and, typically, money from one State to another in response to the injury caused by the use of armed force. While often considered a sub-category of reparations obligations existing under the classical theory of internationally wrongful acts and State responsibility law, the practice of claiming and paying war reparations in fact dates back to ancient times and presents several specific features."

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTA) puts reparations into a larger context of transitional justice:

"Transitional justice is rooted in accountability and redress for victims. It recognizes their dignity as citizens and as human beings. Ignoring massive abuses is an easy way out but it destroys the values on which any decent society can be built. Transitional justice asks the most difficult questions imaginable about law and politics. By putting victims and their dignity first, it signals the way forward for a renewed commitment to make sure ordinary citizens are safe in their own countries – safe from the abuses of their own authorities and effectively protected from violations by others."

Reparations do take place.  Most recently in the US, reparations were paid to Japanese-American survivors of WWII relocation camps.  But such efforts are ongoing around the world. The International Center for Transitional Justice lists seven countries where they have worked to get reparations for victims:

The Philippines: Aided by many years of active engagement by ICTJ, legislation was passed that granted reparations and recognition to victims of human rights violations committed during the Marcos dictatorship. We also advised a joint commission of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on approaches to transitional justice that the state should adopt as part of implementing the peace process, including on reparations for victims of violations, marginalization, and historic grievances.
Sierra Leone: Our advice helped to improve the accessibility of the reparations registration process for victims of the civil war. We advised on how to staff and schedule the interview and statement-taking process, to ensure that more victims in rural and hard-to-reach areas of the country could register.
South Africa: With our technical support, we helped the largest apartheid survivors’ group in South Africa to challenge the government’s limited post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission reparations policies.
Sudan: In relation to the conflict in Darfur, we analyzed the extent to which the right to reparations of victims has been incorporated into the different attempts to create a peace agreement. We used our presence in negotiations to disseminate our findings to relevant stakeholders.
Timor-Leste: We worked with parliamentarians to enact legislation to implement the reparations recommendations of the two truth commissions (the Commission for Truth, Reception and Reconciliation and the Commission on Truth and Friendship) that were established to investigate abuses that occurred during the Indonesian occupation.
Tunisia: After the overthrow of President Ben Ali in 2011, we assisted government agencies and officials to design reparations policies that would be effective and relevant to the needs of victims of the dictatorship.
Uganda: In response to long-running civil conflict, particularly in the north, we provided relevant state agencies with critical information about the reparative needs of victims, and helped to identify capacity gaps and resources that would be required to design and implement effective reparations programs. We supported civil society organizations, especially women’s organizations, to provide reparations policy proposals to submit to state authorities.

A major reparations model to individuals in the 20th Century is how the Germans calculated and paid reparations to victims of the Nazis.  My own mother got reparation checks - called Wiedergutmachen, or "making good again"- in recognition of the loss (as I understand this) of her family's business and house, her parents, and her lost education.  I'd note that despite these payments, Germany is still one of the strongest economies in the world.


Here's an article that focuses on legal history of reparation rights, particularly in the context of German reparations. .  From  "A Legal History of International Reparations" by Richard M. Buxbaum in the Berkeley Journal of International Law:

To explore these two cases in the European reparations context, five strands of thought-three general and two specific to Germany-need to be separated and then rewoven. One: whether state claims for reparations encompass compensa- tion for particularized harms suffered by a subject of the claimant state. Two: may that subject make a claim directly against the other state? Three: do claims, either by the state or its subjects, encompass compensation for harms caused by non-state actors of the offending state? This issue also raises the question of whether those private actors may be sued directly, either by the claimant state or, more typically, by the victim-subject of that state. Four (an issue historically specific to World War II): the temporary disappearance of Germany as a sover- eign state actor and the substitution of the Occupying Powers as that sovereign. Five (again, historically specific): the nature of the atrocities committed by the Third Reich against both its own persecuted subjects and those of other states that was qualitatively different from those known to modem warfare.

Japanese-Americans were given a token amount that did not reflect the total loss of property or what they might have earned during their years of incarceration.  For many, more important than the money was the acknowledgement by the US government of the wrong that was done.  Craemer's figures - into the trillions - means that African-Americans will, at best, never get more than a token reparation.  Particularly if you consider the debt the US has to Native Americans on top of the debt to African-Americans.  This is an injustice that is a stain on the US until it is reasonably resolved.

The Important Stuff

We all have obligations to make sure our community and our nation function fairly and reasonably efficiently and effectively.  But an even more important obligation is to our family.  If everyone worked hard at having a caring and encouraging family life, then our greater public responsibilities would be far less.

The reason we were in Anchorage for such a short time was to be here in time for a birthday.

Anchorage-Seattle Views

Yesterday's post was about the politics of traveling.  Here's some of the joy one can get if the weather's ok while flying south from Anchorage, just by looking out the window.  Aisle seats may mean you can get up easily, but you lose the great vistas outside the plane.

Here's Eagle River and beyond at 9:30am in January.  Light, but the sun's not up yet.

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It clouded up quickly, and I was sitting in the exit row, so my view was often blocked by the wing. Here's further along somewhere in Southeast Alaska. (These all get bigger and sharper if you click on the image.)

Bellevue, Washington, just before landing at SeaTac.








The train from the airport.

And then on the ferry.

Dear Lisa, I'm at the airport now . . . UPDATED

I just sent an email to Senator Lisa Murkowski after talking to the TSA folks here at the airport.  One said I better fly while I can.  Alaskans are particularly dependent on air travel.  Driving out of state is not practical for most people.  It takes too long.

The TSA agents have rent or mortgages to pay, they have food to buy, utilities to pay for, and all the same monthly expenses everyone else has.  But they are now working for no pay.  The promise of eventually getting paid isn't very helpful if you can't pay your current bills and you fall behind on student loans or a mortgage payment.  It is unconscionable to not pay them.

Meanwhile Trump talks about a 'crisis' that he's going to solve with a wall that will take at least ten years to build.  That's not a crisis.  And blaming the Democrats, well Trump blames others for everything.  He had a Republican Congress for two years if he really needed a wall.

It's hard to tell if this is just one more tantrum from the president because he can't get his way and can't acknowledge ever being wrong, or this was suggested by his patron in Moscow to help make the US unable to serve its people and the world.

Either way it's a disgrace that Senate Republicans, who apparently complain about the president privately, but won't do anything to stop his destruction of the US publicly.

UPDATE 8:19pm:

When we walked out of SEATAC this afternoon we were given this pamphlet.

The link goes to here.  So to 'protect' the American people from terrorists coming across the border, we aren't going to pay TSA agents and FAA employees, but force some to work and furlough others.  Really.  What more could Putin wish for than to destroy the US from the White House?  You don't believe in collusion with Russia?  Read Seth Abramson's Proof of Collusion, carefully, then tell my where he's wrong.

Genesis 2.0 - Mammoth Hunters Of Siberia

We just got back from a strange documentary film about Siberian native men who go searching for ancient  mammoth tusks in islands in the arctic and sell them to Chinese.  They find a whole mammoth - it bleeds when they accidentally hit the flesh with an ax -  and eventually parts of it go to the South Korean genetics lab of Woo Suk Hwang that clones dogs for $100,000 a pup for those who can't bear their dogs' death.  Woo Suk Hwang hopes to find a living cell in the ancient mammoth flesh so he can clone it.

At the end we watch  interspersed shots of the native men trudging across the tundra on ancient - and very smoky - off road vehicles  and shots of visits to super new genetics labs in Korea and China.

My gut reaction to what was going on - raking the mostly untouched tundra for ancient bones, then the Korean cloning factory - seemed at odds with the film's apparent support for the activities it was portraying, but eventually the film seemed to twist in my moral direction.  There was an early hint as traditional poems were read that warned the local people not to dig in the earth and not to be seduced by the spirits that tempt them there. There was mention of native taboos for touching the bones and flesh of the buried mammoths.  Later, after seeing the Korean cloning king showing off his prowess, even watching a Caesarean birth of cloned puppies, the film briefly mentions that Woo Suk Hwang had been shown to have committed fraud in past scientific journal articles,  Then, during the visit to BGI, a giant Chinese genome sequencing lab, a Swedish scientist in the party raises ethical questions after the guide talks about using sequencing to prevent Downs Syndrome babies (our cash cow she says).  Toward the end we once again hear the traditional warnings against digging into the earth and tempting sprites and spirits who live there.  Finally the men get their tusks back to the Siberian mainland where a Chinese buyer inspects them - not very good quality - and we're told that 20-30,000 tons of mammoth tusks are undug every year!  The film ends when the camera man is told to stop filming while the native men are selling their tusks.   It was called Genesis-2.0.  

Global warming is unearthing artifacts frozen in the perma-frost for tens of thousands of years.  This film offers us a glimpse of what that actually means. The people involved, and the stark contrast between the rough wilderness conditions where the bones are found, and the super-modern genome factories.  Lots to digest.  (Yes, one of the native men who found the ancient flesh mentioned that eating raw meat was part of his culture, as he tasted the flesh.)

Welcomed Back To Alaska With A 7:45 am Aftershock

I was awake, too early after opening mail last night when we got home.  I felt it coming.  A slight something, then the jolt.

Yes, the red dot.

5.1 is noteworthy, especially when it is close.  Especially after a recent (Nov 30) 7.0.  I guess I'm up for today.  

These images come from the United States Geological Survey latest earthquake page

I couldn't even get into the Alaska Earthquake Center website.  It didn't last too long - maybe 10 seconds - but enough to get us on high alert fast.  

Leaving LA. Arriving Seattle. Then On Home To Anchorage

The rain stopped during the morning in LA and we had periods of sunshine.  We even got a rainbow while waiting on the plane to take off.











And here are all those beaches I've been posting pictures of.  This time from the air.  The line out to see at the bottom is the north side of Marina del Rey.  Then comes the Venice Pier, and beyond that is the Santa Monica Pier.  Strange light close to sunset time.

I spent most of the flight trying to catch up on my reading of Abramson's Proof of Collusion.  I'm trying to imagine the explanations we'll get when current Republican Senators write the memoirs.  Murkowski might write something like, well, I opposed when I thought it would make a difference, but I had to balance getting things for Alaska vs losing all leverage vs being attacked and cut out completely.  I waited until there were enough other Republican senators to act in ways that would make a difference."   All the pictures of her I see nowadays have this terribly pained expression.  Is that her current look, or is that what the editors think is the most likely to get readers' attention?

Abramson tells a bunch of different stories that all tie together to explain Trump's historic and more current ties to Russia, gives details on the key players, and a massive backup of footnotes, of sources.  He doesn't make extravagant claims.  He mentions things that are missing in the evidence.  One can't help but wonder how the Republicans piled up on Clinton, yet the evidence of Trump's collusion is overwhelming.  Yet they do nothing, letting him stay in the country's cockpit pulling the levers.  If there was a hint that a pilot had a drinking problem, he'd be suspended until it was determined if it were true.  If a teacher were accused of inappropriately touching a child, he'd be out of the classroom immediately.  Yet the Republicans allow Trump to keep tearing apart the United States' political and physical infrastructure, honor, economy, and ideals while they let Mueller gather the details.  (It's not bad that they let Mueller do his work.  I'd like them to protect Mueller from being removed, and protect his work from being buried by Trump's new Attorney General.)  But in the meantime they let him continue to do his damage.

I do recommend the book for anyone who isn't quite sure of how and why Trump will be found guilt of colluding with the Russians to get elected in exchange for wrecking Western alliances, removing sanctions, supporting Russia's annexing of Crimea, pulling out of the Paris Climate Treaty, and on and on.

And then I noticed we were flying over downtown Seattle.  You've seen enough pictures of all the buildings.  Here are a couple of more impressionistic pictures.

The wide shot.









And the closer shot.  (The green is the ferris wheel on the waterfront.)











Eventually we caught the next flight and made our way home to Anchorage where it feels a lot warmer than our outdoor thermometer's 14˚F (-10˚C) reading.  The temperature at the drug store sign up the street seemed a bit off in the other direction.  It said 42˚F.

The Ocean Never Ceases To Hypnotize Me

Even in a big city like Los Angeles - a city which has, I discovered today, escalators for shopping carts - the ocean still connects you with the most ancient and basic forces of nature.  (But first, I can't resist documenting this triumph of consumerism.)



It's supposed to rain tomorrow, and we're scheduled to fly home, so I decided to get one more bike ride in just in case it really does rain.

So off to Venice Pier this time to see if those huge waves from the other day were still around. (No, they weren't).  I even took my big camera which refused to work (seems it was something with the sound card, it works now, but I had to use the little camera.)

South of the pier

North of the pier

I can just feel that wave pulling the water into it as it forms.

And then as it crashes it pulls the water from behind. (Or does it just look that way?)

Related to that escalator for shopping carts, this Venice resident seems to be reacting to the gentrification that's finally catching up with Venice, particularly with the growing population of well-paid techies working in the neighborhood.

Time Travel Is Real - The First Time Trump Offered To Save Everyone By Building A Wall

I used to think that imaginative fiction writers (especially science-fiction) were the ones who thought up new ideas and possibilities that less imaginative, but technically competent, engineers would eventually make real.  Things like Dick Tracy's radio watch or sliding automatic doors and other inventions.

But after seeing this excerpt from a 1958 TV show featuring a con-man named Trump who scams a whole town into believing he can save them from the end of the world by building them a wall. .

Well now I'm sure it was the other way around.  Time travelers went into the past and used their knowledge of the future to write stories like this one.  He was warning us back then.

What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER'S NAME
(And watch until the end) pic.twitter.com/6FA3p6KC00

— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) January 9, 2019

Here's the whole episode for people looking for ways to avoid doing what they should be doing.  You'll see how skeptics were scorned and even used to increase people's gullibility.  How people lost all reason to fear.

Venice Boardwalk - High Surf, Skateboarding, T-Shirts, Scooters, And A Macaw

It was a warmer, but hazier day and the recent rains seem to have stirred up the surf.

I'm not sure how high this surf was, but the people are closer (to the camera) and higher than the base of the wave, so it was a good size wave.

And then it crashed into the rocks.  There aren't a lot of rocks along this part of the beach, but they made for some dramatic splashing.

This was near the skateboard park.

We talked to this guy - Ryan.  He and three brothers, he said, had started their own clothing company.  He's the youngest.


You can see what they sell at Havet Clothing.





Back to the Boardwalk

Where to one side people were filming.  TV?  Movie?  Commercial?  Don't know.  It's a pretty busy shot, but if you look carefully, you can see a camera on the left.  There were also a couple of big screens for the lighting.  But they're not in the picture.  They seemed to be focused on the guy on the merry-go-round horse,

A guy was finger-painting, so to speak, high above us.  Is that going to be an accordion?

And on we walked  by a T-shirt shop.  If you click the image you can see the shirts better.

Those are scooters he's holding and was riding. They're ones he found that need to be recharged.  He collects them, takes them home, recharges them, and gets paid, I think he said $5 for each one.  We saw another guy riding about five scooters.  This is another piece of the scooter boom story.


And finally, before we headed home, we came across this magnificent blue macaw sitting on a railing with his caregiver.