40 Acres and a Mule (GTFOH)

"Shameful history is history and warrants exposure regardless of the shame." Dr. BLR

 

If I wrong you, my only choice is to make things right again. There shouldn’t be any doubt; just do it—unless you’re Black and not seen as a whole person. Ouch! That hurts. Growing up, I kind of knew about the 40 Acres and a Mule promise, but no one ever explained it to me. Of course, the original complainants are long gone, but descendants are still waiting for the promise to be recognized and for something to be paid out. 

The original concept was derived in 1865 from Union General William Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15, of which only three sections were relevant. Section one stated, “The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the see, and the country bordering the St. Johns River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes [sic] now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.” 

Section two stated, “…on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves…By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro [sic] is free and must be dealt with as such.” 

Lastly, section three stated, “…each family shall have a plot of not more than (40) acres of tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with not more than 800 feet water front, in possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection, until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title.” 

Well, there it is, the written promise. I will take this to Washington, D.C., ask to speak to the person responsible for land allocation, and then request they direct me to the government’s farm where the mules are kept. Don’t worry, I write this tongue in cheek. America has, and never will have, a history of keeping its word when it comes to the people it enslaved, lynched, forced into segregated areas, and marginalized since the first enslaved person arrived on these shores in 1619. However, they have paid compensation to Japanese Americans interned during WWII up to $20k per person. They have also paid up to $5k to Japanese-Latin Americans similarly interned during WWII. Most importantly, they paid approximately 1.3 billion dollars to Indigenous/Native Americans, and rightfully so. Wait! Was that it? NOT!!!!!! 

I was curious whether the United States had ever given money to Holocaust survivors, even though we didn’t force them into concentration camps and ovens, for that matter. I expected the answer to be no, but to my surprise, we did. In 2015, the Obama Administration allocated $12 million to help Holocaust survivors living below the poverty line. I can’t make this stuff up! Don’t worry, I won’t beat a dead horse, especially since they probably own the horse too. 

So, what’s my take on whether descendants of enslaved people should receive reparations? Wait for it… are you ready? Hell yeah, ABSOLUTELY! I don’t care if you’re butt hurt about my response. If you’re not a, as the pundits would call us, “Foundational Black American (FBA),” you should never chime in on this matter — and I mean f’ing never. It’s not your history, nor did you have to experience the mental trauma inflicted on us by our ancestors when they shared stories about family members working long hours in fields, getting whipped by the cracker, raped by the slave master, and lynched by whoever was mad at us at the time or told to do so. Your history is yours, and FBA’s will never dismiss what your people have gone through. However, whenever we talk about being made whole, you seem to have something to say. I wonder why? Maybe it’s because you genuinely don’t respect what we’ve contributed to this country, and you take our struggles for granted. This may be your take-a-look-in-the-mirror moment, and decide if you have any mercy or decency.

As I sit back and try to compose myself, I think about what I learned regarding what President Obama did in 2015 for Holocaust survivors. Among all the presidents, who could have made this right, closed the chapter, and shut down the conversation on this very controversial topic? He punted. Oh, that’s right. He’s not an FBA, but wait, his wife is, so it’s more disturbing that she didn’t hold off on giving him a little “nook, nook” until he did something for us. We will never know if that discussion was ever had, but his legacy should be tarnished in the FBA community. So, he can GTFOH.

Just a fun fact: New Jersey rejected the ratification of the 13^th Amendment, which “abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as a punishment for a crime for which a person has been duly convicted.” Between 1630 and 1866, New Jersey authorized the enslavement of more than 12,000 Black people. So why do I bring this up? Well, according to a recent study from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, “the median household wealth of white families in New Jersey is $662,500, compared to less than $20,000 for Black and Latina/o families.” New Jersey is not sitting back and allowing its tarnished history to go unaddressed. They have established the New Jersey Reparations Council, which is investigating how to resolve this issue and move on. I must say I am shocked, but action speaks louder than words. While I don’t think anything will result from this council, at least they tried.