My father passed away on November 28, 2018. His funeral was well attended by family, relatives, and close friends. As the family sat in the pews saddened by the sudden loss, I listened carefully to the words spoken by the men and women who knew and loved my father. There was one word that seemed to thread through the entire service and that word was Priority.

Everyone who spoke at the funeral service discussed my dad’s priorities to his family and community. Many people spoke about my father’s dedication to the village of Woodlawn and his community service efforts to support the young people in Woodlawn.

It was apparent that men of my father’s generation (born in the 1930s) had to endure many hardships and stereotypes labeled them by white America. White America thought very little of black men in the 1930s. Having priorities in the face of such racial hate was tough to navigate. Many black and brown people had to endure racist jeers and hate-filled stares as they tried to live their lives in peace and with purpose.

The short-lived promise of “Forty acres and a mule,” spoken by President Abraham Lincoln, died when Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. President Andrew Johnson rescinded Field Order 15 (“Forty Acres and a Mule”) shortly after Lincoln’s death. More specifically, forty acres and a mule, were part of the Special Field Orders Number 15, which was a wartime order proclaimed by union general William T Sherman during the American Civil War. This order allotted land to some freed families in plots of land no larger than 40 acres.

Fast forward to 2015, forty acres and a mule would have a value equivalent to $6.4 trillion dollars. Today, that figure would be even higher, but that does not really address what America really owes to Black Americans. And that figure does not address what reparations would be due to Indigenous Americans and other people of color.

A struggle for decent housing, a fair and equal education, as well as a steady but meaningful job, was the “forty acres” given to Black Americans during the 1930s. These struggles have been polished up and re-branded today. Redlining, gerrymandering, and other discriminations still exist, but now we have politicians and media darlings to paint a fresh coat of deceit for our viewing and listening pleasure.

For America to have an honest and frank dialog about reparations, we first need to atone for the sins of slavery. It appears that we are still stuck in that vile pit that will not allow us to acknowledge any wrongdoing committed against millions of black and brown people. America would rather “kill it, before it grows.”

It is very easy to think that slavery and all the hate that stems from such actions are all about power and control. In some aspects, that would be correct, but the underlying reason for slavery and ongoing racism is economics. America was built on the backs of slaves and the slave trade was quite lucrative.

While slavery was illegal after the civil war, state and local laws were created to spread the American Apartheid (Jim Crow). White supremacy kept Jim Crow alive and well in America. The time when America had an opportunity to show remorse for the heinous act of slavery, it ratcheted up the caste system through Jim Crow.

As Black America grappled to make an economic living for themselves and their families, Jim Crow sought to destroy it. “No apology needed” was America’s response to reparations. I often wonder where America would be, if we were all able to live our lives free of racism and hate. The financial legacy that black and brown people would have been able to leave for their children in the 1800s and 1900s if there was no racism or prejudice.

The opportunities (and freedom) to build generational wealth like the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts. The medical advancements that might have been achieved by an educated black or brown person in the 1800s or 1900s. The physical, mental, and emotional stresses that could have been eliminated by treating everyone as an equal human being under the law. All Americans would actually take responsibility for their actions and reactions to someone that looks different from them.

Treating everyone with dignity and respect should be the hallmark of being an American. Not colorblind, but color inclusive.  The priority of all American parents should be to teach their children the simple rules of humility and responsibility. Sadly, the economics of hate prevent many Americans from showing any remorse for slavery and/or present-day racism. America will never achieve its true potential unless it recognizes and apologizes for its past and works to correct future hateful acts in the future.

April Griffith Taylor