Reparations

THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE

FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Without the free labor of the enslaved Africans, the economic wealth of the United States of America would not be what it is today.

A “thank you” is long overdue.   We thank George Washington and the other “Founding Fathers” for their contributions to the building of this country.  We never have and we still do not thank our “Founding Laborers®.”   Thankful appreciation for the benefits received should be given to our “Founding Laborers®.”  Their contributions have a very high value.  Our “Founding Laborers®” should be valued and esteemed.

All Americans—African Americans and all other Americans—owe a debt of gratitude to our African American ancestors.  Everyone should stop disrespecting our African American ancestors.  Those who know how to say “Thank you” should say to them “I honor you and I thank you” in words and in deeds.  Those who do not know how to say “Thank you” please learn to do so.

African Americans occupy a unique position in the United States of America.  No other group’s contributions can be compared to the contributions of African Americans.

Without the free labor of the enslaved Africans, the economic wealth of the United States of America would not be what it is today.

Author Lerone Bennett referred to the enslaved Africans as “black gold.”  Ebony, June 1969, p. 32.

It is not an overstatement to say that African Americans have been the most significant single factor in the political and the economic history of the United States of America.  They have been the essential factor.  This country literally was built on our African ancestors’ backs and with their free labor.  Our enslaved African ancestors deserve credit for the very existence of the United States of America.  (There is more than one aspect to this statement.)

For just one example, African American soldiers have played a very significant role in all major wars involving Americans.  Starting with the Revolutionary War, a large number of Black Men served in George Washington’s Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.  One foreign officer wrote “You never see a regiment in which there are not Negroes….The black soldiers were among the finest soldiers Washington had….and three-quarters of the Rhode Island regiment consists of Negroes, and that regiment is the most neatly dressed, the best under arms, and the most precise in its maneuvers.”  See Henry Wiencek’s An Imperfect God (2003).  That author also stated that George Washington won the Revolutionary War with an army that was more integrated than any American military force until the Viet Nam War (approx.. 1955-1975).  This was about 200 years later.

Honor should be given to the African Americans who labored in so many significant ways to help to build the United States of America.  In one sense, African Americans were the ultimate patriots.  I submit to you that the ultimate act of patriotism is giving one’s life for one’s country.  The enslaved African Americans literally gave their liberty and their lives to the United States of America.  Theirs was literally a lifelong commitment.  Theirs was literally a commitment from birth to death.  What more has anyone done?