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To the Editor:

Slavery in America was an institution marked by violence, family destruction, and dehumanization. Treated as property, enslaved people were denied basic human rights, often worked from sunup to sundown, and brutally beaten into submission by slave masters, who routinely carried the Christian Bible in one hand and a whip in the other.

Let’s not forget the dreaded Middle Passage, part of the Triangular Slave Trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, where slaves were crammed into ships with poor sanitation and inadequate ventilation. According to Wikipedia, about two million deaths were attributable to the Middle Passage, which spanned between 1517 and 1867.

Because of the aforestated background information, countless Americans and fellow citizens of the world believe that the time is long overdue for reparations to be paid to the descendants of that “peculiar institution,” slavery. In fact, former Congressman John Conyers, co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), proposed a bill to study reparations for slavery in 1989 and continued advocating for reparations for almost 30 years.

Similarly, former Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (now deceased) and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley reintroduced H.R. 40, a bill to study and promote reparations proposals.

Interestingly, Maryland Governor Wes Moore (Maryland’s first Black governor) recently announced he will veto a Reparations Commission bill, which enjoys strong bicameral support. Reportedly, Moore is considering running for president in 2028. Moore said, “…now is the time to focus on the work itself: Narrowing the racial wealth gap, expanding homeownership, uplifting entrepreneurs of color, and closing the foundational disparities that lead to inequality–from food insecurity to education.”

These words ring hollow without substantive proposals.

Why did Moore mention “uplifting entrepreneurs of color?” “People of color” undermines the importance of rectifying centuries of servitude, subjugation, and oppression. Foundational Black Americans are looking for cash and land as compensation. In fact, if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would advocate, strongly, for reparations. In the late 1960s before he was ambushed in Memphis, Tennessee, King pushed for economic justice, leveling the playing field, and, among other things, a guaranteed annual income.

Advocates must avoid pontificating reminiscent of former President Obama when he said, “There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America…there’s the United States of America…” (Democratic National Convention’s Keynote Address, Juily 27, 2004)

Last but not least, according to Google, in 1860, there were 4,445 slaves in Hertford County, North Carolina. The county’s total population was 9,504, with 3,947 Whites and 1,112 free Blacks. In Bertie County, there were 8,185 enslaved people, with 115 slaveholders, who held 20 or more slaves. (The 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedules for Bertie County, NC)

By the way, in Northampton County, there were 7,219 enslaved people in 1860. Additionally, in North Carolina, there were 331,059 slaves.

Keith W. Cooper

Greenville, NC