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Frequently Asked Questions

 A Word Of Explanation....
 

You will notice that The Harvest Institute capitalized the words Black and White when referring to people. This may feel unfamiliar but we do it out of respect for both the Black and White race. It is inappropriate to capitalize Asians, Hispanics, and other groups and not give Whites and Blacks the respect to which both are entitled.

Q. Slavery happened so long ago. I am not responsible for it. Why can't we just forget it?
 

 A. The nation's race problem, a structural economic inequality between the races, is directly  traceable back to and across four centuries of slavery and Jim Crow apartheid (semi-slavery).Slavery and Jim Crow established and maintained imbalances between the races. Under these social and economic systems, nearly 100 percent of this nation's wealth and power resources,   and controls of all levels of government, were mar-distributed into the hands of dominant white society. The advantages, preferences and wealth assets, in the form of stocks, bonds, shares, businesses, land, insurance benefits and trust accounts, are passed from one generation to the next through inheritance laws. Though whites today continue to enjoy the advantages of centuries of govemment-supported preferences for Whites, most live in a state of denial about how their group's wealth and power were acquired.

 Q. Why should the U.S. government apologize to Blacks for slavery?

 A. For centuries, this nation's "Government of, by and for the people" did not include the Black race. Without government support, neither slavery nor Jim Crow segregation could have long endured. The government has apologized to all other groups to whom it has committed offenses, except Blacks. Yet, Black Americans have borne the burden of every obligation this nation has had since 1619. Black Americans did not confiscate nearly two billion acres of land from Native Americans. However, for more than four centuries, Blacks paid taxes and their life blood so that Whites who did confiscate the land could develop and enjoy it. Money out of Black pockets supported a federal Indian bureau and state commissions that gave Indians benefits that Blacks never received. Blacks did not start WWII, but money from their pockets made up the $13 billion that rebuilt German under the Marshall Plan and Japan under the Point Four Plan. Blacks did not intern Japanese Americans in the 1940s but helped to pay $22,000 in reparations awarded to each descendant in 1992.Real racial equality for Blacks in America begins with an apology and acknowledgment from the government that millions of Blacks were wrongfully used and killed. Economic justice and reparations must naturally follow.

Q. Were not the Civil War, the 13th 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution an apology?

A. History itself provides the answer to this question. The Civil War was fought for a number of reasons, but not to free black slaves. A primary reason was to relocate the slave-produced wealth and industries of the South to the North. Attitude surveys conducted on the eve of the Civil War reported that less than 2% of white Americans were willing to go to war with the South to free Black slaves. Ironically, the Civil War and the enactment of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, ended full slavery, but allowed Jim Crow semi-slavery to replace it within two years. Jim Crow semi-slavery continued until the late 1960s.

Q. How is the Dred Scott decision related to today's controversies about racism and whether to issue an apology to Blacks for slavery?

 A. The Dred Scott decision issued in 1854 said that 'Blacks had no rights that a White person was bound to respect.' That decision established a legal dictum that was a common thread through slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, and the period of benign neglect and continues to be reflected in policies to this day. The Dred Scott decision was never reversed by the courts. The dominant society's practice of equating and confusing Black experiences with those of gender, class, ethnicity and physical handicaps continues the legal legacy of the Dred Scott decision.

Q. What is racism?

 A. Racism is a power relationship between groups based upon color. It is a group concept and occurs when one group has so much power that it can force another group to do what it wants. Its purpose is the uneven and unfair distribution of power, privilege, land and wealth to Whites. Contrary to the arguments of conservatives, racism is not fundamentally about individual actions and beliefs. The concept of racism did not exist until the 16th Century commercial enslavement of Blacks began. Because Blacks as a group do not have the power, the black race has no racists, only Blacks re-acting racism.

 Q. What is the best way to frame a national discussion on race?

 A. Any constructive look at race must be based upon an analysis of history. It is an     examination of history that tells why the race issue exists, how it came to be, the social laws and customs that form the legacy that we see today in disparities between Blacks and Whites. A serious discussion would also seek to quantify the harm that was done to Black people. The uninformed opinions and misinformation that usually characterize racial discussions, result from an unwillingness to examine history and to approach the topic intellectually rather than emotionally.

 Q. Instead of race, why can't we focus more on the individual and individual accomplishment?

 A. Race by definition refers to a group. Blacks as a group were subjected to the cruelties of  slavery and Jim Crow apartheid. It was because they were members of a group that Blacks were enslaved, lynched, castrated. It is because of race that Whites, as a group, have advantages and preferences. It is easier for Whites to be attracted to the concept of individualism because with their wealth, power and population monopolies, they have not been and cannot be the victims of racism.