How do you think the slaves should have been compensated after the Civil War (if at all)?

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

I like the initial plan set into motion that saw some degree of implementation which was to confiscate the plantations and give control of them to the freedmen who had been enslaved on them. We've all heard about the whole "40 acres and a mule" thing but that was only meant to be the policy where giving the freedmen ownership of the plantations wasn't a viable option because Sherman burned them to the ground. Unfortunately, after Lincoln was assassinated Andrew Johnson reversed this decision and gave the plantations back to the owners leading to a system of sharecropping that remained until the interwar period with the Great Migration to the Northern Cities.

And if anyone's going to talk shit about how that wouldn't work because of what happened in Zimbabwe, Mugabe didn't redistribute ownership of the farms to people who worked them but instead gave ownership of industrial farms to sustenance farmers who didn't know how to work them. And if you thought this was a fit comparison, you've just shown your true colors because if you ignored the aforementioned info, then the most relevant similarity was black people being given control of white owned farms.

[Feelicks]

Freedom is a pretty good start.

Low interest loans for homesteads seed and tools or education in a trade would be a decent idea too.

Long term handouts and keeping on the kid gloves treatment isn't good for building anyone's character though.

Ultimately what's needed is equality of opportunity and a well governed land with enough opportunity to go around. Was as true then as now.

Government keeps dropping the ball on the creation of opportunity front.

[Snakeyes7]

Freedom and citizenship was all they wanted. All adding extra to it ended up creating problems which was why everyone was so sick of that after an entire decade of reconstruction.

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

Actually, apart from freedom, they wanted land more than anything else. It was inaction versus action by the federal government that resulted in Jim Crow.

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Bt-ga8vJc

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3IxWEK0uJA&t=505s

[Snakeyes7]

Jim Crow basically began as soon as reconstruction ended so you're right and the Supreme Court allowed it based on a technicality but that's not my point. I remember reconstruction giving former slaves land but I don't know if free land was what they wanted after being freed, I would imagine that they just wanted to live in harmony with everyone else.

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

They didn't want "free land" the plan was to give ownership of the plantations to them.

[Snakeyes7]

But did they really want it is my question

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

Yes, Lincoln decided on that policy after meeting with prominent freedmen but after he was murdered Andrew Johnson rescinded that decision.

I must say it's ironic that people are now asking whether we should judge Lincolns' racist STATEMENTS by the standards of then versus now when his ACTIONS would have put African Americans in the same economic standing as the rest of the country and now people are losing their shit about Biden compensating black farmers. When black home and business ownership rates are on par with the rest of the country, then we can ask whether to judge Lincolns' statements by our standards or those of his time.

[Snakeyes7]

Yeah my biggest issue with Lincoln was that I don't agree with his decision to suspend Hebeas Corpus to jail his dissenters but that's pretty much it, I don't remember anything racist that he said by today's standards though.

The reason why Americans have an issue with Biden specifically helping black farmers is because the economy has gone to shit for everyone because of covid and helping black farmers is only helping only part of the problem if the method solves anything at all. Personally, I think the government should put the economy back to what it was pre-covid and stop printing money if they really wanted to help anyone but thats just me.

I don't know what you mean by "on par with the rest of the country", I think you mean the same business and home ownership per capita compared to the rest of the country, but you can thank the rioters for tearing down small businesses (some if not many of which are black owned) who had nothing to do Floyd for bringing that number down even further.