White people have never had to live through any oppression, the truth is white people are the oppressors. For many, many years white people have had the power and the dictation of America. They are the ones who run the country, make the rules and create decisions for America as a whole. But they have only ever lived with privilege. Even poor white families have more privileges than poor black families, and being poor is also very frowned upon in this country. These people have never had to deal with oppression or fear of their lives. They are the top of the food chain and make very important decisions in this country without ever living life as someone with less privilege. They have never worried about not getting the job or scholarship, they have been the ones runnin things for years and this is creating a larger division in our country. Author and Liberal Arts activist Jeffrey Scheuer brought up a very important point in his article “ Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts” about thinking outside of yourself and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, he also talks about what critical thinking is and how it gets developed. He says “The advanced skills that form that bridge include thinking independently, an almost self-evident intellectual virtue but a vague one (and no mind is an island); thinking outside the box (likewise crucial but unspecific); grasping the different forms and divisions of knowledge and how they are acquired (but the forms of knowledge and ways of acquiring them evolve); seeing distinctions and connections beyond the obvious; distinguishing reality from appearance; and engaging with complexity, but not for its own sake”(page 5). Scheuer is talking about thinking outside of the box and seeing outside of yourself as a way to think critically, to have an understanding of something that someone else may be going through. And this idea of critical thinking can tie right into Coates idea of reparation. He says “One cannot escape the question by hand-waving at the past, disavowing the acts of one’s ancestors, nor by citing a recent date of ancestral immigration. The last slaveholder has been dead for a very long time. The last soldier to endure Valley Forge has been dead much longer. To proudly claim the veteran and disown the slaveholder is patriotism à la carte. A nation outlives its generations. We were not there when Washington crossed the Delaware, but Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s rendering has meaning to us. We were not there when Woodrow Wilson took us into World War I, but we are still paying out the pensions. If Thomas Jefferson’s genius matters, then so does his taking of Sally Hemings’s body. If George Washington crossing the Delaware matters, so must his ruthless pursuit of the runagate Oney Judge” (Page 21) showing what he believes many Americans are thinking because the people who are alive today are not the ones who were truly affected by slavery. The people who were hurt and harmed by the racism of the past are not alive now, and the close minded people of America are asking why we should be giving people things when they weren’t the ones who went through the hardships? But while they are considered close minded to many individuals, they still have a point in their opinions. They believe that why should they give up their money and resources for something that they never did or were never apart of. Reparation is supposed ot be dealing with slavery itself and the injustices that the black commnity, and many other minorities, faced for years. While we are not a perfect country now and we have lots of growing to do, we are not what we used to be. The politicians that disagree with reparations are thinking that we are the best we can eb and the fact that we have changed our racists views of the years should be enough because they weren’t the ones who caused the most harm. In some ways Coates agrees with these people because he thinks that reparations won’t happen due to America being founded directly on the ideas of racism. Knowing that the popel who faced the most racism and harmed by slavery are all dead and those who owned slaves are also dead so there is no point in paying back these peope who enver expeierenced these hardships, but the idea of reparations is to make up the mistakes in the past, and that is what is trying to be put into place. And with Scheuers idea of thinking outside the box and truly seeing outside of ourselves, putting yourself in their shoes could be what changes politicians’ view on reparations. If we use Scheuers knowledge on critical thinking and just immerse ourselves in the understanding of what has happened to these people, we will be more willing to help them and give them a second chance.
I took a paragraph from my original essay and added how the other side would feel about reparations. And why they don’t believe that reparations are important or able to give out. By adding this other opinion on reparations, my audience is going to be able to see both sides of this argument and see where they stand and where I stand on the topic. By having both pieces of information and viewpoints, my readers are going to be able to make their own decision about how they feel about reparations. Giving two sides to the argument is going to create more depth in my writing and give the readers more to chew on as they read my paper.
