REPARATIONS FOR SLAVERY: A CAUSE FOR REPARATIONS, A CASE AGAINST DAVID HOROWITZ.

For over a century, slavery in America has been but a memory of past injustice. But in a present-day world in which Black Americans can enjoy full rights and privileges as citizens, it is clear that the ills of slavery still ignite anger and resentment in the heart of Black America. In an attempt to obtain a sense of understanding and closure, people from all walks of life offer physical, psychological, emotional, and economic justifications and solutions to this wrong of the past. One of the more controversial attempts made by Americans to appease the disgruntled minds and hearts of its Black people is the offer of economic reparations. Prominent Black leaders and scholars claim that reparations are owed to members of their race and should be paid for by the United States government out of tax revenues. Libertarian theory posits views both in favor and in opposition to this claim. This paper provides a critique of and opposition to the views of David Horowitz in his article, "The Latest Civil Rights Disaster: Ten reasons why reparations for slavery is a bad idea for Blacks--and racist too," FrontPage Magazine, January 3, 2001. This paper presents not a libertarian view, but a position in favor of economic and social reparations that are owed to the people who have been oppressed and deprived as a result of this dehumanizing act--one that has violated private property rights of those of the past, the present, and the future of Black America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]