The Theft That Built an Empire
America’s corporations owe a debt...not in abstract morality, but in cold, calculable dollars. The descedants of enslaved Africans have been robbed for centuries, first by the whip, then by the ledger. Every fortune amassed by U.S. corporations...past and present...rests on stolen labor, stolen lives, and stolen futures. It’s time to tally the bill.
Compound interest isn’t just for Wall Street. If we apply it to the unpaid wages, the brutal exploitation, and the generational trauma inflicted on Black people, the sum would cripple every boardroom in this country. The white economists, the corporate lawyers, the politicians who whisper "impractical"...they know the number would be astronomical. That’s why they refuse to do the math.
The Corporate Inheritance of Slavery
From banks that financed slave ships to railroads built by forced labor, from tobacco empires to cotton monopolies...America’s industry was built on Black backs. These corporations didn’t just benefit from slavery; they engineered it, profited from it, and then laundered their crimes into "respectable" wealth.
Insurance companies sold policies on human property. Textile mills spun cotton drenched in blood. Banks accepted human collateral. These aren’t metaphors...they’re balance sheets. And if justice means anything, those balance sheets must be seized, audited, and liquidated to pay what’s owed.
The Algebra of Suffering
They tell us reparations are too complex. But what’s complex about theft? If a man steals $100 at gunpoint, he doesn’t get to keep it because time passed. He pays it back...with interest.
So let’s calculate:
- Unpaid Wages: 246 years of forced labor, compounded at the market rate.
- Pain & Suffering: Psychological torture, broken families, systemic terror...priced not by sympathy, but by legal precedent.
- Stolen Inheritance: Land, patents, businesses, and opportunities denied by Jim Crow and redlining.
The total? More than any corporation wants to admit. But the refusal to pay doesn’t erase the debt...it proves the crime is ongoing.
No Justice, No Peace...No Reparations, No Economy
White America loves capitalism until it’s time to settle accounts. They preach "personal responsibility" while dodging national responsibility. If corporations can deduct every expense, if they can sue for breach of contract, if they can demand bailouts...then they can damn well pay for what they stole.
This isn’t charity. It’s restitution. And until it’s paid, every dollar in their vaults is marked with blood.
Conclusion: Collect What’s Owed
The descendants of slaves aren’t begging for a handout. We’re demanding what’s owed...with interest. The corporations, the government, the entire system that grew fat off our suffering can either pay willingly or be forced to pay. But one way or another, nonviolently, the debt will be collected.
The question isn’t whether America can afford reparations...it’s whether America can survive without paying them.
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