Speech Presentation on Native American Reparations - Essay Example

Reparations can be in the form of restitution. In most cases, restitution can happen by restoring liberty, social status, employment, family life, and legal rights of the people (van Boven). Aside from offering rehabilitation programs, there are also cases wherein reparation can happen by extending monetary compensation to the affected people (van Boven; Goldberg). In the United States, a lot of Black farmers have suffered from the psychological, social, and economic consequences of racial discrimination.

Today, the administration of Obama is using monetary compensation as a means of settlement for mistreatment that most of the American Indians and Black farmers living in Arizona, the New Mexico, and Montana who have encountered under the administration of the previous U.S. presidents (Baker). Personally, I am against the Native Americans’ reparations. First of all, the U.S. economy is still in the midst of economic uncertainty. By extending $4.5 billion in reparations to the American Indians and Black farmers, the U.S. government may have an inadequate funds to boost the entire U.S. economy.

As of October 2012, the unemployment rate in the U.S. is 7.9% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). In the absence of sufficient monetary stimulus, the unemployment rate in the U.S. will remain high.