All your money are mine.
Posted on 07/07/2005 6:54:48 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
I don't know what it will take for the folks in control of this country to understand that reparations for slavery is going to happen. I can't say when it is going to happen, but it will. Despite legal setbacks, black conservatives and David Horowitz, reparations is the best way to build a bridge across our great divide. Otherwise, African Americans and Caucasians will just keep sniping away at each other.
Even kids get tired of bickering.
Yet, a sincere apology is a hard thing for most of us. When we've wronged someone, I mean really shamefully wronged them in a way that you wouldn't want anyone to know about, saying "I'm sorry" can get stuck in your throat.
That's why reparations has been a hairball in America's throat for a century.
It seemed that U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle had the same problem when he issued his opinion dismissing a lawsuit filed by slave descendants seeking reparations from corporations that benefitted from slave labor.
Norgle acknowledged slavery caused "tremendous suffering and ineliminable scars." But he ruled attempts to bring claims "over a century old are barred by the applicable statutes of limitations."
Obviously, he knows his reasoning places an unrealistically high barrier for slave descendants -- just as everyone knows slavery was a "malignant impact, in body and spirit," as Norgle pointed out.
We know what would have happened had the sons and daughters of ex-slaves tried to get their day in a Mississippi or Alabama or Virginia court. They would have been beaten by angry mobs. And if they had persisted in protesting, they would have been lynched. And their sons and their daughters would have likely suffered the same fate.
But Norgle ignores this violent history against African Americans when he says that plaintiffs in this suit pleaded "vague factual generalities [and] chronicling the social and economic injustices that have befallen African-Americans due to slavery."
All suffering not the same
In his conclusion, he devotes a few lines to condemning slavery and takes paragraphs to praise efforts made to end slavery, without ever mentioning that the Civil War itself was fought to prevent the spread of slavery -- not to end it.
In fact, Norgle goes on and on about the war, pointing out that approximately 620,000 people died (he forgot some of them were black people), and that 360,000 were Union troops.
"Union soldiers, sailors and marines gave their lives on bloody battlefields and the sea to maintain one sovereign nation in which slavery would be eradicated," Norgle wrote. "The impact of this struggle on the families of the wounded and the dead is immeasurable and lasting."
The impact of the war on the Union was "significant," Norgle said, reminding the plaintiffs that the "enslavers" also sustained great personal and economic loss.
It must have taken a lot of self-control to keep the slave descendants from reacting. I have only a vague knowledge of my slave roots. But to know your slave ancestor's name, and to know details about his or her life makes them more than dry bones.
In the end, Norgle sounds like reparations aren't needed.
The "sensitive ear has heard the collective 'thank you' from those who were freed," he wrote, as well as hearing the "historic apologies in words and deeds from persons of good will for the evils of slavery."
No wonder Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front, denounced Norgle as "just a liar."
Sets stage for serious dialogue
Too many slaves were lost before they ever reached America. Too many were maimed. Too many were killed before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. And if they survived the horrors of slavery, too many ex-slaves didn't have a thing to pass on to their children -- not even their own names.
The collective "thank-you" for black freedom can be found in a Negro spiritual, "Free at las', free at las', I thank God I'm free at las.' "
Long after these ex-slaves were dead, their descendants were still enduring the brunt of the ugliest of human behavior: racial hatred. After slavery ended, too many whites grabbed sheets and took sport in lynching black people just because they could. And too many whites used intimidation and violence to steal black land for the statutes of limitations to be an issue.
Although Norgle threw out the complaint, this lawsuit has given the reparations movement a huge boost. Along with local ordinances -- like the one in Chicago that requires corporations doing business with the city to research their ties to slavery -- the reparations lawsuit has forced the courts to take this issue seriously.
More important, Norgle points out reparations is a matter that should be left with the president and Congress.
That's the only point where Norgle and I agree.
Given the country is enmeshed in another war, President Bush should have at least coughed up the nation's apology for slavery by now.
My message is simple to this author.
GFY!! And if you don't like America, LEAVE !!!!
What a baboonery.
Given the current state of world affairs I think anyone who is descended from someone brought here against their will should be grateful...I can't imagine that living in Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe or about a hundred other countries could be preferable to the opportunity bought by their forebears for them.
It's all about money. This generation of African-Americans is looking for a big bunch of free money. Love that green.
HOW many TIMES do we have to APOLOGIZE?????? I've never gotten an apology for the injustices done to my likely Roman ancestors.....sheesh.....get over it, and get a life.
Eventually folks are going to wonder what it was that divided them.
BTW, all of my 8 Great Great Grandfathers paid a personal apology for slavery directly to the slaves they liberated, and mostly by shooting Confederates dead, or burning down their towns. Only someone who places no value on liberty would even think of "raparations" in this case.
We'll see Christ walking on water before these clowns see a dime out of any of this...
I don't know, these people are nothing if not persistent.
Reparations to taxpayers! They're the real slaves of the latter-day African-Americans.
Slavery reparations were paid with the blood of 360,000 Union soldiers who died to set them free.
All your money are mine.
No one alive today wronged anyone in terms of slavery. I suppose many people on the side of reparations think they deserve some of the "governments money". Well, guess what. There is no such thing. Every dime the gubmint has comes from taxpayers WHO HAVE NEVER OWNED A SLAVE.
So here is my proposal. Anyone who believes they are entitled to reparations should consider themselves already paid. The fact that you live in the US, and not Africa, should be good enough.
heehee
OK, OK, dammit, here goes. I do hereby formally and sincerely apologize to each and every slave I have owned. Please forgive me.
Now I demand all the blacks who owned slaves to issue their apology!!! (If you doubt the foregoing happened, check out the 1850 census for Orleans Parish, Louisiana.)
Whow will be required to pay? Who will receive reparatations? If you are black had a black ancestor who was a slave owner do you have to pay? If I am white and can prove that I have a black ancestor 7 generations back that was a black slave do I get paid, too? I can show that I had relatives who fought and died for the Uninon in the Civil War, Am I exempt?
Here is an idea. Give every black person in America who can prove their ancestry in the US goes back pre-Civil
War $40,000 (that is a LOT of money in Africa) as the board a plane the the African country of their choice and papers forever renouncing their citizenship. If they don't want that deal, they can shut the hell up.
****** reparations is the best way to build a bridge across our great divide. *******
If you think stealing my hard earned money to pay some person who had a great grandfather who was a slave is going to bridge any gap between the races you are full of crap. Stealing my money to pay these people is going to piss me off.Bad. Reparations is a bad idea put forth by stupid politicians trying to buy a black vote at the taxpayers expense.
I will vote for slave reparations right after the following:
1. All African nations and Arabs involved in rounding up and selling black slaves apologize and pay a huge chunk of money to these descendants.
2. All the nations of the world who bought slaves agree to pay up.
3. All formerly enslaved people everywhere are loosed and reparations made--i.e. Sudan, Indian Nations who enslaved weaker tribes.
4. The descendants of US slaves all write or sign a statement of gratitude for having ended up as US citizens, and agree to sign their reparations over for payment to the national debt
5. Julian Bond apologizes to Republicans for his outrageous comments.
Ain't holdin' my breath.
vaudine
Now that is something to think about. Glad you said it.
My view on the reparation crap has always been: 1) sue the tribe leaders that sold you into slavery. 2) I, or my 'tree', had nothing to do with this. 3) you take my tax dollars for this sham, you will be 're-paid' - in triple.
LVM
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.