Would President Barack Obama Support Reparations For African-Americans Due To Slavery?

If former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts, who is himself an African-American, were running for the presidency of the United States, I would not be asking this question. Watts was and continues to be a conservative who believes in reasonable-sized government and fair taxation. However, I think it is a more than fair question that must be put to Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama. After all, Obama did address the issue during his Senatorial campaign against former Ambassador Alan Keyes. Combine this with the fact it has been reported members of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, of which Obama is a member, are involved in the reparations movement and its pastor Jeremiah Wright, the junior senator from Illinois' spiritual advisor for 20 years, has been outspoken about the government's enslavement of the black community and the question seems even more appropriate.

During the Senatorial race with opponent Keyes, Obama said reparations for blacks would be appropriate in funding education [http://video.aol.com/video-detail/edwards-against-reparations-obama-suggest-money-for-education-instead/3126999430] But, if reparations were suitable for educational purposes, what about blacks who were beyond the age--where extending their education would be impractical? Would Obama favor these reparations for African-Americans up to the age of 18 or 22 or 50?

I suppose there would be blacks who would claim, because they were too old to return to school, they still should be entitled to a cash payout. In fact, I agree. Why should one segment of the African-American community receive "damages" when another segment of the same population would not be entitled to reparations for slavery which existed in the American south nearly 150 years ago?

Let me make this perfectly clear. I would be in full support of reparations for any former slave still alive in America today. But there are no former slaves alive in America today and I would not favor any form of reparations for blacks, even those who can confirm a direct lineage to a former slave.

In reality, more than 360,000 Union soldiers died during the Civil War and 275,200 Union soldiers were wounded. I think this is blood enough to compensate for the tragedy of slavery. I seriously doubt the leaders of the reparations movement are including the families of these casualties into their plans to receive a cash reward for something which happened with the help of many guilty parties.

What other guilty parties? Well, there were African tribes themselves who assisted Arab traders in the rounding up of unfortunate men, women and children on the African continent. Therefore, any plans for reparations must include individual tribes in Africa who must take responsibility for their actions. Then, we could include probably the entire Arab world itself and it would be interesting how that collection process would be undertaken. Next, we would have to include the Portuguese and English who played significant roles in the early slave trade.

But this is ridiculous, isn't it? So, let's get back to the original question. Would President Barack Obama support reparations for African-Americans because of slavery? The answer to that question seems to be "yes." Certainly such a program would rip America apart along racial lines, besides bankrupting an already fiscally-depleted government. Indeed a trillion dollars worth of reparations might well throw the American economy into a deep depression from which it could not recover.

Why hasn't the dominant media asked Barack Obama about the subject of reparations? The answer is simple. Such a query would put Obama in a political bind. He would have to admit to favoring such a program or explain why he changed his position on the issue. But, more important, the issue of reparations for blacks would drop on other Americans like an atomic bomb. The controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright would seem miniscule to the effect slavery reparations would have on Obama's presidential aspirations.

But it is still a legitimate question. People like myself would like to know the answer. Will Sen. Obama jeopardize the future of the United States and set back race relations forty years in the process, in order to please some blacks who hold radical views? Or would Obama tell individuals, like Jeremiah Wright, his country's future was much too important to be tampered with for the sake of political expedience?

One day, someone will ask this question of Sen. Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton won't have the courage to do it. John McCain won't either. It's going to take someone in the dominant media who has the juice to withstand the pressure that would soon follow. Will someone get me a press pass?

Same question can be asked of any candidate. Is this is burning issue? Are people discussing it every day? Has Obama said he would?

Haven’t heard about this non-sense in a long time untill today.

What would be the purpose of asking this of Obama? Only to put him in between rock and a hard place. If he says Yes, he becomes an unrealistic racial candidate. If says no, he loses some of his black support.

Ask Hillary then if she would support ERA. As McCain then if he would reverse Affirmative Action.

There won’t be anything left after Hussein Obama gives $845 billion to the UN to distrubute for his Global Poverty Act.

Obama has said before that he’s not for reparations in its present form. What’s its “present form?”

He doesn’t even have to be good at playing words because the media damn sure isn’t going to question him about it.

Very interesting.

Would Mr. President Obama have to pay reparations to himself?

This issue falls into a gray area. Certainly not black and white.

You guys should really listen to the video more closely. Barack was dipping and dodging in the video.

He said “I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investments in our schools.” He then went on to talk about some of the schools in South Carolina that are in terrible condition—some of which are largely white students.

He then ended by saying “if we make the investments and understand that those are our children those are the kinds of reparations that are going to make a difference.”

Pay attention to what he actually said. He said that the schools all around the nation are in bad condition, and he aims to fix those schools.

In fact it has nothing to do with reparations, it was a simple technique of dipping and dodging, and a really good response to such a loaded question for an African American candidate to answer.

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