Black life far more rags than riches (REPARATIONS ALERT)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 28, 2004 | RICK TELANDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

[Chi-townChief]

The vast majority of the players you will watch in the Super Bowl on Sunday will be black. Maybe you won't talk about it, but it's a fact.

There are the white quarterbacks and kickers, the random pale-skinned offensive linemen and even a linebacker such as Tedy Bruschi.

But most of the starters and stars are African-American.

That's how it is in the NFL, where 40 of the 44 starters in the Pro Bowl this year will be black.

That's how it is in the NBA.

Many of the biggest boxing stars are black.

Same thing in world-class sprinting, jumping and hurdling.

We know this. We can't help but see it.

And yet the irony is that even as young African-American males dominate many of our highest-profile, highest-paying TV sports -- let's not forget NHL star Jarome Iginla, golf god Tiger Woods, the Williams sisters in women's tennis or the many major-league baseball stars who are black -- African Americans as a group still have far more than their share of societal problems in this country.

A study conducted last fall by Northeastern University for the Chicago Alternative Schools Network shows half the black men between the ages of 20 and 24 in our city are jobless and not in school.

In truth, U.S. schools are failing blacks at a painfully sad rate: According to the Manhattan Institute, a New York-based think tank, only 20 percent of black high school students in the class of 2001 were college-ready.

The fact that the proportion of African-American men 20 to 34 who are incarcerated never has been higher than it is now (12 percent in recent surveys, compared with only 1.6 percent of white men in the same age group) is stunning.

That the Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin has estimated that black men in this country have more than a one-in-four chance of going to jail or prison during their lifetimes is horrific.

And thus we have the essence of wild irony: Young black males -- that same 20-34 age group -- dominate the sporting heights and the societal depths in America.

The Super Bowl, in its frenzy of glitz, hyperbole and cheery rhetoric, gives viewers a wildly skewed vision of the reality of being black in the United States.

I bring this up because colorblindness -- extolled by knee-jerk do-gooders and status-quo lovers alike as the way to guarantee equality -- does not work when it comes to real-world solutions to old and intractable problems.

On Monday, a federal judge in Chicago, Charles Norgle Sr., dismissed a historic class-action lawsuit brought by descendants of African-American slaves seeking reparations from 19 corporations for profitting financially from slave labor.

The suit was tossed because the judge -- a white man, by the way -- wrote in a 75-page opinion that the suit was brought in the wrong venue, didn't make proper connections to the accused businesses and came too long after the Civil War.

His points might have been legally correct, but the issue certainly is not dying with Norgle's decision -- amended complaints are apparently already in the works -- and the descendants of slaves should, must, win some form of recompense for their ancestors' abuse.

Victims of the Holocaust have won compensation from various European institutions, and the Japanese Americans who were interned illegally in this country during World War II have been given cash payments under a 1988 law signed by President Reagan.

Whether it comes from corporations, the U.S. government or the wallets of all of us in this nation who unwittingly and innocently have profitted by the labor of those who were forced into degradation and deprived of the fruits of their labor, the repayment of wealth to slave ancestors is the right thing to do. And it could set many things right.

I remember an Urban League report from more than a decade ago in which social scientists determined that things that were done to U.S. slaves -- the forbidding of education or accumulation of wealth, the forced destruction of families, for instance -- could be eased only by some kind of redistribution of wealth. That is, giving something tangible for something that is untouchable.

How we would do such a thing is not the point just now, just that it should be done. Somehow.

The wounds such a gift might heal could benefit all citizens in ways inconceivable.

Africans in chains in slave boats might seem like a scene from so long ago that people only can scoff at the idea that institutionalized slavery has any impact on current American life.

But if one follows the fractured family trees of many of those black Super Bowl players we'll be watching Sunday, follows the wood down the branches to the roots of the trees' existence in the soil of this country, one will find slavery.

Those black players for the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers might be rich, famous and gifted.

But they are the few. And the others are many.

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[Chi-townChief]

"I remember an Urban League report from more than a decade ago in which social scientists determined that things that were done to U.S. slaves -- the forbidding of education or accumulation of wealth, the forced destruction of families, for instance -- could be eased only by some kind of redistribution of wealth."

This hasn't worked so many times before that I guess it's only fair that we try it again.

[sauropod]

"African Americans as a group still have far more than their share of societal problems in this country."

Self inflicted.

The tone of the article is noxious. This idiot insists on seeing everything through some kind of super-duper melanin filter.

[Pern]

The wounds such a gift might heal could benefit all citizens in ways inconceivable.

Parasites like this sicken me. I swear, if the government, by some small miracle, starts handing out reparation checks I will quit paying taxes. I'll sell everything I own to my teenage son and they can come get me.

[cardinal4]

What about all the Americans who died to end slavery? Do their decendants get money, too?

[G.Mason]

"Those black players for the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers might be rich, famous and gifted."

" But they are the few. And the others are many. "

How about those wealthy black players giving their wealth to those poor black ex-slaves?

That should make everyone happy.

I know I feel better already

[Loyal Buckeye]

"I bring this up because colorblindness -- extolled by knee-jerk do-gooders and status-quo lovers alike as the way to guarantee equality -- does not work when it comes to real-world solutions to old and intractable problems."

As Walter Williams would say, get an education and stay married.

[stainlessbanner]

the repayment of wealth to slave ancestors is the right thing to do. And it could set many things right.

Strange statement by the author.

[LibKill]

In the late Civil War 600,000+ DIED. The slaves were freed at the end of the war.

There are the reparations. Paid in full over 100 years ago.

[beckysueb]

They want quotas in prison now! Thats rich.

[TalBlack]

"....I swear, if the government, by some small miracle, starts handing out reparation checks I will quit paying taxes. I'll sell everything I own to my teenage son and they can come get me."

Because conservatives tend to have principles, and respect for order and the Constitution is dying among the rulers and the Courts' it is a GIVEN that YOU WILL run afoul of "the law"--sooner or later. Recall that a woman recently did JAIL TIME for something she said to her granddaughter. In the matter of this threads subject its almost stupidly easy to end up in jail; you only have to SAY THE WRONG THING in the wrong place.

[William Terrell]

A friend of mine emailed me this some time ago. I've posted it several times because it profiles the central flaw in the reparations movement.

---

While travelling to work the other day, I happened to catch Michael Medved's talk show with some woman who is the head of one those groups demanding reparation for Africans in America due to slavery. Of course I'd heard of this before and had already decided it was ok by me as long as it was done fairly. Here's what I would consider a fair system of reparation to descendents of slaves:

First & foremost, reparation must include repatriation. Any African who doesn't want to be repatriated is admitting that they're better off in the US than they would have been had they been left in Africa. If having their ancestors brought here in slavery has made them better off than they would have been otherwise, then what claim do they have to reparation? Of course any repatriation would have to be permanent. Those being repatriated would have to give up their US citizenship.

Second, reparation dollar amounts must be based on the African enonomy not the US economy. If we have damaged some Africans by removing them from Africa, then obviously the amount of reparation we owe them would have to based on what they could be expected to earn in Africa not the US. If there income expectancy is higher in the US, then where is the economic damage? I have developed the following formula and taken wild guesses at the variables.

A 30 year old African decides he wants his reparation and he would like to be repatriated to Kenya. Ok, we find out the life expectancy in Kenya is 50 years. We also find out the average annual income in Kenya is $2,000. So we subtract his age from 50 and find out he has 20 years to live in Kenya. We multiple 20 times $2,000 and his reparation amount is $40,000. Plus we would give him free transportation to Kenya.

Since we have given him Kenya's average annual income for the rest of his life, he should be able to move to Kenya and live the rest of his life without ever having to work again. What more could a reasonable man ask?

It seems totally reasonable to me to base all of this on African life expectancies and African income levels because had we not enslaved their ancestors, then that is what they would have been born into. That is what they would have to look forward to. With the above two rules, I totally support reparation for Africans in America.

---

[Ophiucus]

But if one follows the fractured family trees of many of those black Super Bowl players we'll be watching Sunday, follows the wood down the branches to the roots of the trees' existence in the soil of this country, one will find slavery.

Harshness of the day - how many are actually descended from slaves (how blacks for that matter)? and how many of these would have grown up multimillionaire stars in Africa?

How many whites can trace their roots back to slavery? Here, in England, the Germanic tribes, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia....guess how many of us have ancestors enslaved at some time in history?

Geez - it's what you do with your life now, not what happened to your great-great-great-great-great grandfather then.

[YankeeReb]

In truth, U.S. schools are failing blacks at a painfully sad rate: According to the Manhattan Institute, a New York-based think tank, only 20 percent of black high school students in the class of 2001 were college-ready.

The way this is worded implies that it's somehow the school's fault. Perhaps it should be stated, "Blacks are failing in U.S. schools at a painfully sad rate". Maybe if the parents of these students worried more about seeing the kids educated, and the kids weren't so hell bent on immitating every hip-hop "artist" that shows up on MTV things would be different.

And thus we have the essence of wild irony: Young black males -- that same 20-34 age group -- dominate the sporting heights and the societal depths in America.

And therein lies part of the problem. Black males seem to think that they're all the next Michael Jorden, when in reality only a handful ever make it to that level. It's like having your lifetime career goal be based on winning the lottery, if it happens you're set but for 99.99% it won't happen, then what do you do.

[chatham]

The African Americans seem to choose to remain in the victim class rather than work for their own place in Society.
They monopolize the Sports to the exclusion of Whites and the reason is they are better at sports.
When they decide to really educate their kids and raise them with strong wholesome backgrounds they will offer the same to the business community that their counterparts offer to the sports world.
The time to rescue their children from educational bondage is way past and they must demand more and better education from the Government. Our govt. doesn't help the inner city poor by pandering to the Education Lobby and screwing the little kids.

[AntiKev]

"In truth, U.S. schools are failing blacks at a painfully sad rate:"

It's the same old story, schools don't cause student failures, student's do. People are always looking to pass the buck. If a poor (not necessarily in the monetary sense for any DUers who can't tell the difference) student tries, they will pass, if they don't, they'll fail.

[GigaDittos]

You've opened my eyes to a new perspective.

[yankeedame]

There you go again -- thinking! Haven't I told you before that always getting you into trouble? (grin)

[GigaDittos]

The gun control nuts should go to Congress and demand that schools be banned. If these students were not sent to school they would not fail, and therein lies the problem. I think Bush is hurting the black community by increasing the education budget. The No Child Left Behind program is forcing blacks to go to school and fail. It is an outrage!!!!!

[Cardini]

By far the best plan I have seen. I don't know if you came up with this but for whoever did, STELLAR IDEA!

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Sports has been the one of the roads open to Blacks to escape poverty. There are many other roads also available to Blacks, but they do not make serious effort to participate effectively. The fault lies not with the individual Black, but within their culture (bondage for centuries, in both Africa and America), their leadership and Democrat Party. These forces, combined, have kept Blacks in their place as second level Americans. These forces use racism to prevent Blacks from fully assimilating into American Society. My point is, that at one time Italians and Irishmen, etc. were openly referred to as Italian-American/Irish-American. They are no longer, they are just plain Americans. That is where Blacks need to go. The Democrat party which controls education in the big urban cities has not, nor will it ever provide the educational tools required for Balcks to move forward into a diverse society. They and current Black leaders want to maintain the status quo for control and voting purposes. Until this changes, and only individual Blacks can change it, I can assure you that the majority of black folks will remain at the bottom of the economic totem pole and wrapped in the chains of economic slavery forged by their leaders and the Democrat party. It is refreshing to a small degree that some Blacks are beginning to awaken to the "real" world around them. Hispanics and Asians, as other minorities, have seen the light, and are zooming past a stagnant immobile Black society into the broader American society!