THE LATEST GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEME: SLAVE REPARATIONS

Neal Nuze ^ | 3/30/04 | Neal Boortz

[NotchJohnson]

THE LATEST GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEME: SLAVE REPARATIONS

Supposed "descendants" of slaves filed a $1 billion lawsuit against U.S. and British corporations, citing genocide committed against their ancestors. Lawyers for the "plaintiffs" said it was the first reparations suit to use DNA testing to link these losers to Africans that suffered during the slave trade. The suit accuses Lloyd's of London, Fleet Boston and R.J. Reynolds of "aiding and abetting the commission of genocide" by allegedly financing and insuring slave ships. As if you weren't groaning loud enough already, check out this quote from one of the plaintiffs at the news conference announcing the suit: "the defendants have destroyed our national and ethnic identity." You've got to be kidding me. There is not one single living human being in the United States today who cannot trace his or her ancestry back to someone who was held in slavery. At one time slavery was the norm, not the exception. Funny how this didn't destroy most of our national and ethnic identities, isn't it?

This is a sensitive subject, for sure. But I don't shy away from sensitive subjects. The ugly truth here is that this whole reparations-for-slavery drive is being pushed by people who hope to rise to positions of power and influence on the back of the heritage of slavery. Add to that an ever-growing number of people who cannot accept the responsibility for where they are in their lives. Cant' find a good job? Blame slavery. On drugs? Blame slavery. In jail? Blame slavery. Yeah .. it sure is a lot easier than taking responsibility yourself.

The bottom line is this: there is not a single living soul alive today that is responsible for the slave trade that ended in the United States 141 years ago. There is no one to sue. Rather, this is all about trying to cash in on the legal system and nothing more. Instead of going out and actually working for a living, these money-grubbing whiners actually think they can extort money from corporations under the guise of "reparations." Imagine the precedent this would set...what would be next? Native American descendants suing white people for stealing their land? You can only go back so far. If there are any distant relatives of Christopher Columbus around, they might want to get an attorney.

A federal judge threw out a similar case in January. This one should meet the same fate, but that won't stop people from trying.

[NotchJohnson]

This used to be laughed at but is coming closer to reality. Little by little, and eventualy they will get their teeth in some company and it will really start to roll. Neal laughs but I feel it is just a matter of time, like national health care.

[sgtbono2002]

I agree 100% ,sooner or later some dingbat Judge will let them win a judgement and then the avalanche will start. What should be done is a counter suit making people who bring up suits like this pay big time if they lose. The lawyers bringing this crap up should have to pay when they lose too.

[johnb838]

What you have to do is put yourself back into the time period in question. I keep visualizing the mother of a freed slave trying to explain to the mother of a slain yankee why she is suing her for reparations.

[Poohbah]

This used to be laughed at but is coming closer to reality. Little by little, and eventualy they will get their teeth in some company and it will really start to roll. Neal laughs but I feel it is just a matter of time, like national health care.

On the day that reparations come to be enforced, the revolution will start...and it will be an extremely bloody one.

[TomGuy]

If they were sincere, they would be suing the African tribes that sold slaves to Europeans, Americans, Arabs, and other Africans. But they are, as the title indicates, looking for a windfall.

So, how many generations can civilization go back for these kinds of things? The whole concept is ludicrous. Everyone alive could probably, if they had records, trace their heritage back to an 'evil' time. Heck, my parents went through the Great Depression--why can't I sue Oklahoma for all that dirt they allowed to get stirred up in the Great Dust Bowl. I still have a cough that I probably inherited (cough, cough--see! it's a bad cough). So what if I wasn't even born during that timeframe. I want reparations for my parents and grandparents living through the Depression!

[bobjam]

Could the descendants of people who came over from Europe as indentured servants (7 years of slavery) also claim a piece of that pie? How about the descendants of people who were harmed in the eradication of slavery (i.e. the Civil War)? What about the descendants of poor white southern farmers who were forced to live in poverty because the plantation with 200 slaves could push the prices of cotton, sugar and indigo down?

Next there will be law suits against US Steel and others by descendants of people who were forced to work in their factories under conditions characterized as "legalized slavery". It was Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto that pointed out in the 1850's that America's slaves were better off than America's factory workers.

[jojodamofo]

Who do I sue for the fact that my tax money has effectively subsidized the malt liquor and menthol cigarette industries for decades under the guise of "welfare?"

[Always Right]

I personally believe that there should be SLAVE REPARATIONS. All slaves who are still alive should be able to collect reparations from their owners.

[Marauder]

I'd be OK with reparations if it could resolve two (2) issues:
1. Transport the descendants of the presumably unwilling slaves back to their country of origin, and;
2. Keep them there by revoke their U.S. citizenship, and never allow them to immigrate back to the U.S.

[crz]

There were 25,000 slaves in Barbados of which 21,700 were white slaves...WHITE SLAVES not indentured servants.-(the calender of state papers, Colonila series of 1701)

Doctor and William Stewart attendended an auction in St Marys Co Maryland in July of 1747. They purchased their brother, Alexander, for 9 pounds and 6 shillings from Mr. Benedict Calvert of Annapolis. Alexander was herded from Scotland to the Colony as a "Buckskin" slave.

"Buckskin" was the name for white slaves. Now you know the rest.

[edchambers]

(snip)Who do I sue for the fact that my tax money has effectively subsidized the malt liquor and menthol cigarette industries for decades under the guise of "welfare?"

I've had the same thought since this reparations thing started but you said it better than I could have.How about affirmative action reparations? You know for us poor whites that were discriminated against by the governments afirmative action quotas and my family never even owned slaves!

[prion]

You know, if my recent ancestors were slaves, I think I'd be really quiet about it. I mean, how embarrassing! There's a reason why Rule Britannia contains the line "Britons never will be slaves." Slavery means some other culture totally kicked your culture's ass.

[Restorer]

Perhaps the worst part is that these people can't do simple math. There are roughly 35M "black" Americans. 1 billion comes out to less than $30 each, yet many blacks think reparations will make them all rich.

For each black American to receive a million dollars, which undoubtedly many would view as chump change, somebody would have to come up with 35 quadrillion dollars (35 thousand trillion).

Even today's massive federal budget is still in the very low single digit trillions.

There is not enough money anywhere for them to receive what they think they're owed.

If they were willing to do so, they could get busy and create that much wealth. But, for obvious reasons, that ain't gonna happen.

[NYFriend]

Maybe its a european billion.

[Little Ray]

I am in favor of reparations in the form of one-way tickets to Africa - recipients surrender their passports when they board they plane, and can never, ever, come back.

This, of course, is for "African-Americans" only.

As for Americans who just happen to be black, we're glad to have you!

[Maceman]

I am assuming that no black people could be allowed to sit on a jury in such a case, since they have a direct interest in the outcome of the litigation.

[Little Ray]

The lawyers don't care what the plaintiffs get, as long as they get 40% of the whole settlement.

[Restorer]

You are, of course, absolutely correct.

When there are large numbers of "victims," as in the tobacco cases, there is just no possible way that all the victims will get rich. There just isn't enough money.

But the lawyers sure will.