Posted on 05/09/2006 10:02:08 PM PDT by peggybac
John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations
The left wing Democrat who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if his party wins back Congress in November wants to hold full blown congressional hearings on whether the government should pay African Americans reparations for slavery.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers has attracted attention in recent months for his House resolution calling for an impeachment investigation against President Bush.
But another Conyers cause-celeb is reparations, which he's been advocating since 1989, when he first introduced legislation to establish what he calls, "The Commission to Study Reparations Proposals for African American Act." ( H.R. 40)
In a press release posted to his official congressional web site, Conyers explains how he intends to handle the hot-button issue.
"My bill does four things:
• It acknowledges the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery.
• It establishes a commission to study slavery, its subsequent racial and economic discrimination against freed slaves.
• It studies the impact of those forces on today's living African Americans.
• The commission would then make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to redress the harm inflicted on living African Americans."
Conyers says:
"I chose the number of the bill, 40, as a symbol of the forty acres and a mule that the United States initially promised freed slaves. This unfulfilled promise and the serious devastation that slavery had on African-American lives has never been officially recognized by the United States Government . . . " He goes on:
"Just as we've discussed the Holocaust, and Japanese interment camps, and to some extent the devastation that the colonists inflicted upon the Indians, we must talk about slavery and its continued effects."
Though Conyers reintroduces his reparations resolution every year, would-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has never indicated whether she'd back the controversial proposal.
I am owed reparation from John Conyers for the sheer number of times he's caused my blood vessels to burst.
Regards, Ivan
OK, Conyers has been pushing this for years, but in recent years it's not been very popular.
Now he brings it up again at a time when American Blacks and Whites are finally coming together. I'm talking about the issue of Illegals.
Course RATs won't have any of that brotherhood between blacks and whites. Oh no no no. This is an attempt to divide us.
ping
Reparations will never happen. It's just a race baiting talking point hype.
And who is race baiting? Conyers.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on whether or not when the rats regain power what they'll do about the issue of reparations.
Couldn't we just have Slick CrookedDick issue one of his phony apologies, complete with his 2' x 4' prop Bible and be done with this?
LOL. Somehow, I don't think that will satisfy the race baiting Black Caucus.
Reason enough to vote GOP
Conyers = judiciary
Pelosi = Speaker
Nuff Said
Tiger Woods and Oprah need a break!
>>John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations<<
this is another of those "Title is not accurate but then its NewsMax" situations.
Isn't he under investigation for that and other abuses of power and position? Someone needs to take him down.
>>Beyond reparations, the RAT agenda also includes statehood for DC and Puerto Rico and abolishment of the electoral college. Political consequences that could benefit the RAT party to the extent that the rest of the states would be essentially disenfranchised.<<
There is a problem wuth unequal representation of the citizens in D.C. while they "enjoy" full taxation. I'm also not thrilled with the electorasl coolege although I agree its elimination would favor Dems so its a political non-starter.
How's this for reparations: A one way flight ticket back to Africa? I'll even make it first class passage.
One solution to the unequal representation problem would be to give the DC property back to Maryland and the voters could then vote in that state. There are probably other solutions that would not create the conflict of interest that would exist if the citizens of DC were given senators and representatives.
Does EVERY black alive today, feel they are entitled to 40 acres and a mule?
Or simply 40 acres and a mule to be shared by ALL the descendants from any verifiable former slave?"
Well now, I've seen it referenced a bit more diplomatically, but yes, that's the issue.
Anyway, I asked because, with the possible exception of people here on FR, the average white person has never even heard of it.
And while white America has never even heard of the issue, most blacks are very familiar with it. And for black America, it's a symbol of how they, as a group, have been cheated out of their fair share from the first days of their status as free people.
Like you say, it's not even possible to dole out compensation for such a claim today. But that's unfortunate, cause that issue will be considered by blacks to be proof that they can't get fair treatment under this system, and that they never could.
And while you can list lots of government programs that were devised and run for their benefit. The truth is that blacks have also been, individually and as a group, cheated and screwed by a variety of government agencies.
Forty acres and a mule would have been a smart and just thing to do in 1865. If it had been, it would be proof, to this day, that blacks can and do get fair treatment under our law. As it stands, demagogues like Conyers will be able use the issue very effectively, and there's no easy counter for it that is convincing to blacks.
To have basically made the promise, and to have then reneged on it, was really, really, stupid. And will forever haunt relations between the races.
"Black kids who actually do their homework are taunted for "going white""
It makes no sense to me. Take a look at successful blacks today, take Clarence Thomas for one. He has been attacked as an "Uncle Tom" and for selling out his race. Thomas Sowell is another example.
But when you look at the race pimps, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc....you find "heroes" of the black community. The black community, if it ever wants to get anywhere, had better start picking better heroes.
I'm not joking
>>One solution to the unequal representation problem would be to give the DC property back to Maryland and the voters could then vote in that state. There are probably other solutions that would not create the conflict of interest that would exist if the citizens of DC were given senators and representatives.<<
I wonder if that would be agreeabel.... since we are talking about a constitutional change, any solution is gonna be tough.
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