Posted on 07/03/2008 5:20:26 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Segments of Americans are gearing up to oppose Senator Barack Obama because they fear he will be more considerate of the debt America owes to Blacks.
Anti-Obama whites, in particular, are concerned he’ll get into the White House and put Blacks on track for “a reparations gravy train.”
CNN debate moderator Anderson Cooper put Black Reparations on track to be a part of the presidential dialogue during the South Carolina Primaries.
The African-American vote in South Carolina was very important, and that made the reparations question relevant in the Democratic Debate. At that event former Senator John Edwards said “ I'm not for reparations…but I think there are other things we can do to create some equality that doesn't exist in this country today” he said, going on to talk about inequities African Americans experienced paying mortgages in Charleston, S.C., where the debate was held.
When Cooper asked Sen. Barack Obama about reparations he sidestepped a yes or no answer instead preferring to redefine reparations to make it part of a broader conversation about economic justice. “I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investment, for example, in schools.” Obama said.
To corner Obama and nail all the candidates down, Cooper asked for a show of hands and questioned: “Is anyone on the stage for reparations for slavery for African-Americans?” The only “yes” came from Congressman Dennis Kucinich who said: “The Bible says we shall be and must be repairers of the breach. And a breach has occurred. We have to acknowledge that. It's a breach that has resulted in inequality in opportunities for education, for health care, for housing, for employment.”
From then on, reparations have been an issue in the campaign. America owes Blacks $700 billion to $1.9 trillion for unpaid labor that built the country’s infrastructure, including the U.S. Capitol. While Obama dodges the issue, his “old church, Trinity United Church of Christ, lists “The Debt: What America Owes To Blacks, by Randall Robinson (Penguin Putman Inc., 2000) as recommended reading”. In The Debt, Robinson argues that America still owes an enormous debt to Africans and African Americans for the incalculable damage that backs have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of two hundred and fifty years of slavery and segregation.
Barack’s birthright brothers many whites; but Wautella Graham of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) breaks the question of slavery into four categories of involvement: victims, collaborators, perpetrators and beneficiaries and makes the point that, “Even immigrants and people whose ancestral line contains no slaveholders should pay reparations, since every American benefits from slavery.”
Slavery victimizes free blacks to this day. All American people are responsible for the debt America owes.”
What the country owes:
citizens with silver/mercury tooth fillings
downwinders
air passengers sitting on tarmacs
transfat eaters
asbestos breathers
german measles mothers
and the list goes on and on....etc....
THIS WORLD IS NOT PERFECT...GET OVER IT...MOVE ON.
Reparations are a scam by some blacks and some black politicians to get a free payday. The blacks that favor reparations are the blacks that are already prospering in U.S. society.
The further we get away from slavery, the louder the calls get for reparations. I believe some black politicos think this may be the last chance to get free money out of Whitey.
I could be persuaded to support reparations with the following mandatory provisions:
1. Recipient agrees to (a) renounce his/her American citizenship and (b) obtain citizenship in the African nation of his choice;
2. Balance of the payment will be on deposit in a bank in the above chosen country, payable upon recipient’s arrival;
3. Part of the payment is to be in the form of a one-way ticket to the above chosen country.
It only makes sense to start at the absolute beginning if we’re going to completely eradicate the pain of “inherited” slavery.
I'm sure this is more than made up for in the damage that the welfare society, drug dealers and gang bangers have done to our inner cities. Maybe we should send them a bill for all of the stupidity and low morals that have led to the deterioration of our cities and the associated costs to hard-working taxpayers.
“America owes Blacks $700 billion to $1.9 trillion for unpaid labor that built the country’s infrastructure, including the U.S. Capitol.”
The “Blacks” alive today didn’t do any of that labor. I would be much happier paying them for productive labor they do today.
Mine arrived from Germany during the 1920's. My siblings and I are first generation American so we'll take a pass on reparations too!
Regards,
GtG
Absolutely! Every living slave owner should pay every living slave $1 million dollars.
Is the USA the only western-hemisphere country where the topic of reparations for slavery is continually raised? I was under the impression that over 95% of the slave trade landed in south america, central america and the carribean.
This talk of reparations strikes me as an African-American race fantasy, that they are so how mystically owed for work their ancestors performed.
A consequence of raising this issue - it will reduce Obama's chance to win in November. Obama should be asked tough questions on this issue.
We’ve had reparations for years, now:
Affirmative Action and Quotas
Amen to that!
Ummmm, no.
1. Nobody alive owned slaves. None alive are legally culpable. No black alive today was an American slave. Their descendants were and are free people.
2. None of the people who migrated to America after slavery are liable. Any blacks that came to America after slavery would not be eligible anyway.
3. To say only whites and their descendents have benefitted from slavery is ridiculous. Blacks in America have benefitted much more by just being in this country than anywhere in Africa. The lack of a mass black exodus back to their African homelands is a huge piece of evidence supporting this.
4. If we are to give reparations to blacks, we must give them to a number of other racial and ethnic groups who have suffered real discrimination as a class throughout American history. We will also have to include the Irish, Italians, Polish, Greeks, Russians, Slavics, Germans, Chinese, Japanese, hispanics, and more - because these peoples were also unfairly discriminated against because of their origins.
No reparations ever. It’s all over. Nothing to see here. You aren’t slaves. The fact you’re on welfare today, or taking gubmint handouts has nothing to do with whether or not your ancestry has slavery in it or not. The fact you didn’t learn anything in high school cause you were trying to be cool doesn’t have anything to do with slavery. Take responsibility for your own problems, and that the biggest reason why you are the way you are, and are living the way you are living, is YOU. Not slavery.
Slavery is a crutch, an excuse for you not to be responsbile for your life. Your pet reason to blame anyone else but yourself.
No reparations ever.
“the debt: what america owes blacks.”
one would guess that the bloodshed that occurred during the civil war doesn’t count for anything?”
I suggest that we all give reparations to the Europeans who settled this nation and gave us all the brilliant inventions which fueled the Industrial Revolution. When Edison, Fulton, Carnegie, Westinghouse is given their real credit, I will then say, well, I did not own slaves but I sure benefited from the inventions that all those deal white men achieved. As to a workforce, well, the North didn’t need black slaves, they had white ‘slaves’ workers to man the mills!! Perhaps we should give reparations to the workers up North who worked those industries?!
The sins of history are many—there is no way to re-pay groups who were victimized in some way. My ancestors were Irish, who England pay me for the potato famine of the 1840s? Should Norway pay me for enslaving the Irish in Viking Times? I am part English, should Italy pay me for Roman conquests? Its a foolish game and one played only for votes. Such pandering only makes us weaker and will help to bring down America. To blacks: Get over it! Listen to one of your own—Bill Cosby—and work to get out of poverty!
Dave Chappell has a great skit on what would happen if you paid out reparations. According to Dave, The world’s richest man would be a dice player in Harlem. You could make a killing on the stock market.
Reparations would sully that sacrifice.
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.