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Some Final Thoughts on Reparations
Townhall.com ^ | March 11, 2021 | Larry Elder

Posted on 03/11/2021 5:13:54 AM PST by Kaslin

How would reparations be funded?

Conservative writer Michael Medved estimates that only 5% of whites in America "bear any authentic sort of generational guilt for the exploitation of slave labor."

Why should anyone but Democrats pay?

Scholar Dinesh D'Souza notes that all but a "handful" of slave owners were Democrats. The Ku Klux Klan, at its height of power and popularity, was known by the NAACP as the "terror wing" of the Democratic Party. The KKK was founded by Democrats; I did not say by the Democratic Party, but by Democrats. As a percentage of their party, more House Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did House Democrats. As a percentage of their party, more Senate Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did Senate Democrats.

I recently reread Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," in which he takes fellow clergymen to task for asking him to wait. King wrote:

"Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait.' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters. ... When you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness' -- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."

We no longer live in that America.

In 1964, King gave an interview to the BBC where he predicted there could be a Black president in "less than 40 years. I would think that this can come in 25 years or less." Just about right on the 40-year schedule, America elected Barack Obama.

King did not say that in less than 40 years' time, there will have been a Black female president of an Ivy League college -- which we have had. He did not say in 40 years, they'll be a Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company; there have been several, including the former CEO of McDonald's. King didn't say in 40 years, there will be a Black governor of a state like Virginia, the capital state of the Confederacy -- which has happened. He didn't say when 80% of Blacks will no longer be poor, which is now the case.

No, King suggested that we will have reached the promised land when America elects a Black president. Why? Because in the privacy of the voting booth or the mail-in ballot, one can vote however one wants. If a voter is racist, he or she can vote accordingly. King felt when Americans became fair-minded enough to elect a Black person whom they felt qualified for the presidency, we then have reached a point where we are evaluating each other based on content of our character, rather than color of skin, to the fullest degree realistically possible.

Far more important than the issue of reparations is this: Why has the rate of out-of-wedlock births in the Black community nearly tripled from 1965 until now, when America is clearly less racist now than 56 years ago? Even during slavery, a Black child was more likely to live under a roof with his or her biological mother and biological father than today. This makes linking today's problems to slavery and Jim Crow all the more difficult.

In 1965, 24% of Black children were born outside of wedlock. In 2018 -- the latest year available -- that number was 69%. On Father's Day in 2008, Barack Obama said: "We know the statistics -- that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison."

Finally, Obama, when asked about reparations in 2016, said:

"It is easy to make that theoretical argument. But as a practical matter, it is hard to think of any society in human history in which a majority population has said that as a consequence of historic wrongs, we are now going to take a big chunk of the nation's resources over a long period of time to make that right."

He was right.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: leftism; mlk; reparations; welfarestate

1 posted on 03/11/2021 5:13:54 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

“generational guilt”

Only a moron would think this is a legitimate concept. YOU did not decide to enslave anyone. YOU did not decide to buy or sell slaves. YOU have no guilt for decisions you did not make.

Also, reparations is another moronic concept. No one who was a slave is alive now. If they had been given reparations at the time they were freed, does anyone think that that money\property would still be theirs\their heir’s today?

An anecdote: My family founded a certain area of the nation in Ohio. First church, first town, etc. in this area. My family was granted or deeded the tract of land that encompasses a region that is something like 20 square miles. This happened back in the mid-1700s. What do we own today? Of the 12,800 acres represented by 20 square miles, we own... none of it. Nor are we wealthy from the proceeds of selling it. People make decisions based on their circumstance. Some of the land was sold to pay taxes. Some of it was given to family members who subsequently sold it. Some of it was taken via eminent domain- but out of all that land, none of it is still owned by anyone of my blood. We own some things from our ancestors- pieces of furniture, a 250 year old family bible that has some value due to its age, but not one bit of real liquid wealth, or real estate. How do you think 40 acres and a mule (or whatever the reparations were discussed after the end of the civil war) would turn out?


2 posted on 03/11/2021 5:26:22 AM PST by NicoDon
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To: Kaslin
Abolish welfare, limit unemployment payments based upon work history. The biggest problem with some people is they don't have to beg, they've never had to humble themselves and learned to be grateful, they are just given food and money. The poor in this country don't act entitled, they ARE entitled
3 posted on 03/11/2021 5:36:55 AM PST by Ikeon (if I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong)
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To: Kaslin

Reparations.

At first, I thought, oh part of the planning For after the leftists give up (after being forced to) this complete farce of a stolen US presidency.

But no. Of course we’re talking about slavery. No mention of the 60 million innocents killed in abortion. You know- there are no kids around. They’re dead. Go to a restaurant, church, the beach- families are one parent two grandparents on kid. The grandparent raise the kids the single mother abandoned. And just one kid maybe two. Birth control and abortion.

That’s gonna need some reparation

I ne Ed owned a slave. My people from Mississippi were abolitionists. They viewed slavery as any decent human wound. If I can prove that is that anything?


4 posted on 03/11/2021 5:40:02 AM PST by stanne
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To: Kaslin

There is no “generational guilt.” Guilt is not passed down through the genes. And there is no “White” gene, or “black” gene. And guilt doesn’t jump from a White descendent of a slaveowner to a White descendent of a 19th century immigrant.

Who would pay? Productive people of course!

The biggest crime in this country is how democrats have kept blacks down and miserable, and told them to blame their failures on Whitey.


5 posted on 03/11/2021 5:45:39 AM PST by I want the USA back (The nation is in the grips of incurable hysterical insanity, as usual.)
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To: NicoDon

“Only a moron would think this is a legitimate concept.”

Yup. And my ancestors from northern Tennessee fought with the North in the Civil War, and how many hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers died in the war? What is each life worth? A million $ each minimum.

And what about the $60 TRILLION already spent to benefit our black friends? Pretty good reparations I think.

A black conservative friend says he regrets how his ancestors suffered (maybe), but he is grateful they were brought here as he works with orphans in Niger and has seen first hand the poverty of most of Africa. Would our black friends rather have grown up in Africa? Would they rather live in Africa now? My friend drives a Mercedes and owns rental property - and is filthy rich by African standards.

And maybe the gov. should calculate the average wealth of every black American, compare it with the wealth of every average black African - and tax them 10% “to be American privilege tax” and send the money.......to the poor in Africa.


6 posted on 03/11/2021 5:56:48 AM PST by Arlis
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To: stanne

“My people from Mississippi were abolitionists.”

My father is from Ellisville; you know, Jones County, as in the “Free State of Jones”. I think my family and the Knights should actually be in line to get reparations.


7 posted on 03/11/2021 6:03:57 AM PST by suthener
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To: Kaslin

“ Conservative writer Michael Medved estimates that only 5% of whites in America “bear any authentic sort of generational guilt for the exploitation of slave labor.”

If Medved really said that (and he probably did) then he is first of all no conservative but is too evil to be influencing public policy through his various channels.

The only other place I see reference to generational guilt is in the Passion according to John, and I’m sure Mr. Medved does not endorse THAT.


8 posted on 03/11/2021 6:08:00 AM PST by Jim Noble (In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
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To: Kaslin
Conservative writer Michael Medved

I stopped reading right there. What a frickin' joke.

9 posted on 03/11/2021 6:12:18 AM PST by bankwalker (groupthink kills ...)
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To: Jim Noble
Have you listened to Medved in the past couple of years? He’s really jumped the shark. Not that he was ever a genuine conservative. He publicly endorsed Biden and the absolute worst governor in the nation Jay Inslee. There’s a reason Salem dropped his syndication. He should write another book called 3 Right Turns Back To The Left!
10 posted on 03/11/2021 6:45:34 AM PST by bigfootbob
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To: Kaslin

Instead of reparations, let’s just offer their entire family a ticket back to Africa to a country of their choosing. It will save We the People in the long run.


11 posted on 03/11/2021 7:27:52 AM PST by RideForever (We are born to be tested ...)
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To: suthener

Considering that my white Irish ancestors were slaves forced to work and did on the democrats plantations before the blacks were enslaved. I think all of us Irishmen should also get reparations.
The democrats should be forced to pay these out of their own pocket, after all they are the ones that benefited.


12 posted on 03/11/2021 7:54:14 AM PST by Ronald77 (Reparations for the Irish slaves.)
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To: Kaslin

She is a victim like the prince and the whore er yacht girl er actress are victims.

BTW the beard for obama is thinking about retiring.
Retiring from what? Badmouthing the country that gave her everything?


13 posted on 03/11/2021 10:05:02 AM PST by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
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To: minnesota_bound

oops wrong article..


14 posted on 03/11/2021 10:05:54 AM PST by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
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