Posted on 06/23/2002 1:41:09 PM PDT by Valin
A lot of white people are upset with the reparations movement.
The reparations movement is an effort by people of African descent to be remunerated, compensated or indemnified for labor that our ancestors performed for white land- and business owners during the period of slavery in America.
Let us not deceive ourselves. Nothing the government or the people of America now possess, or are even willing to share, will come close to making up for the enormity of the moral, psychological, physical, cultural, economic and spiritual degradation that has been foisted on its black citizens.
Here is an attempt to begin to address one of America's most divisive issues ever.
Nobody disputes that people of African descent were held and used as slave labor. Some may differ as to the extent to which physical, mental and spiritual atrocities were visited upon our African ancestors.
Others would like to forget or feign disbelief as to the intensity, continuity and depth of the brutality imposed on my forefathers and mothers. And which extends to us today.
Still others will attempt to simplify the experience by saying: "That was then; this is now. Get over it! We, this generation, had nothing to do with it. Why should we bear the burden? In fact, I'm against slavery too." Others may chime in: "Besides, you've got affirmative action now. This amounts to reverse discrimination."
And most will totally reject the notion that America or Americans owe those who labored in bondage for two-and-a-half centuries.
Slaves were allegedly "freed" via the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, which declared free all persons held as slaves within any state or part of a state then in armed rebellion.
But Randall Robinson, in his brilliant treatise "The Debt," brought light to the subject: "No nation can enslave a race of people for hundreds of years, set them free bedraggled and penniless, pit them without assistance in a hostile environment against privileged victimizers and then reasonably expect the gap between the heirs of the two groups to narrow."
"Privileged victimizers" — an interesting use of words. Some Euro-American would say, "I'm not among the 'privileged' and certainly not a 'victimizer.' "
This brings us to the role that today's American whites play in daily increasing, extending and exacerbating "the debt." It is certainly true that most white people are, to some extent, disenfranchised themselves. Yet, it is also true that their white skin gives them advantage over the nation's darker-skinned citizens, as both seek the benefits of the richest, most powerful nation on earth.
White privilege simply assures two similarly situated people — one white, one black — that the white person will be given preferential treatment.
Yes, affirmative action was designed as an attempt to narrow the remaining gap in access to resources, opportunities and prosperity this nation has to offer.
Yes, some Euro-Americans will say that they were passed over so a person of African heritage could be promoted or hired. While there may be some cases to corroborate this experience, such is a very exceptional encounter.
Indeed, the quest for reparations can stand on its own merit. But, for those who need precedent, remember that after World War I, American allies made successful claims against Germany, as would Jews after World War II.
Japanese Americans re-covered from the U.S. government for acts against them during World War II.
Due to the forcing of Korean women into prostitution, they were compensated by Japan following World War II.
Historical and legal expert Dudley Thompson informs us that international law has many precedents in this area.
Some initial easy steps to solutions could include a national and state effort to:
(1) learn more about reparations and the conditions by which their necessity came about;
(2) look closely at today's conditions that cause continuation of these deplorable circumstances;
(3) develop a plan that would set up endowments, scholarships and other incentives for increased positive black involvement in American life; and
(4) enact laws that are effective and enforceable that would eliminate all acts of discrimination.
These are just a few ideas for a beginning toward full reparations.
McDonald, 70, of St. Paul, is one of eight Pioneer Press Community Columnists for 2002.
E-mail him at kmcdonald@ spokesman-recorder.com.
I'm sure the world will be much better off. (/sarcasm)
BTW, since the Egyptians enslaved the Jews, shouldn't these reparations whiners turn around and give any settlement to them?
What about blacks who enslaved other blacks?
Where do I sign up??? I'd like a casino too, if that's possible. :)
I realy don't care about the slave issue. I don't care who was one. I don't care how you became one. I don't care how long you were one. I don't care how you got here and neither do I care if you leave here.
I do care if you think I owe you something. I do care since I've been paying for you for years. I do care since you are an American and insist on using Afro. I do care your tearing down the Confederate flag. I do care you are continually asking for reverse descrimination against all the other races. I do care you will not learn to talk, walk, and dress descent. I do care you shave your head. I do care you do all this stuff. The real reason I care is, you do this only because you are a racist and hate the white folks. Now that is honest and not PC.
I do not care if you return to your beloved Homeland. In fact I will reparate one (oneway ticket) for you to do so.
GET OVER IT!
It's not the white skin. It's the white brain. - Tom
White brain, isn't that a band or some kind of shampoo?
" The experience that solidified my charge toward freedom was my trip to Ghana, West Africa, in 1968. When I left, I was Jim, wearing Ivy League clothes. When I came back, I was Kwame, clothed in African apparel. "
Presumably he didn't wish to remain and become a journalist in Ghana.
"The imprisonment of journalists in connection with libel or contempt of court reflects a pattern of intimidation which poses a threat to the independent media in Ghana,"Amnesty International said.
News Service 213/99
AI INDEX: AFR 28/01/99
12 November 1999
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!...oh stop it!!!..yer killin' me! Hohohobwahhahaha!...stop!..please!
What a fargin' maroon.
FMCDH
Overstated, to say the least.
Once a value is placed on the true economic contribution of slavery (mostly in 18th and 19th century agriculture production), factor out psychological, spiritual, and physical degradation (those that suffered are long dead), you don't come up with nearly as much as "Kwame" envisions.
What is more, America has struggled with the "moral" and "cultural" issue for so long that it has gone beyond the reasonable in recent attempts to repair any lasting harm.
To this point it must be added, who pays for the reparations? The huge percentage of "white" Americans whose forefathers immigrated to America well after the slavery issue was resolved (as in my case), as well as the vast number of Americans who had nothing to do with the practice of slavery.
I say, what reparations are finally calculated, the current precentage of the population who has no historical connection to the practice of slavery should be deducted from the final amount. After all they're talking about our money/assets.
Alas, many black people want to remain in "slavery." The slavery of the culture of victimhood.
The time for getting off the pitty-potty is overdue. It is time for black Americans to take advantage of what this country offers in liberty and opportunity and stop waiting for some official monetary "apology."
From Walter E Williams web site:
Whereas, Europeans kept my forebears in bondage some three centuries toiling without pay,
Whereas, Europeans ignored the human rights pledges of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution,
Whereas, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments meant little more than empty words,
Therefore, Americans of European ancestry are guilty of great crimes against my ancestors and their progeny.
But, in the recognition Europeans themselves have been victims of various and sundry human rights violations to wit: the Norman Conquest, the Irish Potato Famine, Decline of the Hapsburg Dynasty, Napoleonic and Czarist adventurism, and gratuitous insults and speculations about the intelligence of Europeans of Polish descent,
I, Walter E. Williams, do declare full and general amnesty and pardon to all persons of European ancestry, for both their own grievances, and those of their forebears, against my people.
Therefore, from this day forward Americans of European ancestry can stand straight and proud knowing they are without guilt and thus obliged not to act like damn fools in their relationships with Americans of African ancestry.
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