Posted on 07/31/2002 7:29:14 PM PDT by USA21
July 31, 2002
Houston City Council won't back push for slave reparations
Houston City Council voted today not to back a national bill exploring the possibility of reparations for slaves' descendants.
Today's 8-7 vote defeated a resolution by Mayor Lee Brown even though throngs of people, one with a painted face, others with American and African flags, filled council chambers at Tuesday's public session to express support for the measure.
A number of cities, including Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore and New York City, have already passed or considered similar resolutions.
But some council members say it doesn't make sense to support something they ultimately have no say in.
"I wish it wasn't on the agenda. It's not healthy for the city government to get involved in national politics when it can become unconstructive," said Councilman Bert Keller.
The resolution supported a House bill that would establish a commission to examine slavery and recommend remedies, including the possibility of reparations.
"For politicians to start putting price tags on human error is dangerous," Keller said.
Councilwoman Ada Edwards said the resolution on the council agenda was appropriate, because the city is the first rung in the political process.
"People are scared of it," Edwards said. "The time is now to stop skirting the issue, but stand up to the table and say this happened and it was inhumane. We need to deal with it and move forward."
Brown said he believes a national debate and examination on slavery would be productive.
"African-Americans have a unique history and slavery and race have been a very contentious and divisive issue in our country," he said. "Reparations won't end the division."
Since 1989, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., has offered a bill that would study slavery reparations.
Conyers encourages cities to pass resolutions supporting the bill, even though the momentum goes up and down.
Dallas passed its resolution supporting passage of the House resolution in 1999. But it also reads, "Nothing in this resolution shall be construed to place financial obligations or commitments on the City of Dallas."
No dollar amount is attached to Conyers' bill.
"Different people have different visions of what they think reparations should be. Some people want money, some education," said Conyers' spokeswoman Kriston Alford. "Conyers has never said what his vision is. There's not a general consensus."
Support for reparations -- in several forms -- has become increasingly popular and a march for reparations is set for Aug. 17 in Washington, D.C.
"It is obvious that a national debate on the subject of reparations is in order," said U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, a co-sponsor of the House bill.
Activist Quannel X used a noose to illustrate his support at Tuesday's session.
"If you forgot, remember this," he said as he held up the rope. "We don't want individual checks, we want to build an infrastructure in this nation."
Michael Bell, a member of the Tarrant County Local Organizing Committee, said the history of Africans in America has been brutal.
"We are still experiencing the aftershocks and backlash of a system hell-bent on subjugating and denigrating our race. This country owes us for the ongoing emotional assault on our people," Bell said.
SCREW YOU!!!
How many parasites in a throng? Is a horde greater than a throng or is a mob greater than a mass? I can't keep track of the Liberal Crowd Sizing Scale.
Its only been 137 years since it was abolished---at the cost of 600,000 American lives.
This must be an offshot of our litigious society...sue everybody that has a few dollars.
I guess they figured the liberals had gone about as far as they can go taxing (redistributing the $$) the working family to death so now they try this approach.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
Tarrant County (county seat is Fort Worth) is well over 200 miles north of Houston. Perhaps Houstonians don't need Mr. Bell to tell them how to run their affairs.
I think every citizen, in every City, in every State should get reparations for all those years we poured Trillions of tax dollars down a proverbial hole in an attempt to make them self sufficient. Well! Guess what? You got it!
To date I have seen no record of how Houston City Council voted on today's slavery reparations measure aside from the 8-7 numerical figure. Based upon their newspaper comments, political leanings, and indications of support for the measure, here here are my estimates of how the vote broke down. Please be sure to thank the council members who stood up to Lee P. Brown and his reparations shakedown artists.
COUNCILMEN LIKELY OPPOSED TO THE REPARATIONS BILL:
Bruce Tatro (indicated opposition in media quote)
Addie Wiseman (indicated opposition in media quote)
Gordon Quan (indicated opposition in media quote)
Michael Berry (publicly smeared by reparations crowd for voting no)
Bert Keller (normally votes conservative)
Mark Goldberg (normally votes conservative)
Mark Ellis (normally votes conservative)
Shelly Sekula Gibbs (normally votes conservative)
COUNCILMAN LIKELY IN FAVOR OF REPARATIONS:
Mayor Lee P. Brown (sponsored the resolution)
Annise Parker (indicated support in media quote)
Ada Edwards indicated support in media quote)
Carol Galloway (normally votes liberal)
Carroll Robinson (normally votes liberal)
Carol Alvarado (normally votes liberal)
Gabriel Vasquez (normally votes liberal)
City council members may be contacted here: http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/citygovt/council/
Regarding term limits, the mayor's minions have been trying (but not effectively) to overturn turn limits.
Had it not been for term limits, we may have had Bob Lanier himself rather than Mayor Bob's puppet.
Mayor Bob has been running polls to see what candidates may be good to run in 2003. Why would a former mayor, outside of the operation, care?
In studying my family history, I have uncovered the fact that I had at least 6 members of my family who served the north in the Great War to Free the Slaves.
Of these, one was killed at Cold Harbor, two were wounded, and one of those who were wounded was taken prisoner and later perished in a southern prison camp.
And one, George G. Meade, was the Union General who defeated Lee at Gettysburg, the turning point in the war for YOUR independence.
I figure my family deserves some compensation for their sacrifices on your behalf. Please contact my attorney, Johnny Cochrane, for instructions on how much we figure you owe us and where to send the check.
"We are still experiencing the aftershocks and backlash of a system hell-bent on subjugating and denigrating our race. This country owes us for the ongoing emotional assault on our people," Bell said
If a white person had used the phrase "denigrating (y)our race" I would have expected one of you idiots to step up to the podium screaming that he was talking about exterminating blacks.
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