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.
Will he also push for reparations for the Irish and Chinese?
If they decide to pay, all I ask is that instead of cash coming "from the government" I want each and every taxpayer to have to pony up their share on their tax form on line such-n-so: "Slavery Reparation payment..."
That way modern American blacks can ask themselves, "Uh, WTF do I have to pay?" just like modern American whites do.
Who in their right mind cares what Alan Keyes thinks anymore?
I'd say it's a wash.
L
Since approximately 1 white person died for each black person emancipated, who oews whom reparations?
Thanks Sarge.
You got in the thread late, but you dun your duty.
I got your 40 acres right here.
Welcome to Mt. St. Helens.
Detroit: AP: Representative John Conyers, Communist from Michigan, today spent his entire reparations check on a ten year supply of Kools, Colt .45, and Snoop Dog CDs. In a prepared statement he laughed at the stupidity of the white man as he unscrewed his first bottle and lit his first fag!
Sure,let's pay EVERYBODY of color.Then watch illegal imigration from Africa go to the level of the Mexican problem.
After billions and billions in welfare and and decades of every kind of set-aside, affirmative action, special treatment, etc., a lot of people would sure like to see all this solved. Somehow though, your idea of a final solution just does not appeal to me.
Using John Conyer's logic, I submit the black race owes ME reparations because a group of black hoods stole my son's brand new Acura from outside his job in North Jersey.
So if all you brothers will just take up a collection and hand over $35,000, we can call it even. OK?
I want someone to do a comparitive study of a Black people in the USA who can trace roots to somewhere in Africa VS the natives in those areas.
If the folks in the USA have a lower standard of living, then perhaps they've got an argument.
We've had a period of relative calm over the past few years when we haven't been subjected daily to this inane demand.
I agree completely!! Every surviving slave owner should pay every surviving slave $1 billion. Now don't we all feel better?
The demand goes dormant sometimes, but never dies. Think of the gay "marriage" demand. Unless we pass a federal marriage amendment to limit marriage to one man and one woman, we WILL have gay "marriage" nationwide in this country. It'll happen, somehow or someway. Not next year, but sooner than most people imagine.
The left knows this. All they have to do is stop the FMA. They can even claim to oppose gay "marriage", and insist they're only voting against the FMA because they're for states' rights on this issue, or against amending the Constitution unless it's "absolutely necessary". As long as they stop FMA, they'll win on this issue eventually.
Why? Because as more states sanction gay "marriage" because of state court judicial fiats, as happened in Massachusetts, we'll eventually have half a dozen states where gay "married couples" are "trapped" and unable to move elsewhere to accept job or educational opportunities. The federal courts won't stand for that. They'll use the 14th Amendment to impose gay "marriage" nationwide.
Wait'll state courts and/or government conspiracy of some kind add New York & California to the gay "marriage" roster. Then, wait'll we have a Democrat president and the UN chimes in with a resolution calling for Dutch & Spanish gay "marriages" to be recognized everywhere.
Even many conservatives don't understand how relentless the left is. We go about our daily lives as normal people wanting to earn our own living and respecting Western Judeo-Christian traditions. Liberals don't. They seek to use government to impose their agenda on us. It's the ONLY way they know how to live.
They want reparations, and without a huge sea change, they'll get them. Look at affirmative action. It was imposed on us after our politicians assured us they wouldn't do it. Hubert Humphrey vowed to eat the entire Congressional Record if his 1964 Civil Rights Act led to such policies. George McGovern vowed to resign from the Senate. But both men planned to use the Civil Rights Act to promote quotas and reverse discrimination all along. Within a few years they were championing it, dismissing anyone who reminded them of their earlier pledge with a condescending smirk.
Affirmative Action remains unpopular, yet it thrives. It's supported by 100% of Democrats and 90% of Republicans. Voters may on occasion overturn it, as they did in California, but it did no good. State officials within a year had subverted the referendum. Instead of setting aside 500 college spaces for minorities, they now set aside 500 spaces for applicants who grew up in a ghetto or barrio.
Public opinion amounts to nothing unless politicans fear it. Right now, politicians are more frightened of being called racist than they are of the voters. Look at what happened to Trent Lott over an innocent comment to an old man on his 100th birthday (I know he was a lousy leader, but the reason for his dismissal was ridiculous), or George Allen's recent terrified behavior over a little Confederate flag pin he wore as a teen. Look how horrified all but a few Republicans are about having to stop people from ILLEGALLY entering our country. Since those illegals are almost all non-White, no one dares risk being called a "racist" in order to stop them.
Does anyone expect these politicians to stop reparations, especially when they're expanded to include Hispanics (as they will be, at the key moment the Hispanic vote reaches critical mass)? Good luck!
What act of Congress created and authorized the institituion of Slavery at the Federal level?
So what are you going to do come november?
Remember this was being pushed before Bush was elected the first time - it's died down precisely because with the republicans holding all the cards it wasn't going anywhere.
As for the republicans kowtowing to the latinos, the reason you're seeing that is because the republicans think that the latino vote is in play whereas the black vote is not.
Having said all this - I'm as disgusted as you are by the spineless people we put in office. The question we're up against is this - are we at a point where we cut our noses to spite our faces?
LOL.
If repartitions are ever paid I'm claiming I'm part slave descendant.
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.