Posted on 07/09/2006 11:16:25 AM PDT by TomServo
Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.
Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.
The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn't be a top priority or that it doesn't make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong.
Yet reparations efforts have led a number of cities and states to approve measures that force businesses to publicize their historical ties to slavery. Several reparations court cases are in progress, and international human rights officials are increasingly spotlighting the issue.
"This matter is growing in significance rather than declining," said Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor and a leading reparations activist. "It has more vigor and vitality in the 21st century than it's had in the history of the reparations movement."
The most recent victories for reparations advocates came in June, when the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church both apologized for owning slaves and promised to battle current racism. The Episcopalians also launched a national, yearslong probe into church slavery links and into whether the church should compensate black members. A white church member, Katrina Browne, also screened a documentary focusing on white culpability at the denomination's national assembly.
The Episcopalians debated slavery and reparations for years before reaching an agreement, said Jayne Oasin, social justice officer for the denomination, who will oversee its work on the issue.
Historically, slavery was an uncomfortable topic for the church. Some Episcopal bishops owned slaves - and the Bible was used to justify the practice, Oasin said.
"Why not (take these steps) 100 years ago?" she said. "Let's talk about the complicity of the Episcopal Church as one of the institutions of this country who, of course, benefited from slavery."
Also in June, a North Carolina commission urged the state government to repay the descendants of victims of a violent 1898 campaign by white supremacists to strip blacks of power in Wilmington, N.C. As many as 60 blacks died, and thousands were driven from the city.
The commission also recommended state-funded programs to support local black businesses and home ownership.
The report came weeks after the Organization of American States requested information from the U.S. government about a 1921 race riot in Tulsa, Okla., in which 1,200 homes were burned and as many as 300 blacks killed. An OAS official said the group might pursue the issue as a violation of international human rights.
The modern reparations movement revived an idea that's been around since emancipation, when black leaders argued that newly freed slaves deserved compensation.
About six years ago, the issue started gaining momentum again. Randall Robinson's "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks," was a best seller; reparations became a central issue at the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa; and California legislators passed the nation's first law forcing insurance companies that do business with the state to disclose their slavery ties. Illinois passed a similar insurance law in 2003, and the next year Iowa legislators began requesting - but not forcing - the same disclosures.
Several cities - including Chicago, Detroit and Oakland - have laws requiring that all businesses make such disclosures.
Reparations opponents insist that no living American should have to pay for a practice that ended more than 140 years ago. Plus, programs such as affirmative action and welfare already have compensated for past injustices, said John H. McWhorter, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute.
"The reparations movement is based on a fallacy that cripples the thinking on race - the fallacy that what ails black America is a cash problem," said McWhorter, who is black. "Giving people money will not solve the problems that we have."
Even so, support is reaching beyond African-Americans and the South.
Katrina Browne, the white Episcopalian filmmaker, is finishing a documentary about her ancestors, the DeWolfs of Bristol, R.I., the biggest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She screened it for Episcopal Church officials at the June convention.
"Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North," details how the economies of the Northeast and the nation as a whole depended on slaves.
"A lot of white people think they know everything there is to know about slavery - we all agree it was wrong and that's enough," Browne said. "But this was the foundation of our country, not some Southern anomaly. We all inherit responsibility."
She says neither whites nor blacks will heal from slavery until formal hearings expose the full history of slavery and its effects - an effort similar to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission after apartheid collapsed.
I'm Irish/German where do I sign up for mine ?
"My people were in Ireland and were poorer that US slaves at the time".
...........................................................
Genealogy indicates that my family name goes back to the Vikings, I am sure I owe reperations to just about everybody, including keithtoo.
Hey, I'll trade ya this bottle of firewater for your headrights. I'll even throw in 1/16th of my own headrights. Deal?
I have met a family who twins will win many bar bets in college. The family's twin are boy and a girl. The mother is a blond woman and the father is a dark skinned black. The daughter is a mix of the two parents with tan skin and light brown hair. The son is a blond, light skinned little boy. I have no doubt he will be questioned on his college applications if he checked black until dad shows up.
I had a nice talk with the mother and father since I had fraternal twin daughters who were in class with the couples older daughter.
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
Chickasaw here - I'll take $100 billion, please Mr Revenooer. Or Oklahoma, just till the oil boom is over, whichever is more.
Giving people anything for generations is the root of most of our problems.
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
And Asso Propaganda claims to be JOURNALISTS! This is pure nonsense propaganda.
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
These people would be forced to write large checks to themselves.
Intresting backgroun info on the author of this article.
http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2006/06/aps_erin_texeir.html
AP's Erin Texeira Strikes Again
One of the top stories yesterday, at least in terms of distribution, is Erin Texeira's Associated Press article titled, "Immigration Debate Stirs Racial Tensions." The story carries an ominous warning that public discussions about immigration policy are causing a rise in racism.
A few of the cases cited are dispicable, even if it's not racially motivated, but based upon a handful of such anecdotal stories Texeira wants us to believe racism is rapidly gaining ground. Yet no where in the article does Texeira offer any objective evidence, such as statistics or studies, that would lead us to believe it's true.
Texeira is a member of the "narrative journalism movement" which seeks to report through stories and narratives. Narrative is acceptable and can be quite powerful, but if we're going to label them "news," such stories must still be supported by objective facts.
Texeira's foundationless reporting might be excusable if she didn't already have a history of it. In a story for the Los Angeles Times Texeira wrote that Filipinos were disproportionately favored for government positions and contracts in Carson, California.
But like the story above on alleged Asian harrassment, Texeira relied on a narrative technique that lacked objective evidence. Instead of concrete quotes and statistics Texeira hides behind words like "critics," "observers," "analysts" and "sources" without mentioning them by name. As one concerned reader wrote, Texeira's article is "shoddy journalism at best and rank racism at worst."
A brief search reveals that a signficant number of her stories are narratives on racial tension. For such a controversial, sensitive topic, one would hope the copy editors demand more substance from reporters. Erin once wrote that she is "of brown skin" and her racial identity is "complicated." But her own racial confusion should not manifest itself in confusing "news articles" that are simply powerful narratives.
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
LOL. That's the funniest scene. He makes me howl.
Not bad at all.
This is so offensive. When we are born, it is basically a clean slate for us. Yes, some people are born to smart, rich, handsome parents, and yes, it can be an incredible hardship to be born with handicaps, but it is the beauty of America that we all have the opportunity to make something of ourselves. It is the epitome of injustice to force someone to pay for wrong doing by their ancestors. There is no reason for this debate. The consensus is: slavery is bad. That's why it was outlawed 140 years ago. If we really want to have this debate, let's subtract the cost of black-committed crime from the reparations price tag. My grandpa was robbed at gunpoint by a black perp in 1973. I've got a much more legitimate claim for some kind of reparations than someone who is simply born black.
"They will never take a dime of my money."
I believe Nancy Pelosi will take and distribute yours. You'll get a thank you note. It's in the mail.
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
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