Posted on 08/14/2002 10:07:24 PM PDT by kattracks
Thousands of aggrieved activists are headed to Washington, D.C., later this week for the "Millions for Reparations" march. The theme is: "They Owe Us."
"Us" means black Americans who allegedly endure lasting psychological and economic suffering as a result of their ancestors (or someone else's ancestors) being enslaved centuries ago. "They" means the U.S. government, which means American taxpayers, which means tens of millions of people who had nothing remotely whatsoever to do with inflicting such injustice on anyone.
So what exactly do We Owe Them?
Russell Simmons, a wealthy hip-hop music executive, is marketing the reparations gospel to black youths under the modernized demand for "40 acres and a Bentley." He's also using the movement to sell his own line of "Phat Classic" sneakers. Wearing Simmons' hip shoes, you see, will do wonders to ease the vestiges of involuntary servitude and colonization.
Defense attorney Sam Jordan, one of the march's lead organizers, apparently thinks that freeing former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal -- the death row inmate found guilty in the violent 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner -- would balance the historical books. "The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal has much in common with the case of reparations for all the descendants of the sons and daughters of Africa forced into chattel slavery," Jordan inveighed at a press conference in D.C. earlier this week. "Mumia is indomitable, as is the spirit of reparations and the campaign for justice for the millions who yet carry the mark of the lash."
Faulkner died with a bullet to his brain and back, and Jordan has the nerve to rant about Mumia's imaginary lash marks?
The gall knows no end. One class action lawsuit filed in Brooklyn, N.Y., against Fleet Boston Financial, Aetna and CSX puts the reparations tab at $1.5 trillion in unpaid wages of slave labor. Others have priced the pain at $500,000 in special tax rebates for every black American in the country, or up to $8 trillion.
A year and a half ago, when this self-pitying business of slavery reparations first took off, I whipped out my own reparations calculator. I urge others to do the same, and start clamoring for your own personal payoff:
My ancestors from the Philippines were enslaved by Spain and forced to build and man the galleons that brought Hispanic explorers to America. During World War II, my relatives were subjected to extreme physical and economic oppression under Japanese occupation. During the 1920s, the states of California and Hawaii imported 50,000 laborers from my ancestral homeland to toil on American farms. Filipinos also worked on agricultural fields in Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Montana. In addition, my people built levees in the San Joaquin Delta and slaved away in fisheries and lumber mills up and down the West Coast in horrid conditions.
During that time of servitude, Filipinos faced rampant societal and governmental discrimination. They were barred from voting, owning land or starting businesses of their own in California. Anti-miscegenation laws in 16 states kept my ancestors from legally marrying white women. Until 1947, it was illegal in California for Filipinos to marry whites. In Alaska, cannery workers from the Philippines were segregated and barred from many establishments that hung signs like "No dogs or Filipinos allowed."
Crunching the reparations numbers, every American of Spanish descent owes me $514,000 plus compound interest. Adjusted for inflation, every fellow countryman of Japanese descent owes $750,222. California residents owe my family an even $300,000. Alaskans, Hawaiians, Oregonians, Washingtonians, Arizonans and Montanans must pay $75,000 to atone. And anyone else -- white, black or otherwise -- whose family members ingested Filipino-harvested asparagus, peas, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, grapes or fish, or who burned Filipino-cut firewood, or who lived in homes built of Filipino-sawed lumber from 1923-1947, can settle their debt by sending me a check for $999.99.
As for Russell Simmons, you owe me, too. A free pair of your $65 Phat Classic shoes should cover my pain. I wear a women's size 6-1/2. No sneakers, no peace.
Contact Michelle Malkin | Read her biography
©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Oh...and I want some money for my wife, she has indian and black blood, so cut me in. The truth is..a lot of us are related to ex slaves and don't know or don't want to know about it.
Interesting concept, except I think they have been "using the system" since the Civil War. Just when you think there is nothing else...the Jesse's and the Al's think of something else.
Right on about the interrelateness of Americans. On my Mom's side it is western European origins, but on my Dad's...whoa boy. We got a bit of dis and a bit of dat...including a great grandfather who is American Indian. Who knows where it could all lead?
You really think that'll work? You think they won't keep voting RAT to get their "entitlements" increased? You think they won't riot again anywhere the next time some Rodney King-style event happens? Do you think Jesse Jackson will retire from the shakedown business?
At BEST, it would end the singular reparation article only, and would do so at the cost of who knows how many years of racial warfare in this country. Plus you know many many blacks will starting claiming, "Well, this is a good start, but..." And we'd still be left with every one of the other thousands of bogus accusations they've made against Whitey for over 40 years. All it would do is wreck the federal budget, wreck the economy, and wreck the social fabric of this country.
I would personally go for 40 acres and a mule in the African country of their choice. We will buy it for them. 40 acres and a mule are EXACTLY equal today as they were in the 1860's. By logical reasoning, any person who is so resentful of America to demand this reparation for being ripped from their native Africa should accept these 'reparations' in the land of their selected (imagined) origin. All those who claim to be non-hyphenated Americans and not demanding reparations should enjoy every benefit of this country and every American's respect and full acceptance.
Nam Vet
Don't flame me, I am being at least 1/2 sarcastic.
DITTOS for great-granddad Samuel, Union Army, Sixth West Virginia Infantry! Enlisted at age 18 on July 1, 1862, discharged on June 10, 1865.
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.
Originally, the program benefitted only Black families-though it was soon expanded to benefit others : there being no legal reason to deny Hispanics and Whites.After some initial resistance, the welfare bureaucrats saw the advantages of expanding their civil service empires, and the "hidden reparations" program metastatized into the cancerous lesion we have today.
Or use this formula:
Calculate the average yearly income for a typical black person in Africa.
Calculate the average yearly income for a typical black person in the United States.
Tax U.S. blacks 10% of the difference.
The more I think about it, I am convinced it's the way to go. You could use it to cut off any racial slur or barbs in debate. "We already paid for that sin!" we could say.
It worked for the Indians and we treated them worse in many ways. A few years back, we paid 'em off, and now you don't hear much about it.Oh little things sure... but the "YOU STOLE ALL MY LAND"! argument dropped off the radar screen.
As it is now, we only have the "Our ancestors fought to free you", which is a half truth at best and only half of the country can't even say that!
Heck.... you can't even say "I already gave at the office". This way... you have something to reply with that has some bite to cut off debate.
"Hey...I paid you already!" ...Now that, sounds pretty darned good to me. How about "Look, that's a settled issue!" "Thats old news!" "What more do you want? I gave you what you asked for"!
Yep, that all sounds good to me. The economy will get a boost because of all the "consumin'" that will be going on. I will have the right to throw off the yoke of slavery once and for all. Free at last! I could even fly my rebel flag, guilt free.
Now... where do I send my check?
Giving $15,000 - $55,000 to one mother, tax free and all at once, was commonplace. Checks as high as $70,000 were not uncommon.
Crack dealers across the country remember the early-mid 1990s as the good old days.
Let me know if you want more details.
No Justice, no Peace. You damned hollander! :)
While I don't buy your economic analysis - I think it would have a major negative impact on productive investment and economic activity - I came to a similiar conclusion years ago. The effects of any one-time payment would disappear within a generation and probably leave both Blacks and the country in worse condition, both economically and spiritually. The failure of the reparations program to lift people permanently out of dependency would leave resentments.
People with little experience handling money (think teenagers) would fritter it away on luxuries. There would be a boom in "African Heritage" travel packages, luxury car sales, wide screen televisions, "urban living communities" - you get the picture. Hucksters of every hue and stripe would cash in (think myriad Al Sharptons). The economy would starve for productive capital. France would surpass us in GDP. And everyone, Black, White, Other, would remember and resent it for another 10 generations.
Maybe I should write a book "How You Can Profit From the Coming Reparations Movement". Print glossy brochures offering "African Heritage Vacations", market "authentic" Africiana, invent African-themed investment schemes, think of the possibilities.
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.