Posted on 08/17/2002 2:36:52 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A few thousand black demonstrators rallied on the Mall in Washington on Saturday to demand that the U.S. government pay blacks reparations for slavery and decades of discrimination.
"I want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health," Charles Barron, a member of the New York City Council, told the crowd.
The demonstrators, numbering about 2,000 to 3,000, came from all parts of the United States, many traveling by bus from as far away as Texas. With the U.S. Capitol in the background, they chanted "Black power! Reparations!" and "Start the Revolution!"
"Apologize White America," said a sign carried by one demonstrator.
Barron, a self-proclaimed "elected revolutionary," said if the government did not act swiftly he personally would storm the Treasury Department ( news - web sites) and take the money for reparations.
Black activist Louis Farrakhan told the crowd, "America owes the black people a lot for what they've endured."
"We need land for political independence, we need millions of acres," Farrakhan added. "We need payment for 310 years of slavery, of destruction of our minds and the robbery of our culture."
The United States, torn apart by the Civil War, abolished slavery in 1865. Some people argue that even 137 years after abolition, blacks still suffer from the vestiges of slavery.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, urged blacks to press their elected representatives in Congress to deal with the issue of slavery reparations.
"We want reparations -- not next century, not 10 years from now, but now," Conyers said. "These wrongs can only be corrected in the House of Representatives, only Congress can do what we want now. All congressmen ought to be here today."
Conyers has backed legislation that would require the House of Representatives to study slavery's effects on blacks.
Demonstrators said blacks deserved "long overdue" reparations, noting compensation won by Jews in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust and Japanese-Americans for their internment by the United States in camps during World War II.
The turnout was smaller than the tens of thousands of demonstrators forecast by organizers of the "Millions for Reparations" movement. But those who traveled to Washington said they believed the rally would make a difference.
"You have to really make some noise just to be heard," Edna Russell, who traveled from Denver, told Reuters.
Kobina Abew, an American citizen from Ghana dressed in a colorful African gown, said, "It's going to be very effective. It's going to bring a solution to this problem, I believe."
Sure would like the li'l peckerhead to try, just fer my mental health!! When's the next protest?!
Quite Sincerely...MUD
Tell the snivellin' ba$+ards to pay back the over $6 Trillion we've already handed out and maybe then we'll talk...then again, maybe not!!
SHEEEESH...MUD
BWAHAHAHAHAHA...MUD
That placard holder must be really stupid to think that America owes him or any black anything. If he had a measurable IQ, he'd be on his knees thanking God that he enjoys the privilege of living in America.
As for the rest of the demonstrators, I ask "Isn't extortion a crime?"
I hear there is lots of vacant farmland in Zimbabwe right now.
Stolen from the White farmers who were then killed because of the color of their skin.
I vote that we give those in attendance today reparations in the form of a one-way ticket to their beloved Africa.
No offence intended to anyone who realistically applies math to this situation BUT! - - - -
The United States of America DID NOT EXIST until 1776. If you want to complain about who did what to whom before that - - - talk to the British, The French and the Spanish. But do not attempt to blame my native country or me.
In reality, the United States only was only involved in responsibly ( to what ever degree) from 1776 until 1865. Only 79 YEARS. And then only a FEW selected individuals out of millions of people were involved.
Hopefully realization that it was only 79 YEARS will help to qualm the garbage being spewed by many.
No sense wasting your breath on people with this mentality.
This aint no black thing. This is a money thing and that slap happy black man wants his. It aint the slapping of a white face that will make him happy, it is the slapping of them dollars on the counter and the slappin of his thigh that will put a smile on his face. That black man wants him a shinney new car and youze all ta buy it fah him.
HATE SPEECH! HATE SPEECH! I'm filing a complaint, dammit! He's producing hate speech! He's inciting hatred against whites! </sarcasm>
Holy crap. Could you imagine the crapstorm if a white guy got up in front of 500 people and said "I want to go up to the closest black person and say 'You can't understand this, it's a white thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health"? Such a double standard, but we knew that already.
}:-)4
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