Posted on 05/06/2012 1:18:51 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For more than 45 million black Americans, there are many issues that unite or divide us. Undoubtedly, the issue of reparations for African people in general and in particular for black Americans is an issue began as a divisive topic but now receives support from a board cross-section of blacks in America.
Of course, there are some who wanted to table a national discussion of reparations in the aftermath of the election of President Barack H. Obama. Yet, there were many others who have argued that now is the most propitious time to accelerate the national dialogue about reparations because there is a "brother" in the White House.
This is a pivotal year because of the November elections. Any issue that is related to race will be used by those who oppose to President Obama. The goal of conservatives is to polarize American voters to vote their racial prejudice instead of voting their conscience about the future of the nation as an inclusive participatory democracy.
Given the recent polarization around the calls for equal justice and fairness in the Trayvon Martin killing, it would be naïve to think that race will not play a factor in the upcoming elections. The truth is race is just not a problem that crept onto the national scene accidentally. Race has been a social, economic, and political problem in America for more than 200 years. This is nothing new. What is new, however, is how the victims of racism see themselves, and how the perpetrators of racism view themselves.
Fortunately, renowned legal scholars such as Harvard's Charles Ogletree and others have articulated a rational defense for reparations, which would be therapeutic not only for black Americans, but also for all Americans.
I have consistently supported the call and the demand for reparations that go beyond whatever monetary compensation. Reparations are also about "repairing the damage" that was done to millions of African people, not just in America, but in the Caribbean, Central and South America, in Africa and throughout the rest of the world.
The United Nations is slowly working on establishing a permanent memorial to the victims of the infamous trans-Atlantic slave trade. In Washington, D.C., the construction of the African American Museum has begun. The United States Senate has issued an "apology" for slavery. And in my home state of North Carolina, Gov. Bev Perdue has just called for the state to spend $10.3 million in "reparations" to the victims of a vicious eugenics state program that sterilized thousands of people against their will. Most of those who were unjustly and savagely sterilized were black. Again, no amount of money could ever justify or rectify that awful and callous past. Still, Gov. Perdue's actions are the right steps at the right time. Healing is a long-term process. It takes time. The perpetrators of racism need a "repairing" of their minds and hearts.
It is interesting to note that even amidst a recovering of the American economy from the threshold of severe economic ruin, billions of dollars are being spent by candidates and campaigns for political office throughout the U.S. like they have unlimited money-trees to spend without reservation or limitation. The point here is so much of the "old money" and ingrained wealth of the nation came directly from the systematic economic exploitation of African people during 500 years of slavery and post-slavery institution-building. That is why it will take a tremendous calculation to determine a full accounting of the financial and human toll of the slave trade and its aftermath. Harper's magazine did a study that concluded that the U.S. owes black Americans more than $100 trillion in reparations. It is probably more than that.
This may not be the perfect time to raise this issue. Judging by the past, there is never a perfect time. Today is as good as any time. Let's work harder on the issue of reparations. We can begin by supporting the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA), which will hold its national convention in Philadelphia, June 22-24. Reparations for black Americans should be supported by all Americans.
******
Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is president of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and Education Online Services Corporation and serves as the national director of Occupy the Dream. He can be reached at drbenjamin.chavis@gmail.com
None of my antecedents were in America during the civil war or slavery, so I guess I don’t have a dog in this fight.
But they were in Slovakia, and the Hungarians ruled over them for a thousand years.
When will I get a check for that.
You’d just squander it on a Cadillac and a forty.
His fake (and certainly free) divinity degrees are enough reparations for this slug.
Mr. Chavis, will you with reparations relinquish any future claims of disadvantage?
Will you absolve me, whose great great great (some number of greats) grandfather might have been an New England sea captain and shipper of slaves (or maybe he just ran tea and sugar or fabric and notions)?
Will you absolve me, who has been mocked by blacks, beaten up by blacks?
Will you absolve me who has given up my seat in the bus or subway to a black woman?
Will you absolve me who has failed to land a job because the black man or woman interviewed better?
Will you absolve me who has worked for the black man and black woman in a startup company?
Will you absolve me?
And then the real question - will I accept absolution from you?
If the reparations came in the form of a Constitutional amendment ending all racial quotas, affirmative action and color coded organizations that exclude others races i.e. La Raza and The < insert college name here > Black Student Union then IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA. A one time payoff and end the madness.
The United States of America already did reparations. Blacks were given a nation in their home continent. It is called Liberia. Is there an advertising campaign that informs Blacks of their right to go to Liberia? Is there a fund that pays their passage to Liberia? Is it a government fund of a private fund? I would really like to know. Are there any conditions on Blacks being able to relocate to Liberia, or are any Blacks welcome there? Anyone know the law on this reparation?
This is pure trash.
When are people going to stand on their own two Feet.
A lot of the black slaves were sold to white slave merchants by Arabs. Arabs are enslaving blacks to this day. Arabs should pay Blacks’ passage to Liberia?
Paid in full. It was called The Civil War.
As long as they’re getting welfare, food stamps, section 8, government cheese, subsidized day care, free cell phones, free laptops, free Internet, WIC, Head Start, free school lunches (and breakfasts and dinners in many cases), gas cards, bus passes, food bank groceries, free holiday gifts, unemployment, tax refunds on money they never made and etc, etc. why should they?
Interesting pic of the freckled and blue eyed “Doctor” (sic) Chavis.
What is he, maybe 1/4 African? At most?
Does that mean he gets a 1/4 reparation?
Or should his 1/4 African self get paid reparations from his 3/4 white self?
You can buy colored contacts at a kiosk in a 3rd rate mall. Many light-skinned blacks sport freckles and some even have reddish or blonde hair.
No one alive has owned a slave. No one alive has been a slave. Also, what does the wrriter think the last 50 years of welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, Section 8 and affirmative action have been?
The remainder of what I REALLY want to say would get me banned. It is enough to say certain sections of the population are lazy, worthless parasites looking to take as much as they can from those that work, so they do not have to lift a finger to support themselves.
Yes, but as they say that’s “unsustainable” and can’t go on much longer.
Reparations have already been paid many times over. If not for slave ancestors, the current U. S. black population could be residing in mud huts or on the run in Darfur to avoid ethnic cleansing or starving in Somalia.
Affirmative Action, Welfare, Food Stamps, Hate Crime laws, Minority "Rights", EBT's, etc., etc.
We've raped taxpayers of their earnings to buy the Black Vote for Democrats, to keep them on The Plantation, and there is NO PROGRESS whatsoever in making Blacks responsible for their own outcomes, as we have a 4th Generation of parasites in EVERY Major City, where 75%+ of the children have no fathers in the home, no fathers identified to pay for their actions, and drug use and gang cultures abound. Until we realize that cutting off the handouts, drug-testing of recipients, and MANDATORY DNA-matching to identify the responsible fathers while removing rewards of more $$$ to repeat mothers who have no income other than from OTHERS to live on, we will NOT see a change.
There's a reason why Africans still are a 3rd World Country, because they have the same tribal mentality and lack of responsible thought processes.
Black African Slavers like Barrock Hussein Obama and Spike Lee?
Those welfare-sucking slugs better figure out fast how to support themselves. I have no problem assisting those that CANNOT help themelves, such as the elderly, the physically infirm or the truly mentally ill.(The ones if asked what color is the sky in their world would truthfully answer purple.)
I do have an issue with my hard-earned tax dollars being stolen from me and given to those that WILL NOT work. Those that make all the wrong decisions(never graduating high school, eight different kids by eight different sperm donors) and expect their personal irresponsibility to be my permanent financial liability.
The GOAL of Democrats is to make sure 95% of Blacks vote for their token Black, as they did in 2008, so what's the difference in the "racist" issue on both sides.
The DIFFERENCE is that Conservatives would vote for a Black ELIGIBLE, VETTED, and RESPONSIBLE Black Candidate (an Allen West, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, etc.-type), whereas they will not vote for "a white dude" in the Black Community, UNLESS he is a Progressive/Vote-Buying-with-TAXPAYER EARNINGS'CONFISCATION-type, and has a (D) next to his name.
BEcause you’ve benefitted from the racist system that rewards whitey and keeps the Black Man down.
Reparations? How’s this formula.
Take the average income of a subsaharan African, subtract from this an A-A’s income (including government dole). If the number is positive they get a check, if the number is negative they have to fork over the difference and shut their pie hole for the rest of their lives.
“I will move to another country the day it’s enacted.”
Not me. I won’t abandon my country in its death throes. But I will most certainly join “the resistance.”
Also, since my ancestors were in the Union Army, who LIBERATED the slaves, I demand compensation from their descendants for all the hardships and suffering they went through.
Benny for Secretary of Commerce....the trouble with this once great country ....{and i think i speak here without contradiction..} IS:
We got too many ole white guys gummin up the mix...From day one we know that know nothings like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine and their ilk have stood in the way of real progress in America. What we need is a good dose of hip hop from and by the Hippy Hoppy Nation. Like ‘THE ONE’ himself a hip hopper is sure to put us on the right track once more and may show us the way the truth and, not inconsequentially, the light....Bring on the Hip Hopper IN Chief and all his friends ‘n give ‘em a reparation r two while yer at it.
MAH BRAS, CAN I HEAR AN AMEN?!?
Benign Neglect Forever...that’s the ticket..
‘BAM! I’m Irish and I want MY MONEY NOW’
Dast ye leave out the German Dutch, laddie buck?
Ach du leiber, mein Herr...sagen, es ist nicht so!
“Kunta Kinte”
Cool. We demand reparations for the damage to all civilian private property, all pain and suffering during the Civil War to my family and all related branches from anyone who benefited or profited from said violence.
40 acres and a Lexus, dang it!
Note also the pure projection of claming that conservatives are the ones using race to divide Americans.
My Dutch side has entirely different case!
That poor man died just this past week. I posted a thread about it. The combination of the brutal attack, his age, and his broken heart killed him. Prayers for the couple’s family.
Begone yee Troll!
Zots a lot for ya!
Sorry my comment just repeated what you said. I’ve been up with one of the grandkids since 6. :-)
das machine und equipment is nicht fer de gerfingerpoken
keepin das hands in das pockects und watchin das blinkin lights is order of de day.
Perhaps we should compare average net worth for persons of color with average net worth from legacy Africaners. My guess is that the African-Americans are well ahead of their legacy Africaner counterparts, so maybe they should pool their money and compensate them!
Like me, you're ethnically a Slav. If you look at the etymology of the words, "slave", "slavery," etc. you'll realize how much we're owed in the way of reparations :-)
I'm not going to demand mine in a lump sum. Just a small, say $5.00 royalty, on every time any of those words are used, exploiting the plight of my ancestors.
Give them their reparations. Then Affirmative Action, welfare, food stamps, EBTs,etc, all of it ends...forever...for those that receive said reparations. Period.
Negroes owe Whites reparations for the costs of increased police protection, 12% of the population responsible for 50% of the crime.
Responsible use of the money would NOT include job-seeking, education, or lifestyle changes.
There's a REASON black culture is not up to responsible acts, and it's too in-grained and acceptable to change now.
Not me. If I’d owned any of them, the lawn would look a lot better...
what’s funny is they idolize Lincoln. They have no clue he said those things and no clue that the CW was never about freeing them. It was an after thought.
Yep!
Indeed!
Leeches
Then what?
Reparations for slavery?
When a black woman is one of the richest people in America?
When a black man was Secretary of State??
When a black woman was Secretary of State?
When black men have occupied — and still occupy – seats on the Supreme Court??
When a black would-be despot sits in the White House?????
When countless black men have risen to the top of the ranks of the richest in professional sports and show business?? Men like Hank Aaron. Men like Bill Cosby who... (Never mind. As we all know, Bill’s either an Uncle Tom or Oreo Cookie, depending on which black race pimp you listen to.)
And how about it’s equally goofy companion, the so-called Liberation Theology?
Liberation from WHAT? The chance to achieve and succeed in one of the few nations where, until the fellow embracing those and other tenets of Marxism moved into the White House, that opportunity exists for all men?
Give me a break!!
Minorities are some of the hardest hit when those Marxist ideas bite and take down the free-market, private property economy. As I record this, Obama’s popularity with the black community is sinking like the proverbial streamlined anvil and his panic is justified – and increasingly obvious.
Let me pause here to make the obligatory white guy, PC dictated disclaimer: I am NOT a racist. I supported Herman Cain in his run for the Senate. And I will probably support him in his run for the WH if he can get the necessary traction.
I consider Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams two of the finest economists and minds extant today. In case you don’t know them, both are black.
Sowell, Williams and Cain – among others — have spoken out against those fellow blacks who castigate and vilify America for a slavery now long in our past. And ALL thinking men and women of all races oppose the periodic calls for reparations. (When he ran, I supported Alan Keyes. I even spoke in his stead on the RTKABA at a Capitol rally and was asked to fill in for him on his radio show at the time. Sadly, while I still consider Dr. Keyes a good man, I have had to rethink my support since he came out FOR reparations.)
The fact is that the modern descendants of slaves brought here in chains in admittedly miserable, soul-gutting conditions now calling for reparations need to remember something:
They should not only be glad to be in America, they should be glad to be ANYWHERE!
Had their ancestors NOT been brought OUT of Africa – many by Muslim slave raiders —the blood of those ancestors would have run into the earth over there several centuries ago, victims of the OTHER black tribes that captured them in one of the interminable tribal conflicts STILL ravaging that sad continent and these modern day would-be “plaintiffs” would not even exist.
And I would remind you that slavery is STILL practiced in Asia and parts of Africa as you watch this (mainly by – American BLACK muslims LISTEN UP!! — MUSLIMS) and Asia today. How ironic that disgruntled American blacks are embracing a political/economic/legal system – ISLAM — mightily responsible for their initial bondage – and would, if Islam takes root here, probably put any who cling to their Christianity back INTO BONDAGE – or to the sword.
95% of the African slaves who were transported across the Atlantic went to South and Central America, mainly to Portuguese, Spanish and French possessions, and that less than 5% of the slaves who crossed the Atlantic came to the United States. Am I the only one who finds it remarkable that the vast majority of academic research, films, books and articles concerning the slave trade concentrate only on the American involvement, as though slavery was a uniquely American aberration?
QUESTION: Should the great-great-great grandchildren of SLAVE OWNING BLACKS also be subject to PAYING these reparations? If so, how do we find THEM?
And I have traced MY family back to the SLAVS. Although the term looks to be related to “slave,” depending on your source, it either means “glory” or “worshipper.” But my family research indicates that many of my ancestors – and yours as well — LIVED lives of virtual slavery to some despot or other. Do I qualify for reparations? From whom?? And it begs a question: Are most of us now living here headed into a modern form of that servitude? But that’s a topic for another discussion.
That said, we acknowledge that, just as today, deranged and mentally ill people existed in early America and some slaves WERE mistreated by their overseers and others. Just as a modern-day farmer would be mad to senselessly abuse his expensive farm equipment, I suspect few slave-owning farmers would senselessly abuse their revenue producing farmhands for whom they had exchanged often considerable sums of money. And if you believe abuse is exclusive to enslavement of the sort we discuss here, spend some time in the violence of a modern American prison.
As I just mentioned, SOME of those slave-owning farmers were, themselves, BLACK!
The official US Census of 1830 lists 3,775 free blacks who owned 12,740 black slaves. Furthermore, the facts of the history of slavery here record that the first slave owner, the Father of American slavery, if you will, was Mr. Anthony Johnson, of Northampton, Virginia. His slave was John Casor, the first slave for life. Both were black Africans. The story is very readable, and outlines cases of free black women owning their husbands, free black parents selling their children into slavery to white owners, and absentee free black slave owners, who leased their slaves to plantation owners.
Check it out for yourself in “Selling Poor Steven”, American Heritage Magazine, Feb/Mar 1993 (Vol. 441) p 90 . Their archives are on the web.
Of course, a full telling of Black History would not be complete without a recitation of the origin of slavery in the Virginia colony:
Virginia, Guide to The Old Dominion, WPA Writers’ Program, Oxford University Press, NY, 1940, p. 378
A few more salient points on the subject:
Until the US declared independence, the Colonies were REQUIRED by the King of England to embrace slavery.
The Northwest Ordinance (1789) prohibited slavery in federal territories.
A law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the US became effective in 1808.
Beginning in 1820, the Democratic Congress started passing laws allowing and encouraging slavery.
It was only after the Republican Party (many of whom were southern Blacks) was formed some 40 years later that the anti-slavery movement was able to go forward.
And the holier-than-thou Northern liberals are strangely silent on recent archeological evidence from NEW YORK CITY clearly tracing the financing of the slave trade to NORTHERN BUSINESSMEN!!
At the height of his remarkable boxing career, Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay), once declared, “I’m glad my great-grandpa got on that boat.”
And speaking of ancestors, my paternal grandmother’s daddy joined with the 80th Ohio Volunteer Infantry early in the War Between the States (re-upped twice) and fought on the Union side at Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Jackson then joined up with Sherman for that infamous march to the sea through Georgia. My wife’s great-great grandpappy ALSO fought for the Union. While we revere the memories of our ancestors, inasmuch as that conflict was less about slavery than it was the economic exploitation and abuse of the South by the North, I fear they MAY have been on the wrong side.
Author Robert Hitt Neill tells of attending a Tennessee Mountain Writer’s Conference years ago with several other authors. Among them was Alex Hailey, celebrated author of “Roots.” Watching a TV news show, a group of them viewed a demonstration in a Southern state against the “Rebel” flag incorporated into that state’s flag. The very next report covered a famine in Africa. Graphic images showed dead bodies, starving children with distended tummies and runny noses and dying people covered with flies, too weak to brush them away.
Mr. Hailey intoned in a low, serious voice, “Every time an American black sees a story like that, they should find a Confederate flag and kiss it.” He then pointed to the TV screen and continued, “Because these would be me and my descendants, except for American slavery. I thank God that my family and I are here instead of there.”
Next problem!
Reparations were paid in BLOOD on a thousand battlefields from 1861-1865. HALF A MILLION CASULTIES. Is that enough reparations for them?
It will never be enough, ever. What they want is white people to be slaves, and guilty white people want to be slaves. That is about it.
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