Posted on 09/28/2009 10:20:33 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
WASHINGTON -- Reparation for the legacy of slavery and peonage may not come in the form of a check, but it must come, speakers said Friday at a forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
"For him to stand up -- before even other people in the caucus stood up -- is remarkable," said Harvard Law School professor Charles J. Ogletree. "Sometimes you have to recognize there are friends among us who are doing things that are helping us understand what we need to do."
Cohen is a co-sponsor of a bill by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., first introduced in 1989, that calls for a commission to study reparation proposals.
Ogletree explained that Conyers came up with the idea after legislation apologizing to Japanese Americans interned during World War II passed in 1988.
Getting the study bill passed in this Congress is finally possible, said Ogletree, because "my sense is we could not have a more propitious time."
Detroit City Council member JoAnne Watson said that the apology was a first step. She said the second step is investigation, the third step is compensation and the fourth step is consequences for wrongdoing.
"We are worth it," Watson said. "We're not begging. It's ours."
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America chairwoman Njere Alghance of Georgia said placing the issue at the forefront of the international agenda is important. She said she's working to make "reparations" a household word like "holocaust" has become.
Professor Ron Walters of the University of Maryland, author of "The Price of Racial Reconciliation," said it's important to understand that slavery continued to exist well into the 20th century as peonage after it was formally ended in 1865.
Elections have consequences.
Lawd, not this s*it again.
Hey, I’ve been a wage slave to the Federal Government for ~40 years. I want a rebate.
It’s called TARP. Where did that money go?
6 trillion on welfare.
Paid in full.
Hey, do you have to submit to a DNA test to see if you are black enough to qualify? What about those who came here after the Civil War, do they need a family history?
All of these questions make this issue stupid as hell.
And again - why should I pay? One side of my family deserves reparations from Turkey for abuses committed under Ottoman rule, and the other side lost everything in the War to Establish the Federal Empire (1861-1865).
Well, I want reparations too. One of my ancestors was an indentured servant in the 1600’s in Virginia.
Are any of the African tribes who sold them to the slave traders going to chip in? If not...this is NOT fair.
Propitious time....does that mean we have a sympathetic president? None of his ancestors were slaves...it was quite possible some of his ancestors did some of the selling to the traders.
What hogwash.
Thanks for posting. I knew you’d come through.
Propitious?
Now he’s showing off.
Go ahead Morons that should about do the trick!!!!!
What about the Free Men of Color who owned slaves? Should their decendents receive reparations?
I’ve had not one but TWO friends shot in the face by Blacks. Will I get reparations?
If Reparations are passed, only the American taxpayers will be footing the bill so what does Rep Cohen care?
I think it’s a good idea. All of you who were former slaves please step forward.
Matter of opinion.
Steve Cohen, a jew up for a tough re election fight against King Willie himself, from Memphis TN......
Exactly! Reparations time now. This is what is all about for many of the folks who voted for BHO. It’s payback time baby.
“Reparation for the legacy of slavery and peonage may not come in the form of a check, but it must come, speakers said Friday at a forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.”
F*CK YOU.
Such an apology was incredibly stupid, unwarranted, and reflective of the vanquished in a totalitarian government, like the Communists forcing public confessions of our Vietnam POWs, before they were executed or otherwise further humiliated, punished, and paraded about.
I wonder if Steve Cohen is intelligent enough to see his stupidity, or is his vision clouded by a disordered mind? What purpose is served by such acts, other than to humiliate yourself and the people you represent? Or, is this just another Marxist step by our country toward Communism and redistribution of income?
No “sorry” from me. My American heritage hasn’t been here 100 years yet.
600,000 dead American boys during the Civil War should be payment enough.
Free flights to Liberia for all who want to go.
I propose that the revenue to make any reperations payments be a percentage of each barrell of domestic oil extracted from currently undrilled oil reserves.
“We are worth it,” Watson said. “We’re not begging. It’s ours.”
The full audacity of a Detroiter’s entitlement mentality. This is the reason Detroit is in such squalor.
Makes me think of a bumper sticker I saw years ago: “If I knew then what I know now, I would have picked my own damn cotton.”
Does anyone know the history behind Liberia? In all my schooling I had never heard of it. Someone told me that it was set up for ex-slaves who wanted to go back to Africa. Is this true? If it is true, why isn’t it in any book? It certainly sounds like a reparation. Can some one clarify this for me?
My forefathers paid my debt in blood. They were with Sherman.
There were thousands of blacks who owned slaves. There were black slave breeders who sold their own offspring into slavery. Do their descendants get reparations too?
What the heck is that supposed to mean? All persons with any European blood to be flogged by all persons with any African blood?
Any thought of consequences for the Arab Muslims who sold the Black Africans into slavery in the first place, and continue to do so TO THIS VERY DAY in Africa?
What they refuse to understand is that gov. $$ has done more to destroy black culture than anything the KKK could have ever devised.
I am white as a bedsheet but I do have a decendant that was a black house slave. (all decendants stayed with white folk after that)
I look like a cross between Andy Griffith and Larry the Cable Guy. You can’t get any whiter than me. But I am a decendant. I WANT REPARATIONS!!!!
Maybe a little research of Cohen is in order, a good many jews were in on the slave trade. If me and my family are made to bear this burden because of the color of our anscestors skins then Mr. Cohen should be vetted to see if he is as pure as the driven snow.
Purpose? His re-election. He must be desperate for a job.
That’s true.

"We are worth it," Watson said. "We're not begging. It's ours.""
************************************
No, you're only worth 168 grains and 2 ounces of pull.
I guess the idiots of this once great nation have no clue as to just how close they are to pushing the entire country over the line and into a free fire zone. I want peace in this country, along with a restored Constitution. If this idiot's "4 step plan" is initiated, we will see CWII. The number of lives lost will make CWI look like a bad freeway pile-up.
It's not enough for them to play the race card anymore, they have to play the victim card, too.... Just... damn...
Regards,
Raven6
They would be able to understand that if they could get past their own envy and entitlement mentality. That is why envy is considered a deadly sin, it destroys without delay.
>>>>>>>Yep, I think we should give all black people a million dollars.<<<<<<<<
...and have it right back in a year.
Good idea for me though... part of my job is distributing chrome custom wheels. I could retire in 6 months!
Agree but watch if passed, even the slave owners and gathers will want funds based on color and a hyphenated name.
...balanced edited
Slaves? Welcome to the club
Somewhere in history, everyone’s ancestors were slaves.
Every policy, so far, that 0bama has pushed has been de facto reparations.
Just look at who pays and who receives.
I think they’ll have to use the “paper bag test” to determine who pays and who receives.
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