Slavery Reparations, your thoughts? Options

[pezking]

I read this the other day and was blown away. I'm not trying to offend anyone and I'm not racist at all, but I think grouping white people as a whole and saying, "pay reparations" isn't right. Seeing that there are a lot of white people whose families fought for slave rights in the Civil War and not to mention the huge immigration from Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's of which weren't even involved in slavery. How are these people responsible? I guess I'm also tired of hearing people complain about stuff like reparations, especially when other groups have had worse happen to them... let's revisit the American Indian and talk about how they are STILL getting screwed by the US govt, which isn't just white people. Well, this is a good essay that I think puts things into a new perspective. I'm eagerly awaiting Mr. Gates response.

This is not for those with thin skin. No punches pulled!

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the chairman of Afro-American studies at
Harvard and is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks for slavery. Fred
Reed is a reporter that presents an interesting essay on this subject.

So How Many Slaves Do You Own???
For those of you unfamiliar with Fred Reed, he's a police reporter for
one of the large Washington newspapers....... Anyway, Fred publishes,
(published) a weekly online column in which he got to say the things his editors
would never, ever have let him write in the paper. His stuff is iconoclastic
and various articles have probably offended everyone regardless of political
orientation.

So, with the warning that "This is definitely not politically correct", here comes Fred.

The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a
culture. Please note that he elegantly describes the mood of many
Americans and he does so without prejudice.

Slavery Reparations...by Fred Reed

On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-
American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to
blacks. It's because of slavery, see. He is joined in this endeavor by a
gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess he'll send me a bill, huh?
I feel like saying, "Let me get this straight, Hank. I'm slow. Be
patient.

You want free money because of slavery, right? I don't blame you." I'd
like free money too. Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a
million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year
you were a slave. Fair enough? But tell me, how many slaves do you
suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean...Say to the nearest dozen. And
how long were you a slave?

Oh. In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't do
and didn't happen to you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday
cake.

Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and
never happened to me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and
thrown from the EiffelTower. I'll bet you've never done it to anyone. I
want reparations. Kinda silly, isn't it?

But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street that runs
in two directions. You want money from me for what some other whites did to
some other blacks in another century. How about you guys paying whites
reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks
burned down half of Los Angeles, a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. You can send me a check.

Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in the
trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers. Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities: Newark, Detroit, Watts, on and on.

Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in all its forms,
of large police forces and jails and security systems in department stores.

I can't live in the capital city of my own country because of crime
committed by blacks. Toss in the cultural cost of lowering standards in
everything for the benefit of blacks. See what I mean?

Now, I'd view things differently if you said, "Fred, blacks can't get
anywhere in a modern country without education. We know that. We need
better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller
pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?" I'd say, "Hallelujah!
Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes. Let's sell an aircraft carrier and
get these folks some real schools and get them into the economic
mainstream." I'd say it partly because it would be the right thing to do,
and partly, because I'd like to add you guys to the tax base.

The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for blacks to
study and learn to compete and stop burning places. But is it going to
happen? You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing
blacks as miserable and screwed up as they are. I spend a fair amount of
time in the projects. Those places are ugly. It's no fun watching
perfectly
good kids turn into semiliterate dope dealers who barely speak English.
It just plain ain't right. But, Hank, what am I supposed to do about it?
I can't do your children's homework.. At some point, people have
to do things for themselves, or they don't get done.

Maybe it's time.

I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank.. I think blacks are too
accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it. True, it
has worked for over half a century. Get a few hundred people in the
street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and
the Great White Cash Spigot turns on. Thing is, whites don't much buy it
any longer. Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement
has become a shakedown game. Few people still feel responsible for the
failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness keeps the lid
on
-- but everyone knows the score, which scares me, Hank.

On one hand, blacks hate whites and incline toward looting and burning.
(The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the civil-rights
movement.

Ever think about that?)

On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it. Not
good.

On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical convenience),
blacks keep demanding things. As I write, you demand reparations for
slavery. Blacks in Oklahoma (I think it was) want money for some ancient
race riot. Other blacks reject the Declaration of Independence, blacks in
New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a trial, yet more demand
the elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal opportunity
apparatus, which means blacks, wants to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring
nonexistent black engineers.

That's a lot of demanding for one month, Hank. What happens if whites ever
say, "No"?

Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard, and you
can hoot and holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it's
lots of fun, and you get a salary for it. But don't you think you might
do
blacks more good if you told them to complain less and study more?

For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the best
approach might be to find some really smart black guys, and get them to
study digital design, not Black Studies. That's how everybody else does
it. It works. Then blacks wouldn't feel left out, and racial tension would
decline.

Sound like a plan? Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do
professors of Afro-American Studies spend in the projects, encouraging
poor black kids to study real life sho-nuf subjects?