Reparationsmania! Operation infinite justice “gaining momentum”
posted at 4:50 pm on July 10, 2006 by Allahpundit
More stuff that it’s not worth the headaches to comment on. The pros and cons are all there, the latter voiced by John McWhorter of the “conservative Manhattan Institute” and the former by the emphaticallly non-ideologically-affiliated Charles Ogletree.
Me, I think it’s a great idea. What better way to promote healthy race relations than with massive compulsory redistributions of wealth? It’ll cure blacks’ sense of grievance and make whites more sympathetic to the injustice of slavery by driving home the economic costs.
What could go wrong?
Blowback
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Um, so do us decendants of Polish immigrants who never owned slaves have to participate in this? My family’s American roots only go back 4 generations and I just want to be clear on who has to pay or not. Because, as it is I have a car in the repair shop and a daughter’s 14th birthday party to pay for and I’m broke. Can I demand reparations from anyone who said “Polock” jokes when I was growing up? I mean, they were being culturally insensitive, right?
DakRoland on July 10, 2006 at 4:55 PM
Sooo… do those of us who have direct ancestors who DIED FIGHTING to free the slaves in the Civil War get a pass on this… or is the ultimate sacrifice not enough?
Of course… I also had direct ancestors who fought for the Confederacy against those evil Yankees who were subverting the Constitution of the US… during the War of Northern Aggresion…
Gee… can I therefore blame FRANCE??? Some of my ancestors were Hugonauts… kicked out of France… that why we were in America in the first place….
Therefore, it seems fair that FRANCE should shoulder my part of the burden…
Romeo13 on July 10, 2006 at 5:03 PM
I wonder what the total economic cost of the 600,000 or so white guys who died in the Civil War that ended slavery would wind up being.
But no… they can’t think about. That would stop the Evil-Hate-Bush-Master-Control-Voice stop talking to them in their head.
Can’t have that now can they?
venmax on July 10, 2006 at 5:04 PM
Speaking for alot of us white males
Why the **** should I give you a damn cent because somebody elses great grandfather enslaved your great great grandfather? My family got here from Turkey in 1920, by that time, this country had stopped buying and selling people for sixty years. And its not like we were in the South anyway, my family lived in New York City for two generations until my parents moved out to California and I was born.
So why the **** do you deserve ANY fracking money from me?
Defector01 on July 10, 2006 at 5:07 PM
Any descendants of Union Army members should in turn receive compensation from compenstaed blacks for freeing them and the untold hardships they and their families went through.
Also, any compensated blacks will no longer be eligible for any special “minority” treatment such as affirmative action, quotas, ect.
darwin on July 10, 2006 at 5:11 PM
OK – so if a descendent of slaves banks at Wachovia, does he have to pay reparations to himself?
LB - the one that isn't LaShawn Barber on July 10, 2006 at 5:16 PM
Er, my dad’s half of the family fought with the North … my great great great grandfather died a Colonel in the GAR just before Appomattox. My mom’s half is from Europe and she herself was an immigrant … they never owned slaves. Do I pay half? Or nothing? Does my ancestor’s death on the battlefield cancel out the obligation? Do I get a re-imbursement? A discount?
Also, what about all the African tribes that colluded with the white slave-traders to gather up victims? What do they have to pay?
Plus, some free blacks owned slaves. How do you work that out?
Frankly, I think this is just a plot by the race-baiters to insure they and their children and their children’s children have jobs for generations to come.
Chas on July 10, 2006 at 5:30 PM
As a decendant of Irish immigrants who arrived in America in the early 19th century, I hereby demand “indentured servitude” reparations for the discrimination endured by my ancest…oh…wait…sorry, I must’ve sliiped into dipshit mode there for a second.
I think I’ll lighten up, take responsibility for my own destiny, and try to stop blaming everyone else for my own lack of desire to better myself.
BirdEye on July 10, 2006 at 5:31 PM
Don’t the Dutch fall in here somewhere?
darwin on July 10, 2006 at 5:34 PM
“I think I’ll lighten up, take responsibility for my own destiny, and try to stop blaming everyone else for my own lack of desire to better myself”.
What??? Heresy !!! Heresey !!!
darwin on July 10, 2006 at 5:36 PM
Hey, if the Episcopalians want to pay, they can have at it. But on behalf of Treasury Secretary Paulson and the People of the United States of America, I call bullshit. And also, we gave at the office. Lots.
Pablo on July 10, 2006 at 5:37 PM
Write the check!!
Shmo on July 10, 2006 at 5:40 PM
I write the check each April 15……
d1carter on July 10, 2006 at 5:47 PM
If I as a black man walked up to a white proponent of reparations and slapped the **** out of him would I be wrong?
Theworldisnotenough on July 10, 2006 at 5:56 PM
Why am I never thanked for having relatives who had never even laid eyes on a black person yet marched thousands of miles and died on the battlefield to free the blacks from slavery?
Instead it is I who is expected to pay a penalty for the sacrifice my ancestors made?
Perchant on July 10, 2006 at 5:59 PM
I’m a cradle
EpiscopalianAnglican, and found the 75th General Convention an absolute insult to everyone with two functioning brain cells. Too bad, Theworldisnotenough, you weren’t a Lay Deputy.Aunt B on July 10, 2006 at 6:29 PM
Sorry, Folks; the Native Amirican ‘Indians’ will get it all, if the government goes this route. Of course, the tribes are working their own routine with their casinos.
I figure in a few more years of gambling income and they’ll announce they’re buying Oklahoma back and start working backwards from there.
Mike O on July 10, 2006 at 6:38 PM
Repatriation is reparation! The line forms to the left…
Pablo on July 10, 2006 at 6:38 PM
DakRoland,
I’m thinking my dad might owe you some money for “Pollock” jokes. Sorry bout that. I think the Poles are just swell and the jokes are now hilarious when substituting “liberals” or “democrats” for the “Pollock” term — and much more fitting:)
wytammic on July 10, 2006 at 6:52 PM
What could go wrong? Probably nothing, given the fact that most of the folks in this Country are too busy trying to make their monthly payments to be able to do anything that’d get the Government’s attention.
Personally, I think that the Hispanics had the right idea. What our Government needs, to focus it’s attention, is not a Day without Illegal Immigrants, but about a Week without the Opressor Class.
I could afford to take a week off. If all of us evil Opressors went home for a week, what’d happen to the economy?
But it won’t happen. Too many of us are living from paycheck to paycheck, and are too afraid of losing our jobs. Personally, if it happens, I’m going to take an early retirement that I have never planned on. And work the underground economy if I have to, because if that’s what I’m paying taxes for, I quit. Resign. Cease to be a productive part of the economy. Or at least as far as the
bloated tax sucking income redistributorsUnited States Internal Revenue Service is concerned.I can live on cornbread, Pinto beans, and the occasional mess of greens if I have to. And I will, before I contribute to that kind of idiocy.
jefferson101 on July 10, 2006 at 6:54 PM
jefferson101 – Well said. You don’t know how many times I would have liked to “resign” because of this bullcrap. My wife does though.
darwin on July 10, 2006 at 7:00 PM
Where do all of yu get off trying to apply logic, common sense and facts to an obvious shake-down?
bbz123 on July 10, 2006 at 7:07 PM
I’m only a second generation American, and damn proud to be American btw.
But reparations? Wasn’t that already done? I seem to remember reading about Liberia, and that after the Civil war it was set up by Monroe so that all free slaves that wanted to go back to mother Africa could. Also, weren’t all the freed slaves given so many acres of land?
Reparations is idiotic. Why don’t all the people asking for reparations get down on their knees and thank what ever gods their are that their ancestors were brought to this country and then introduced to each other? I know some of the less inteligent people who read this comment are going to have an apopletic fit, but lets face facts. If you are african american and the first slaves in your tree lived 500 miles away, they would have never met, and you would not be alive today.
The point? Quit asking for a hand out based on a past which you have not directly experianced. Work your arse off like everyone else and be succesfull.
I swear, liberals demanding reparations, they are the most rascist group on the planet.
(Disclaimer to those that take offense, I am not responsible for your lack of reading comprehension. Pick up a book and learn to think coherently)
Wyrd on July 10, 2006 at 7:13 PM
Wish their was an edit button…
Should read:
If you are african american and the first slaves in your family tree lived 500 miles away from each other, they would have never met, and you would not be alive today.
Wyrd on July 10, 2006 at 7:40 PM
Someone above said it…The AMERICAN INDIANS have the most to complain about. They really were here first. It was the land they loved and lived on and even they didnt claim ownership of said land. It belonged to all men(&women).
So now we’ve allowed them casinos in an attempt to try to ‘make it better’. Weak effort, but great for a few. Most still live in horrible poverty. Your worst day is far better than their best day. Thats the truth. Go visit a reservation.
We could never, NEVER make it equal or even for those in slavery so many decades ago either. How to proceed reperations for those families? Impossible! It cant be done equally for ALL involved. Plus, how many white people have lost out on college and opportunity because of Affirmative Action. How many are broke now and need the same monetary support? Do all of the blacks that prospered from ‘AA’ pay into this equally? (of course except McKinney) Are any other races on the receiving end of travesties done to them in the past? How far do we go? 100 years, 150? 300yrs?
Back to the Indian, real indigenous indians. They’ve lost land, millions of acres and we are trying to do a little for them. Maybe allow some businesses for those ‘proved affected’ in this slavery deal. Dont give money.
Also, is there for the African Americans…a silver lining, a blessing in disguise? that they now live in America and not the killing fields of so many African Nations. What is that worth? More than money.Does this make it right? Hell no. But we just cant try to start repairing all of the bad past by throwing dollars at it.
But if I had a choice, I’d take living in the USA.
In short, people will try to help people, as many as possible. But in this way you couldnt even hope for a 3% approval/success rate.
Maybe the real value is in the lessons we learn thru being better people, by following God, trying to do his will.
Or, we can throw money at it.
shooter on July 10, 2006 at 7:47 PM
Ok, Allah,
since it looks like you deleted my post, i’ll try again – didn’t reparations already happen?? I thought freed slaves got 40 acres. am I wrong?
pullingmyhairout on July 10, 2006 at 7:47 PM
Wyrd, You’re a genius!!!
Sure, it was a miswritten line, but think about it.
The libs demand obedience to the theory of evolution. They claim humans all came from apes and monkeys and first appeared in Africa. Therefore, we’re all Africans! Yessss! Each and every one of can now claim to be oppressed! We can all now vote ourselves money from the public treasury! Lifelong high livin’ on the dole. Sweeeeet! And it won’t cost much…except our Republic
ScottG on July 10, 2006 at 8:03 PM
“It’ll cure blacks’ sense of grievance and make whites more sympathetic to the injustice of slavery by driving home the economic costs.”
Bonus: We would then have a healthy precedent for doing likewise with the growing Latino and Native American Indian groups! After all, we’re still benefitting from their colonization, and they’re a larger group than blacks now and have all the same economic and power disadvantages.
Alex K on July 10, 2006 at 8:49 PM
Since when has the word war been knocked off the phrase war reparations?
Only in this one circumstance is compensation even Constitutional, at no other time can atonement for suffering be found as legal.
The American Indians received ‘War’ reparations.
Were we ever at war with African Americans?
Did anybody stop to realize that a substantial percentage of American Blacks are not related to slaves at all, but Africans who immigrated to America long since the Civil War?
In truth this issue is so divisive and repugnant to most Americans that if given the choice between reparations for Blacks and illegal immigration they might just choose the immigrants.
Speakup on July 10, 2006 at 9:00 PM
Some of my ancestors were in Norway at the time of slavery, others were in Illinois. As is the case of millions of Americans- they and all of their ancestors never owned slaves in America. I think there would be civil disobedience against anything like that.
gmoonster on July 10, 2006 at 10:27 PM
Since slavery started under British rule, does the queen of England have to write a check?
lostmyleggins on July 11, 2006 at 12:22 AM
didn’t reparations already happen?? I thought freed slaves got 40 acres. am I wrong?
Actually, you are wrong on that particular issue, I’m afraid.
By June of 1865, around 40,000 freed slaves were settled on 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) in Georgia and South Carolina. Soon after, President Johnson reversed the order and returned the land to the original owners. Because of this, the phrase [ed.: "40 acres and a mule"] has come to represent the failure of Reconstruction and the general public to assist African Americans in the path from slavery to freedom.
sponginghouse on July 11, 2006 at 1:24 AM
This is bad stuff on many levels for many reasons, not the least of which, all Black Americans are not descendants of slaves and all White Americans are not descendants of slave owners!
For a good Black Conservative persective check out Project 21.
Greg on July 11, 2006 at 9:13 AM
Sponginghouse,
Thanks for clearing that up, really. goes to show you how much my public skool edukashun tawt me. they glossed over a lot. really.
pullingmyhairout on July 11, 2006 at 9:14 AM
Next day…after listening to MM on ‘the lower race’ we ARE doing this for the invaders from the south, thanks Clinton, wells fargo (send your dollars to pesos here)banks, coke, pepsi, and other sell your soul for a dollar companies.
DAMN, both pepsi AND coke. What’ll I drink now?
shooter on July 11, 2006 at 9:58 AM
Oh, no. Am I ever screwed? As far as I can tell, I am twice descended from Abraham Peirsey (Persey), Cape Merchant of the Colony of Virginia. None of my ancestors came to America after 1850 or so, and they ALL lived in the South.
BNCurtis on July 11, 2006 at 10:25 AM
This is ludicrous (No…Not Ludacris…That’s another rant). Never mind the fact that many of us in the “oppressor class” didn’t have our families get here until well after the end of slavery; let’s look at this from the PRACTICAL P.O.V. … In order to implement the reparations program you’d need to:
1. Take a full census just for this purpose
2. Figure out mathmatically what constitutes a receiver of reparation (If someone’s mixed race do they move the money from one pocket to the other? What does someone who’s a eighth or sixteenth former slave do? Pay because not as MANY of their relatives suffered?)
3. Bill, collect and pay the dole in a timely fashion, which would require…
4. Chaining everyone carrying an accounting degree in the U.S. to a desk for an extended term of indentured servitude, stripping them from their current careers for this noble cause (And leaving them to sing such mournful tunes such as “Let My Auditors Go”…)
All that aside, I have no problem paying for what I buy in this life. But I’ll be damned if I have to pay for what someone I never knew stole in labor somewhere I’ve never gone for benefits I’ve never known. And neither should anyone else.
52Ranger on July 11, 2006 at 12:01 PM
Royal Crown?
ScottG on July 11, 2006 at 3:31 PM
What is with this white guilt? We don’t owe a penny over slavery!! This is the most stupid idea I have ever heard. Another way of moving money from those that earn to those that don’t. I will be impressed when the decendants of slaves do what is right and fend for themselves. Enough of everything being the white-mans’s fault!
I am sorry to be so blunt but that is the long and short of it. I am not a racist or white-supremist but reparations from the American taxpayer will cause a divide you won’t believe.
JonR on July 11, 2006 at 8:55 PM
JonR: “reparations from the American taxpayer will cause a divide you won’t believe.”
What do you mean?
Convertacon on July 11, 2006 at 10:45 PM