Volume I No. 08
 08-16-02
 The Rediculous Reparations Argument
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2002

 Make no doubt about it. African-Americans have been wronged.
 Brutally wronged. Only one other group in this country can legitimately
 claim as much pain. And that is the Native Americans. But the story
 of our Native American brothers is for another column.

 Present day society in the U.S.A. will never approve of reparations
 for its black citizens. The moment has past. Reparations will not
 happen. It is just too easy for white folks to say, "I didn't own no
 slaves. I didn't hurt anyone." Such is the mood of the country. And
 it would be wise for the black leadership who are pushing this futile
 reparations effort to realize that fact.

 Asian-Americans were wronged during World War II. They got paid.
 Jewish people around the world are still getting paid. But the Holocaust
 was barely more than half a century ago. 

 Slavery ended in 1862. If this were a more perfect world some kind of
 reparations could surely be agreed upon. And would have been long
 before now. Cash? Of course not. But educations benefits, health care, 
 or even tax benefits for African Ameirican who want to start business
 and can claim a slave heritage, might have been appropriate.

 The eligible might even include some white folks who have black ancestors.
 Oh yeah, quite a few white folks everywhere from Oklahoma, up through
 Minnesota, and even into Canada have black ancestors and don't know
 it. Or want to know it. Men and women who were of light complexion, and
 who passed as white. Many such souls escaped to the north to enjoy 
 a taste of freedom.

 Slavery was a harsh injustice. The effect of  those 400 miserable years
 is still apparent in black society. The anti-intellectualism. The color-based
 racism within the black community. And the resentment of blacks who
 haven't broken through, so to speak, to those who have achieved some 
 measure of success in America. All these self-hatreds are rooted in the 
 slave experience.

 But, the white america of today doesn't care. That fact cannot be disputed.
 In fact the civil rights laws are silently resented by a vast score of conservative 
 Americans. They point to the Asians who have come to the U.S. and have
 achieved economic success. Or to the other immmigrant groups who have
 worked hard and lifted themselves up. And they point to the blacks who 
 wallow in self-pity always throwing up the racism excuse, and then drowning 
 their sorrow in plague-like numbers of alcohol, and drug abusers.

 Black Americans need to rededicate themselves to the elimination of the 
 paralyzing anti-intellectualism that has twisted the world view of too many
 Black youth. Look across the old South. Asians, East Indians and now 
 even Eastern Europeans, and other immigrant groups are taking advantage 
 of the economic and educational opportunities that black folks of past 
 generations risked their lives to obtain. Countless black men and 
 women were lynched, their property seized or destroyed because 
 they dared to believe they deserved a decent education, or a chance 
 at a better quality of life.

 Black youth need to understand that. To remember their own history. 
 Achievement will come through education and entrepreneurship. Not 
 by the means of quick money and criminalism. Being well-educated, the 
 best in any academic discipline. Is not a white thing.

 This is how Black America can rise up.

 The American government has never apolgized for slavery. And with the
 repressive conservative tide in this country, such an apology will probably 
 never happen. It is such a shame really, that a mere statement of apology
 is such a cause of contention for some people. 

 There are more deserving battles for African-Americans to undertake.
 Better schools. Better teachers. Better counseling for black youth. And
 the elimination of drug laws that unfairly impact black offenders, and
 have led to a generation of black men incarcerated in prison. What other
 western country would accept the numbers of their young men and 
 women incarcerated in prison, that is routine in this country. The United 
 States can land a satellite on a piece of rock 10 million miles away. And 
 yet is it truly impossibile to stop a Cessna carrying a load of cocaine, 
 skimming across the waters of the Gulf Of Mexico?

 Please.

 Reinventing Black culture is the battle that must be fought in the America 
 of 2002. High standards of intellectual achievement and entrepreneurship
 will render the reparations argument, irrelevant.

 Silence this rediculous reparations drumbeat now.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2002

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