The entire idea of debating reparations based on economic terms is typical.
Just as some people overlooked the African Holocaust for money, the practice of making wrongs right is continually overlooked for the almighty dollar.
Name another genocide that went unchecked for hundreds of years. Name another government-led and sanctioned mass murder (other than wars) that left a continent at a fraction of its population and the survivors in an oppressive land?
Don't pay for slavery. It's already a paragraph in the history books. Don't give money to African-American descendants still steps behind thanks to the head-start whites have that were literally built on the backs of their ancestors. They'll only use it to buy drugs the government brought in and then get profiled into prisons by laws that make it easier for blacks to populate cells.
It's hard to fathom the destruction slavery did to Africa the millions of men, women and children stolen from their homeland to be beaten, raped, and murdered, if they survived the middle passage.
All of this to further a country that made laws calling us less than human, to make this country grow and to make money for this country. And it's printed on every coin and paper - "In God We Trust."
To brush aside the issue of reparations because no one alive was a slave or slave owner is avoiding the issue. We realize the country has dragged its feet on the issue during those glimpses of lucidity. It is time for the foot dragging to stop and the action of apology to begin.
"No reward, cash payment or governmental proclamation can ever replace the dignity and years of life stripped from slaves by their owners. So, the deeper, harder and more important question is, why even try?"
Translation: It happened, get over it. You can't change history, so let's move on.
Right?
Wrong.
To simply sweep America's ugly past under a rug is deplorable. The status quo is not all right.
The fact that slavery went unapologized for so many years is disgusting. The fact that reparations should be a no-brainer yet are a decisive issue because good white people don't want to think about how some of their ancestors were money-hungry trolls missing a bridge is backward thinking.
Don't give out reparations. "A decision in favor of slave reparation will most likely cause a sweeping resurgence of racism in many people who had nothing to do with slavery and oppose the very concept of it."
Translation: If you give out this money, some good, white people might rethink their policy of being accepting, and some not-so-good white people might rethink their policy of racism only in privacy and in their minds.
"How will $1.4 trillion heal the wounds of slavery? How will receiving money make that injustice OK?"
Did families receive money when their loved ones died on Sept. 11? Do people regularly sue for damages in wrongful-death suits, among other cash-rendering lawsuits?
Money is not paid to heal wounds. Only time can do that.
And thanks to slavery and its effects, it will be years still before the scars go away. Then there won't be a need for Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and other common-sense laws.
I could give up my wait for my 40 acres and a jaguar if reparations were paid, even if that means I have to pay more for a soft drink.
Imagine companies already making millions having to raise their exorbitant prices to offset less profit because of reparations. It's enough to make you self-sufficient.
Imagine reparations being used to help the impoverished or to help bolster the education system for black children.
Is money making the injustice OK? Hardly. That makes as much sense as fighting for peace. We should know better.
Write to Aric at ariclewis@hotmail.com
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