reparations: White America has already paid the Bill

Paris Hilton in a white top, thick gold necklace

In matters of race, it is the one itch we cannot scratch; the stone in our shoe that does not go away, no matter how much we shake it.



Slavery. And the debt it brings Black people from white people. I’m not one of those who shrugs off the value of apologies — even for social injustice…


Anyone who has betrayed a loved one knows why. No one can really move on until the betrayal is admitted, explained and atoned for. It’s why a jilted girlfriend or cuckolded husband insists on hearing the reason why — even when they already know.


But when it comes to slavery, I think white America has already paid that bill as much as it ever will. And insisting on more seems less about healing and progress and more about Black people basking in white folks’ guilt and shame.


Will a slavery apology pull more young Black men from prison, or get more of them through high school and college? Will it curb the alarming tide of AIDS in Black communities or bring Black fathers back into their children’s lives?


Will it pull an ounce of trash from a rundown Black neighborhood or create a single, well paying, working class job?


We have seen institutions apologize for past inequities connected to slavery and Jim Crow…


Did any of these apologies bring new initiatives for covering people of color or insuring underinsured Black neighborhoods? Of course not. Because in America action often stops at apology.


… I suggest we simply look at some institutions that have already apologized for their part in the centuries-long enslavement of Black people.


… No doubt these apology initiatives were undertaken with the best of intentions. But these apologies, passed without a substantial discussion of the White privilege or Black poverty they enabled, were incomplete — like a thief apologizing for stealing your wallet while using your cash to buy his next meal.


Unless an apology for slavery comes with a comprehensive agenda of initiatives aimed at erasing the historic inequities it created, White America can keep it. As any cuckolded husband will tell you, an apology doesn’t mean much if you don’t right the wrong you caused in the first place. ~ Eric Deggans, excerpt from EBONY magazine august 2007

Parisian woman in streets of Paris by the Sartorialist

REPARATIONS 2

The Native Americans are one of the main reasons why African Americans are wasting energy, which would be better served elsewhere, trying to extract reparations from the United States Government for slavery. The American Indian suffered a far greater loss than the African Slaves who were brought to America; certainly not to diminish the physical, psychological, spiritual and emotional trauma imposed on the black community through slavery. However, the Native American was evicted from his homeland and nearly eradicated from the earth by the greatest atrocity of human existence – the theft of two continents. It was an unbelievable act of Genocide that is still celebrated in the U.S. as a national holiday called Columbus Day. Christopher Columbus was the greatest colonialist that the world has ever seen, and other than Dr. Martin King, he is the only figure that is recognized on the list of American holidays.

If the United States Government granted the concession of reparations to the descendants of African slaves, then the Native American would rightfully make demands that would exceed any requests that African Americans could make by possible 5-to-1.

The extent of the loss by Native Americans is difficult for most to fathom, because we have been conditioned to think that these natives were simply nomadic people who lived in tribes. However, this is far from the truth: The Native Americans in North and South America were sovereign nations with their own customs, laws, currency and geographical boundaries. In fact, the Mayans and Andeans were considered civilizations living under the universal empires of the Aztecs and Incas respectively. However, when we consider other societies that are simpler than civilizations such as the Hottentots, the Iroquois, the Tasmanians, the Navahos, the Milwaukee, the Sioux, the Apache, and countless others, we see that scores of nations were destroyed by the invasion of those who followed Columbus to the “New World.”

Here is a trivia question: Can anyone tell me where the phrase “Indian Giver” came from?
Respectfully Submitted,
David R.Tolson

http://www.thepeoplespulse.blogspot.com/