Good or Bad for the Jews

"Good or Bad for the Jews"

Many years ago, and for many years, I would travel to Morocco to visit uncles, cousins, and my paternal grandmother. Some lived in Tangiers;...

Friday, July 24, 2020

Lunacy and Racism of Slavery Reparations

To continue with last week's theme of the wave of prog Fakery now overwhelming us, let's turn to the demand for reparations for slavery, a particularly pernicious chunk of prog Fakery. This piece, by the way, was originally much, much longer, but I cut it back: I hope I didn't do it too much violence, but I don't want to be that repetitious ol' bore in the basement; Joe Biden has that gig locked up . . ..

The topic of slavery reparations has bounced around for a long time. The call came out many years ago re the "need" to pay these reparations, but did not go anywhere. In recent days, however, the demand has grown increasingly strong and strident, and has moved steadily into the field of "respectability and possibility." We see, for example, the "woke" city council of Asheville, North Carolina, July 16, voting (no consulting of tax-payers) to provide some sort of "reparations" for slavery to its black residents--"some sort," because, as you see from the story, "reparations" actually means creating a new bureaucracy to run vague programs. In other words, it creates cushy government jobs for progs and their allies; I doubt black residents of Asheville will see much, if any, of the funds. It comprises, in another words, another delicious slice of prog Fake pie. As with so much else championed by the progs, slavery reparations will lead only to turmoil and increased government control over our lives, precisely what the prog proponents of "reparations" actually seek. As I have noted before, for the progs, black lives do not matter, except to the extent that these lives serve to advance the prog agenda.

Let's start with the simple matter of, "Who pays whom?" After WWII, we saw limited reparations paid to those, mostly Jewish, who had suffered in Nazi concentration camps, or lost immediate family or property to the Nazi regime. Friends of ours, for example, an older married couple both of whom had survived the Nazis, received a payment from the FRG as "reparations" for the deaths of their parents, loss of their home, and for the time they themselves had spent in a death camp. They used the money to move from Honolulu, where we also lived, and to help with the purchase of a small condo in Albuquerque. After we left Hawaii and moved to California, we visited them in New Mexico; they only mentioned reparations once, around 1965, to my father, "They sent us this money. We never asked anything from today's Germans. They are not the Nazis." Note, furthermore, that the Communist GDR dictatorship did not pay reparations, claiming that they were not the heirs of the Nazi regime and had no responsibility or liability for the Holocaust.

We, therefore, see more than a couple of bothersome issues when it comes to reparations. Holocaust reparations went to people still alive who had suffered under the Nazis, and got paid relatively soon after the event. The Bonn government of the FRG agreed to pay reparations, as noted, while the East Berlin government of the GDR did not--I am not aware that Austria was asked to pay. When, however, it comes to slavery, who pays? A number of European countries--e.g., Britain, Portugal, Spain, France--brought African slaves to the Americas. Many European enterprises, while not directly implicated in the slave trade, benefited from that slavery, e.g., Manchester cotton mills. When the USA and other former colonies in the Americas became independent, slavery existed in many of those new nations. So who pays? Europe, the USA, etc? How about the Arabs involved in the slave trade? How about the African tribes who caught and sold the slaves to the Europeans and the Arabs? Do the governments of today's African and Arab nations owe huge reparations to black Americans in both North and South America? What about the native Americans who owned slaves? What about the black Americans who owned slaves? What about white indentured servants?

In the USA's case, who bears responsibility? The US government or the government of the now deceased CSA? Southern state governments? The pro-slavery Democrat party? It was, after all, US government troops who put an end to slavery in the US with the loss of hundreds of thousands of young men--including Republican President Lincoln, himself. Will the descendants of those who fought and died in the struggle against slavery be exempt from paying reparations? Will the descendants of the Republican abolitionists in Massachusetts be exempt? And on and on and on . . .  that onion has endless layers.

Let us march on. Assuming we can figure out who would pay--and, of course, all know who would, but let's pretend we don't--to whom would they send reparations? We can safely assume that no living American ever was slave to another living American. Once again: nobody alive today in the US was a slave in America; nobody alive today, with the possible exception of some refugee from Somalia or Libya, in the US has owned a slave. Slavery, of course, ended in 1865. That means we would have descendants paying descendants. But who descends from slaves? In most cases, how do we know? Not all black people in America descended from slaves, and many black people have immigrated to the USA after 1865, and were neither slaves here nor descendants of such slaves. So that, therefore, presents a problem for any HONEST program of reparations.

Now we get into some really dangerous and crazy stuff. Who is black and entitled to reparations? Joe Biden tells us that a black person who doesn't vote for him is not "really" black. Is that the criteria we will use? Putting that aside, we still have the question before us: who is black? How many "black" people in the USA are 100% black? Not many. So will we set up South African-style panels to determine racial percentages? Will reparations get paid out in accord with those percentages? What do we do with somebody such as Obama who descends from white American slave owners on his mother's side, and black African slave owners and traders on his father's? Does he get some form of reparations? Or does he pay them?

We can go on and on with this. Do we want this discussion in our country? One that provides for constant turmoil and racial animosity? This is tailor-made for the progs and their relentless drive to create problems, confusion, conflict, all requiring the intervention of the prog bureaucrats, and necessitating evermore resources for the prog machine.  

25 comments:

  1. They can't just sit back while the pie gets bigger... they really don't care to eat the pie, they only concern themselves with who gets the biggest slice.

    - reader #1482

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is the madness of Presentism at the root of this idea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Turmoil is the Leftist's best friend

    ReplyDelete
  4. This whole affair was put forth by COMINTERN 100 years ago. Especially the notion of a Black Homeland.

    Since the numbers bandied about for reparations, plus the logistics you cite, are rather difficult. Watch for the Black Homeland idea to be (and it already is) pushed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point. In the longer version of this piece I discussed the Homeland idea. I cut it as the thing just got way too long and even repetitious. How many times can you say lunacy?

      Delete
  5. I saw a post elsewhere on the 'net showing a current photo of a Japanese toddler, a little girl, playing in the shallows at the beach, plastic shovel, sand, all that stuff.
    The narrative was that this little girl should pay reparations for what happened during WW2.
    Sort of summed up the current lunacy in one picture.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is it not involuntary servitude If I, having no role in slavery, pay reparations to someone who never experienced slavery? Am I not being forced to work to earn funds to enrich someone else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That defines taxes as involuntary servitude in general... because we all know that every possible crap implementation of this will be a big fat federal tax, mainly causing poor people to be laid off by their employers.... supporting a massive additional bureaucracy with many jobs available for... kids of rich and well-connected folks (plus a quota).

      To be honest, nothing needs to be done to "solve this problem." By in large, white people are no longer reproducing at replacement-levels.

      - reader #1482

      Delete
  7. It's similar to my former employer hiring and promoting black African immigrants to fill quotas and set asides mandated by the Federal government. They or their ancestors never suffered slavery, yet they reap the benefits of being black.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe because those Nigerian and Sierra Leone immigrants know how to work?

      Delete
    2. Perhaps it would be better if today's Democrats would focus on the harm they are doing to "People of Color" right now through their dumbed down propaganda-driven educational system, instead of focusing on the harm past Democrats did to the distant ancestors of some of today's "People of Color".

      There are many very well educated people coming out of Nigeria, despite spending per student being so much lower than in the US.

      Delete
    3. Gavin, you're assuming that the harm done to native-born blacks is a bug and not a feature to today's Democrats. Anything to keep them dependent is a Good Thing to Democrat leadership, including the race-hustling black Democrat leadership.

      Delete
  8. Minor correction. "...that onion has endless layers" S/B "...that onion has endless lawyers".

    ReplyDelete
  9. It gets pretty bad. I have a friend from Ghana (and of a coastal tribe located not that far from Elimina Castle) who sees himself as part of those wronged by the slave trade--when it was the coastal tribes who sold their war prisoners to the Portuguese, Spanish, Brandenburgers, Dutch, English, French, etc. Since the UN is in favor of the USA paying reparations, let's tell it that we'll considered provided these others also chip in:

    Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium (as an heir of the Netherlands), the Netherlands, UK, Germany (as an heir of Brandenburg), Denmark, and Norway also chip in, since they all were or are heirs of slave-trading nations. Let's also ask Morocco, Mauretania, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, both Congos, and Angola to chip in as well, since they are heirs of the coastal tribes who hunted and sold their war prisoners and others they wanted disappeared. Oh, yes. Let's throw in Canada, Australia, EnZed, and others who are legal heirs of the UK; and probably most of our Caribbean neighbors as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. While I'm at it, do I and a host of distant cousins get reimbursed for Great-great Uncle's leg shot off at Shiloh and the time he spent recuperating back home in Wisconsin before he could go mind the store again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ..."do I and a host of distant cousins get reimbursed for Great-great Uncle's leg shot off at Shiloh"...

      It Depends, Mr. K! As to whether he lost said leg at the hip, the thigh, or below the knee? Further, your familial claim of wartime reparations for injury will require a detailed and signed testament by the State of Wisc.- Militia Affairs Director. As well as, a certified financial report issued by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, defining the income stream, prior to, and after, the alleged loss of limb. Moreover please include documentation on how your relative of color came to arrive on the these blessed shores of Gittcheegummeee, including the actual date certain, and official signatures of the Governor, and taxing agency, affixed thereto!
      Thank you so much for your service and have a fine day!

      Sincerely,

      Ahab the Arab: In The Hall of Records~~~

      Delete
    2. Yes, lots of gobbledygook and bureaucracy in the making.

      Delete
  11. Democrats paying reparations to democrats for democrat policies that enslaved democrats. So far I do not see a down side or a reason to drag the rest of the US in to this internal squabble.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "the Communist GDR dictatorship did not pay reparations, claiming that they were not the heirs of the Nazi regime"
    Well, they claim that, but it was one flavor of leftist taking over from another flavor. I'm sure the ex-Nazis made great communists. Parrot the party line and oppress whom you are told to oppress.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Maybe we should try to think like a Swamp bureaucrat. Simplicity is forbidden! Here are suggested rules for the Great Democrat Reparations:

    To be eligible for the Reparations Program, an individual will have to meet the following qualifications --
    1. Individual must demonstrate that she/he is a pure descendant of slaves and only slaves.
    2. Individual must demonstrate that her/his slave ancestors were treated badly compared to the treatment given to contemporary indentured Europeans in the English Colonies or the later United States.
    3. Individual's ancestors after having been freed from slavery and including their ancestors descended from those slaves must have demonstrated good citizenship and loyalty to the United States -- e.g. absence of any criminal records, service in the US military, evidence of paying appropriate taxes, etc.
    4. Individual claiming Reparations must similarly demonstrate her/his own record of good citizenship and loyalty to the United States.
    5. Individual claiming Reparations must demonstrate that she/he has never benefited from any earlier forms of reparations for the impact of slavery on subsequent generations, such Affirmative Action, contract set-asides, etc.
    6. Individual claiming Reparations must commit to donating 50% of any monetary awards to a fund to compensate the descendants of those who fought in the Union Army to end slavery.
    7. Individual must sign an affidavit recognizing that this Reparation is a complete & final settlement of all claims with respect to her/his ancestor's slavery.

    For any individual who meets the above conditions, the Federal Government commits to paying legal fees to assist that individual in suing whichever current African government represents the descendants of the Africans who enslaved her/his ancestors and sold them for transport across the Atlantic. Additionally, the Federal Government will assist the individual in suing the current government of England and other European countries which shipped slaves across the Atlantic.

    As a corollary to this Reparation, all prior forms of reparations such as Affirmative Action, contract set-asides, etc are terminated and declared illegal from this day forward.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Feels a lot like progressives are mainly attempting telemetry regarding how much actual authority their new tools (facebook, google, twitter) endow them with. In the end, it will likely be no different than their traditional media ownership. They will continue to be stymied in their quests for power-via-any-cause.

    It's easy to sweep the major failures of the progressive agenda under the rug.... eugenics, national socialism, marxism, bolivarianism... all of these were 'progressive' causes *for their time*. They all represented "how we can improve humanity if you *just* give me unilateral authority"
    Few today associate nazis with socialism, not because the agenda is all that distinct, but rather because it's inconvenient and unpalatable. Few note the 'progressive' attempts of Sanger towards 'a better society' through the eugenics of sterilization and abortion.
    At the time, these were considered 'scientific facts' much as 'global warming' is considered the same today.
    They were un-falsifiable hypotheses that were studied retrospectively in high detail. Progressive groups were *certain* that the way to their 'better society' was through elimination of the weakest among us as proven by 'science'.

    What are the progressives going to do with their domination of internet dialog? I don't know, but it's going to be bad, it's going to cost many lives, and it's going to end up, again, with their failure. Can't we cut to the chase?

    - reader #1482

    ReplyDelete