Reparations and a License to Be Ugly
I do not define myself by my color, but my color offers license to express a viewpoint held by others cowed into silence. Growing up I was sometimes called a “yellow n*****”, a term reserved for those whom the black bullies deemed not black enough.
I also grew up with the much more polite expression: “he’s a credit to his race.” It was a compliment laced with the soft bigotry of low expectations. But at least the phrase recognized that black folks could make it in society and broke many barriers to do so. That struggle brought a sense of pride. One successful person could elevate a whole race in the minds of white folks unfamiliar with the long tradition of black achievements despite the stain of slavery.
After seeing the behavior of the Black Lives Matter looters and the creatures who laughed and cheered when two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies were shot in the face, embarrassment swept over me. Of course, one subset’s amoral behavior does not define an entire ethnic group, but the psycho-social aftermath will be worse than the looting.
Some employers and social justice warriors are telling decent white people are racists. As racists, they must submit to training to learn how to deal with black people — as though black folks are separate species from an alien planet. There are very few Americans that have never come in contact with a black person or at the very least seen one on television. Until the BLM fiasco, most folks in their daily lives didn’t think about black people one way or the other. Suddenly these evil people and must pay for their unknown sins.
Our one-party California legislature has cooked up a racist proposal destined to shatter the last remaining shred of racial good will. AB3121 will force Californians, one third of whom were not even born in America, to pay reparations to an unknown group of people who are of “African descent.” California was a slave-free state. The Chinese and Native Americans were treated quite poorly, perhaps worse than some unfortunate black people. What about them? One estimate is that each person deserving of reparations should receive $151.63 million. Sign me and every person with one drop of Negro blood up!! Imagine how our current black population of 5.9% will balloon. NAACP’s Rachel Donezal and George Washington University Professor Jessica Krug can now financially profit from pretending to be black.
The notion of reparations is demeaning to black folks who have risen above their past, looked to the future, and become successful in life. And I’m not talking about the rich entertainers and sports figures, but scientists, professors, teachers, and business owners, medical and legal professionals, and the entire range of folks working hard at all sorts if jobs or trying to get a good job.
Black people are capable of taking care of themselves. As Frederick Douglass pleaded, “give [the Negro] a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!”
