Reparations that Make Sense

I agree with this CNN.com commentary that slavery needs more than just an apology. I think reparations are in order. Here’s my idea:

1. Free all slaves.

2. Take the people responsible for slavery and kill 483,026 of them. We’ll show mercy on another 194,026 and merely maim them, including a lot of limbs amputated.

3. Virtually destroy the Southern states, economically and in virtually every other way, so that anyone who was a slaveholder or who indirectly benefited from slavery has virtually everything taken from them if they or their family members weren’t already killed.

4. Just to make sure anyone who isn’t in the South, but who benefited from slavery, is also punished, we’ll kill 664,928 people from the other states, mostly white people. We’ll also chop off the limbs or otherwise maim another 275,175, for good measure.

5. We’ll charge a tax to the United States of about $21 trillion dollars as further punishment.

Is that enough? Apparently not, because the above bill was already paid 150 years ago, and yet a lot of people still want more. Aside from arguing about whether it’s fair to punish someone today for a crime committed 150 years ago by someone they weren’t even related to, is there any form of reparations that would be successful, and what is “success” in this case, anyway?

“Ok,” the liberal says, “Let’s say everything up to the Civil War is taken care of, but what about since then? Mistreatment of blacks didn’t end with the Civil War, and it continues today.” I agree, but what’s the best way to solve the problems that exist? And again, what is the goal here? Is it money? Is it equal opportunity? Is it equal results? Is it respect? Is it power? Who decides what the goal is? Jesse Jackson? Al Sharpton? Obama? Bill Clinton?

In my opinion, there’s only one way to end racism, and that’s to put race behind us and embrace the dream of Martin Luther King, in that we judge people by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin. But affirmative action does judge people by the color of their skin. Any time you fill out some paperwork and it asks you what race you are and you check a box, you’re being judged by the color of your skin. Maybe it benefits you, or maybe it doesn’t, but either way, the dream of MLK won’t be realized until we do away with the race card.

Some people say to end racism we need to talk about race, but I disagree. I think talking about race can breed racism. It calls attention to the differences between us, rather than the similarities. If we want to end racism, then we’ll largely ignore race. You’re black? Who cares? He’s white? Who cares? The fastest way to end this chapter in American history is to close the book and put it in the past, and then extend fully the promise of the US Constitution, that we should all be treated equally under the law, and other than that, you’re on your own.

Most black people in the US are successful by any rational definition of the word. The media and politicians wouldn’t like us to know that, but it’s true. The majority of blacks do not live in poverty, are not criminals, and are not stupid. Many blacks have achieved high levels of success in spite of the color of their skin (Obama, Rice, Powell, Thomas, etc.) where you wouldn’t expect them to if you believed everything you hear from the Jacksons and Sharptons of the world. What blacks, and other minorities, need is dignity, and that won’t come from reparations. That won’t come from apologies, affirmative action, or even from increased funding in public schools. It’s going to come when poor blacks realize the government is never going to fix their problems, that it’s up to them to fix their problems for themselves, and that they have the ability to fix their own problems and succeed on their own terms. Too many people have been chanting “Yes we can” not realizing they were really chanting “Yes you can” as in “Yes, you can help us.” No he can’t. Only you can help yourself. If you want your kids to have a different life than you’ve had, it’s up to you and your kids. The government will not help you, they will hurt you, because they will promise to help you and they will lull you into waiting for the help that never comes. You will waste your life and pass on destructive patterns of thought to the next generation.

The only reparations that will work will come from you, not from anyone or anything else. Reparations should not be about what can be taken from someone else, but what you can get for yourself. If justice wasn’t done on the 10,000+ battlefields of the Civil War and in the suffering of the 1,000,000+ who died and their families, then what would true justice look like? What punishment could be greater? Focusing on who got what and how is unproductive. It only hurts, and never helps. Instead, we should focus on what can be done here and now. But not in terms of fair results, rather in terms of fair opportunity, and for the most part, it’s already there in that a determined, hard-working, intelligent black man or woman can do just as well as any white man or woman with the same qualities. The main problem is that there is a subset of black people who don’t know this. They think they’re victims. They think they can’t make it on their own yet. They’re looking somewhere else for a helping hand that will never come. This mentality has been bred into them by well-intentioned-yet-ignorant people as well as scheming, evil people who created affirmative action programs, welfare, home loan programs targeted towards minorities, and any other social program of the government that has targeted a certain segment of society. More damage has been done by these programs than good, and it is the last barrier to freedom for the people who are victims of it. The greatest challenge blacks face in today’s society is not the racism of those who are openly hostile, but those who claim to be helping. It will not be resolved until blacks, individually and collectively, rise up and claim their dignity, refuse handouts from the government, stop talking of reparations, stop talking of inequities, and simply go out and make things happen for themselves.

This country is not as bad as some make it out to be. You might be poor today, but you can be rich tomorrow. Ok, maybe not tomorrow, but in a few years. It’s up to you and your strength of will, your willingness to work hard, and your desire to work smart. That’s much different than most countries throughout history and most countries today, where brains, hard work, and honesty often aren’t enough without the right connections and the willingness to debase yourself by becoming corrupt.

When it comes to this topic, there’s a lot of sense in the statement “The only true revenge is living well.” Those are reparations we can all live with.