This morning, there was a newspaper that I haven’t seen before in my driveway. As I tend to do with a lot of the local rags, I simply pick them up, and throw them promptly away into the trash can, since it’s on my way back into the house. But this one, had something visible on the front page through the plastic sleeve that caught my eye. Before I knew it, I released it from its plastic confines, and was bringing it into the house.
Should America Pay Reparations?
Oh, I knew this had to be good.
I always thought the idea of reparations was kind of a joke; more so when Dave Chappelle did his skit about if every black person in America were given reparation money, but I didn’t think it was actually something that should really be given any serious thought. Because seriously, it’s an asinine idea to give an entire demographic reparations for something that didn’t affect them, the generation in front of them, the generation in front of them, and so forth, for quite some time.
Basically, the bottom line of this entire article was typical African-American, MAN oppression rhetoric and about how it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea if reparations were to be constituted. It would be just like the economic stimulus plan, but only for African-Americans! Yeah, real fair, that would be.
However, the more I got to thinking about it, the more my opinion began to change. Mostly due to the fact that I’m a cynical, sadistic, train wreck-watching chaos-seeker, who has ideas and hypotheses of what could potentially happen if such reparations were to take place.
So let’s say the government did something essentially similar to the economic stimulus plan, and set aside X amount of billions of dollars, and equally divvy it up between every black person in America, as reparation for the act of slavery over two centuries ago, which fully affects them. Equally. Divvied.
The single mother who’s deadbeat husband left after birthing three kids is going to get a check for $700. In fact, the deadbeat husband is going to get $700, too. It will benefit them greatly to get a scot-free $700. The normal suburban black family of a mother, father and two-point-five children are going to get $1,400 for the household. Such free money is going to be great.
Inversely though, Shaquille O’Neal, who already makes millions for dunking a basketball is also going to get $700. The Reverend Al Sharpton is going to get $700, despite the fact that he has plenty of pull and clout everywhere he goes to where it isn’t necessarily needed bank. Morgan Freeman is going to get $700, as is Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Michael Jordan. All people who are very well off, and don’t really need another $700.
This lack of disparity can’t possibly result in anything good.
Essentially reparation would be putting a price tag and then purchasing the collective chip on the shoulders of a large majority of the African-American community. Black people would no longer be able to pull out the race card cry foul. Affirmative Action would be examined with a careful eye. What would be the point of the NAACP now? Considering the popular notion that simply being black makes one an underdog, reparation equalizes everything, and makes it a dated concept.
Would it really be worth it to the black community to make some money back for the actions that happened two centuries ago, at the expense of eternal leverage? The blight on American culture to hold over the heads of those who aren’t black? To no longer be capable of using skin color as an excuse? To essentially sell out the defiant and “us against them” culture of black America? Professional and collegiate athletes wouldn’t be able to pull the race card to the media. Rappers and R&B singers can write lyrics about pretending to be a poor black kid held down for simply being black anymore. Companies and employers won’t feel obligated to hire the less qualified black person just to have a black person on the employment roster.
Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it. Too much culture, too much leverage to put a price tag on. Doing such would result in more harm, than good. Money is finite, and will eventually be used up, and then what? Cry discrimination in a world that no longer has to listen?. Culture, history, and leverage are intangible, and simply go a lot further than money possibly could.
On the flip side, if I’m the government, and I’m essentially tired of the race card being pulled all the fucking time, then I’m very much going to offer reparation. Because it would easily be worth a few billion dollars to strip an entire demographic of their trump card, knowing that it would only take a few years for all that money to essentially be used, and recirculate back into the economy. It would be worth it to know that the race card would essentially be dead as it pertained towards African-Americans, never be used to create an uncomfortable situation, or be put in a position of scrutiny.
The sad thing is that the newspaper that spawned all of this thinking is very much a black newspaper. It does not hide the fact that it is 100% geared to a black audience, and obviously, since I live in a very black neighborhood, it’s still delivered to my house. The double standard is in plain sight, because any other paper would be lambasted for showing any sort of favoritism to any other American group.
You don’t ever hear of Chinese demanding any reparation, and they pretty much are the reason the United States ever made it out west.
I wonder if Koreans ever cry for reparation from Japan, for their heinous acts of slavery, imprisonment, and more or less oppression based on historic events? The Japanese raided Korea, enslaved them, burned down their culture, killed their people. They even re-named the country in the Roman alphabet, because it would be disgraceful for the country to begin in a letter that came before “J,” which is a completely true story. Examine how South American countries, and parts of Europe spell Korea, which is with a “C.” Corea. Fucking Japanese. They should owe me some money for their heinous inadequacies!
