Doug,
Pardon me, but there is a readily identifiable
difference which exists now between African-Americans
and poor whites. Skin color. No matter how color
blind people would like to pretend they are, that fact
will always remain. And in this country, the white
people, no matter how poor they are, will always have
a leg up. I don't believe for a minute that my people
are looking to drive any wedges, and I can't believe
you really think so either.
I agree, African-Americans should not look to
government to solve all their problems, because not
all of their problems stem from that. But reparations
are a different matter entirely.
Calling for remedies in regard to fair employment laws
and housing should be on the agenda for everyone.
Yes, African-Americans are affected by those things,
but they are not only our issue, and again, don't
negate the call for reparations.
As for collective guilt, America has always loved to
share, spreading the guilt and financial burden of
Vietnam and other unnecessary wars. Why not pay the
price of reparations? Attacking African-Americans in
their own country; dragging us kicking and screaming
on a boat ride we had not intended to take; killing us
because we dared voice our discontent and fought back;
and making us build the "good old USA" using our
blood, sweat and tears.
Truth of the matter, simply put, is this: Without us,
where would America be? It owes us BIG time. Life
and funeral insurance for the lynchings and cultural
genocide it maliciously committed. The slave labor it
relegated us to, never giving us a living wage, to me
equals back pay. Jim Crow, the bus boycott, the
riots, etc. Is there really a need to continue?
Consider it a class action suit.
Pamela Taylor
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> In a message dated 12/7/2001 8:26:23 PM Central
> Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
> > The last couple issues of Insight News covered the
> issue of reparations.
> > The issue two weeks ago talked about how the
> reparations committee was
> > working on convincing the African American
> community of the need for
> > reparations. Last week's issue covered the
> Lucille's Kitchen forum with
> > special guests Gary Schiff, Robert Lilligren,
> Natalie Johnson Lee and Dean
> > Zimmerman.
> >
>
> It wasn't so long ago that leading black politicians
> were saying that black
> people should stop looking to the government to
> solve their problems and pull
> themselves up by their boot straps. By putting
> reparations on the agenda,
> one is acknowledging that the government should be a
> part of the solution.
> That is a step forward, in my opinion.
>
> However, I do have a few concerns about putting
> forward a demand for
> reparations. I am not convinced it is an effective
> tactic. It seems to me
> that the demand for reparations could be used as a
> wedge to divide blacks
> from poor whites and isolate the black community.
> Here I will pose a number
> of the questions that I think ought to be addressed:
>
> If you bring the case for reparations before a
> court, upon what theory would
> you base your claim? Who is assessed for the
> payments? Is the concept of
> collective guilt applied to white people? Why not
> call for remedies such as
> the enforcement of fair employment and housing laws?
>
>
> What is the nature of the problem? Why were African
> People enslaved and
> brought across the Atlantic ocean in the first
> place? Why has the oppression
> of black people been perpetuated? Whose interests
> does it serve? Is it in
> the interests of the capitalist class to end racism,
> or to perpetuate it?
> Are the fundamental class interests of workers,
> including white workers,
> served by the oppression and super-exploitation of
> blacks?
>
> -Doug Mann, Kingfield
>
> Doug Mann for School Board
> <http://educationright.tripod.com>
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