Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Republican Senatorial Candidate Alan Keyes
is [1]now supporting reparations for slavery:
Keyes proposed that for a generation or two, African-Americans of
slave heritage should be exempted from federal taxes -- federal
because slavery "was an egregious failure on the part of the
federal establishment." In calling for the tax relief, Keyes
appeared to be reaching out to capture the black vote, something
that may prove difficult to do, particularly after his unwelcome
reception at the Bud Billiken Day Parade Saturday. . . .
No word on whether Americans whose ancestors died fighting in the
Civil War would get special treatment as well, or whether having a
slaveowner ancestor would double your tax bill. For a forceful
argument against reparations, read [2]this piece from 2002, which
includes this language:
Those responsible [for reparations lawsuits] propose to settle the
accounts of slavery leaving the Civil War out of the equation --
complete and utter nonsense. The price for the sin of slavery has
already been paid, in blood. . . .
Pettifogging lawyers and dishonest scholars will always be able to
carp selectively and ignorantly about the warts upon our body
politic.
But the truth of the Civil War is that the terrible price for
American slavery has been paid, once for all, by the American
people's deliberate acceptance of their duty to pay it when, in
God's providence, Southern intransigence brought it due. . . .
The author of that piece? Alan Keyes.
References
1.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/elections/chi-0408170208aug17,1,5276200.story?coll=chi-news-hed
2. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27038
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