Reparations: The N word for white people.

If you mention the word reparations to most white people, even decent, moral white people, a wall almost instantly rises.   They get defensive and start asking questions like “Why do I have to pay for something that someone else did hundreds of years ago” or “So how much do we pay each of them?” or “My grandfather came to the United States in the early 1900s.  Why do I have to pay”.  “If we give them money, they’ll just waste it on drugs or something.”   “It will cost too much, where are we going to get the money?”   “Why should people like Michael Jorden, Kanye or Jay Z get money, just because they’re black?”

Stop and take a deep breath.    Let’s get something out of the way before I go any further.  The Reparations about which I speak does NOT mean paying anyone anything.  It’s not about handing out money. 

If you are white and reading this, it means that somewhere in history, one of your ancestors had the opportunity to come to the United States.  It means one of those people had the opportunity to get a decent job, buy land and/or start a business in their quest for the American dream.   It was all about opportunity and choices, and that led directly to where you are today.

When the Civil War was over, freed slaves were promised 40 acres of land per family; land that had been confiscated from Confederate traitors.  Some of those parcels were actually distributed to former slaves, but months later, the land was taken away and given back to its former owners.  

What was taken away from these freed slaves was NOT money, it was OPPORTUNITY and it is opportunity that their ancestors should be given.  

Blacks were brought to America in chains from their native land, enslaved for generations, then deprived by law of education and any possible chance to get ahead.    When the war was over, these poor, uneducated people with no homes, no money and no relatives from whom to seek help or shelter were suddenly set free in a world where they were almost universally hated for the color of their skin.    It was a system designed and intended to fail. 

Pretend for a moment that you never went to school, never learned to read or write, and never left the property where you grew up.  Then you are taken away from your family and turned loose in a foreign country hostile to Americans, dressed in rags, without money, transportation or a phone, and told “Go, you’re free.”   You’d be lucky just to survive, much less prosper.

That’s exactly what we did with the freed slaves, and they never stood a chance.  If all those impediments were not enough, and to compound the problem, we Americans put every kind of possible roadblock in their path to success for a hundred and fifty years.  We denied them the right to vote, denied them loans or mortgages, denied them the right to eat, sleep, travel or go to school or work with whites, and then kept them from buying homes or land, or living in the decent parts of town with systemic programs like redlining.   We persecuted, hounded, maimed, mutilated and murdered them for sport and out of hatred.  We denied them decent legal representation and wrongly imprisoned them at levels far above any other people.  Like a game of racist whack-a-mole, our country beat down blacks in a never-ending plan to keep them from rising socially or economically, and then we wonder why they don’t take advantages of all the great things America has to offer.    

So, let’s talk about REPARATIONS by changing the name to OPPORTUNITIES.  Here are some simple steps that we could use to start. 

VA LOANS: We all know that the VA has special programs that help veterans buy homes with reduced or no down payments and lower closing costs and interest rates. Why?  Because we recognize that home ownership is one of the fundamental cornerstones of the American dream, and we owe our veterans, so we provide them the means to afford homes.  

Why can’t we have a similar agency that does the same exact thing for descendants of slaves?   Not a single dollar would be given out.  No free money at all.    Just a little help like we give veterans, so that more black descendants of American slaves have the opportunity to become homeowners.    The system is already in place and working.   Same exact system, different name. 

I have been in the construction business for half a century. I have seen that as housing goes, so goes the economy. If more people were able to buy houses, each of us will prosper. More houses means more cars in garages, more jobs for construction workers, more delivery drivers, more restaurants and theaters, more manufacturing of construction materials, appliances and household goods; the list is endless. Everybody wins.

GI BILL: This helps people who have served in the military by helping to pay tuition, books and housing at an institute of higher learning.  It also pays to attend technical or trade schools.  Each of these programs are opportunities to help veterans improve their life.  We do this because we owe them and want them to improve their lot in life.  

Why can’t we have a similar program for the descendants of American slaves?   Funding technical or trade schooling or higher education would allow people the opportunity to climb the ladder of success and maybe reach the American dream.  Black students can become scientists and inventors; one young man or woman might invent the next big thing that changes our world forever. Without the opportunity for proper training or education, we will never know.

PELL GRANTS:  I myself have received a Pell Grant to help pay for college.   Grants are non-repayable gifts to help people attend institutions of higher learning.  Let’s have KING GRANTS or something similar that specifically targets descendants of American slaves so they might attend university.  

TAX INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESSES who hire descendants of American slaves.  On the job training is the best way to learn a trade.  If employers were motivated by profit, we might not need Government mandated affirmative action programs.    Steady employment would mean so much to so many. 

None of this will happen overnight or quickly.  Black Americans have been systematically short-changed for a very long time.  This would require a sea change in our social fabric and would absolutely not fix the problem overnight.

Socio and economic prosperity for America’s black citizenry is not a zero-sum game.  Black America’s gain will not be white America’s loss; we will all win.  Anyone who studies crime knows it is directly related to poverty.  A cause and effect, which can be reversed. If more black Americans could rise out of poverty, the associated crime rate would absolutely fall.     Again, we would all win.

The benefits are many.   The beauty of this system is that ultimately, it will cost little to nothing.  As the social and economic levels of black Americans rise with training and education, they will be able to buy more cars, houses, furniture and all other commodities.  People who might now be on the public dole would instead contribute to the public fund.   In doing so, they will pay more in income, property and sales tax, and each and every one of us will benefit by having new markets and customers for our own products and services. 

I realize that this is a dream, but it’s also a possibility.  I also realize that not everyone will avail themselves of new opportunities, but that should not be a reason not to try.   

UPDATE: March 23, 2021

Evanston, Illinois just became the first U.S. City to pay reparations to Blacks

The City council of the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois voted 8-1 to distribute $400,000 to eligible black households, with each receiving $25,000 for home repairs or down payments on property.  The city hopes to distribute $10 million over 10 years with the funds coming from a tax on the sale of recreational marijuana.

In order to qualify, residents had to live, or been a descendant of a Black person who lived, in Evanston between 1919 to 1969, and who suffered discrimination in housing because of city ordinances, policies or practices.

The lone dissenter was Alderman Fleming, a black woman, who voted against the plan because she said the program was paternalistic; it assumes Black people can’t manage their own money.   It seems she wanted cash payment to be made directly to the recipients; that they alone should dictate the terms of how their grievances are repaired.  

Statistics shows Evanston is 67% white and 17% black.   There are 9 Aldermen on the city council:   6 women, 3 men.  6 black, 3 white. 

If 3 black city council members in one town cannot agree on the form of reparations, how will ever get the majority of the U.S. House and Senate (most of whom are rich, white males) to agree?