U.S. calls for reparations now, but not for blacks
Doc Swagg
This is lengthy but if you are African American, THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
The demand for reparations to African Americans starts NOW! I read an article last night in the Washington Post about how Secretary of State John Kerry, his advisers, and other State Department officials are in active negotiations with France to pay out REPARATIONS to U.S. Holocaust survivors.
The Background
Washington D.C.’s metropolitan subway system is designed by using color coded rail lines that demarcate which city sections it services. The city is developing its’ new Purple line route. A French company, Keolis, has won a $3 Billion dollar contract to construct this route. Keolis has a parent company, SNCF (Societe’ Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais). The route is 16 miles long. The Keolis subsidiary also has contract bids for railway systems in Florida, Massachusetts, and California.
This company is responsible for the transportation of approximately 76,000 Jews to Nazi concentration camps. According to the article, only 2000 Jews survived the slaughter. The French government had contractual agreements to compensate Holocaust survivors in the United Kingdom, Poland, Czech Republic, and Belgium. America was not included in the negotiations. $6 Billion has been paid to survivors in the aforementioned countries by the French government so far.
The U.S. General assembly is blocking further contracts to this company to build the Purple line until negotiations between France and the Keolis-SNCF connection are resolved and reparations are made.
The Discussion
The mere fact that the American government can currently acknowledge, engage, entertain, negotiate, and fight for payment of reparations to Holocaust survivors shows tremendous amounts of disrespectful hubris to African Americans. The Jewish community deserves their reparations to the fullest extent, they do!
However, the fact that our own country is mute, mum, and incredulously obstinate on righting the injustices done to African Americans in America is beyond belief. The first thing that will be said is that “there are surviving Jews from the Holocaust, and they have tracked down their Nazi affiliated violators”.
Well this is my answer. There is evidently no statute of limitations on time elapsed to bring violators and their benefactors to justice. Secondly, America has delayed, procrastinated, ignored, and refused to compensate African American reparations from generation to generation, thus, all surviving victims of American slavery have died off. The intentional, and negligent stalling on executing reparations has resulted in the temporal death of our ancestors that would fit the eligibility criteria for reparations as survivors of slavery.
America is delinquent in its attempt to address its iniquities and atrocities against African Americans. The failure to be accountable and assume a position of immunity against reparations is a slap in the face, especially when America is willing to negotiate with France to get reparations for Jews.
America,…….. are African American lives worth less than Jewish lives? If so, please furnish the criteria and protocol, and the authors of it. America didn’t ship Jews to Nazi concentration camps, but it will use African American tax dollars to conduct contractual commerce with a Nazi affiliated company and to facilitate payments of reparations to Jews. However, the United States itself, profited from the system of slavery for centuries, and AND NOBODY CAN BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE? WE CAN’T EVEN HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT IT? This is flagrant and blatant hypocrisy.
I’m not interested in hearing that we can’t trace back who was involved in slavery. We have several groups and organizations that have meticulously traced the beneficiaries, ancestors, and institutions that were active participants in slavery. For starters, John Kerry and President Obama can start by reading The Debt by Randall Robinson. I don’t know why president Obama is not for reparations.
The death of the participants in slavery doesn’t relinquish their ancestors and government from paying African Americans our reparations. WHEN I OWE BACK TAXES FROM YEARS AGO, I HAVE TO PAY IT OR THE GOVERNMENT WILL GARNISH MY EARNINGS AND CONFISCATE MY PROPERTY RIGHT? Here is my argument for beneficiaries that say they have nothing to do with slavery and that it was their great great grandfather that was involved. WHEN I OBTAIN PROPERTY, I ACCEPT ALL LIENS AND TAXES ON IT, AND I’M RESPONSIBLE TO PAY IT DESPITE THE FACT THAT I WASN’T THE PERSON THAT ORIGINALLY GENERATED THE LIEN.
African Americans were considered property, and that property has liens and back taxes on it that require payment on delinquent holders. The interest alone would bankrupt America!
This is why I am so impassioned about this. I see a clear double standard of justice happening before our eyes. The fact that MILLIONS of our African American ancestors lost their lives in the system of slavery and were never paid for the building of America is a resounding call for justice to be done. Let’s not selectively fight for and reward one group and deny another. How do we entertain talks on minimum wage today, when minimum wage for ancestors were Chitlins and bread? How do we talk strong on income equality today, when there was no income for African Americans period? How do we talk strongly on child labor laws, when children slaved day in and out for profit? How do we talk so strong about human trafficking, when human trafficking of African Americans raised America to capitalistic prominence and generational wealth?
The system of education demonstrates just one aspect of the crippling effects of slavery. Harvard was founded in 1636, Yale in 1701, Princeton in 1746, Columbia in 1754, Brown in 1764, Dartmouth in 1769, U of Penn in 1740. The Ivy League Schools are considered the upper echelon of education. Since Harvard’s founding, more than 2 centuries of education was afforded to whites, while concurrently and simultaneously, reading was a criminal act and books were contraband for more than 2 centuries for blacks. However, we allowed affirmative action to be sabotaged and dismantled. Aside from the Native Americans, no other ethnic groups in this country has been subjected to violent systemic subjugation in America. The Indians have received, and still receive subsidies from the American government.
I would like to quote what one of the Jewish Holocaust survivors said in the article. Leo Bretholz, a 92 year old survivor said, “It’s important for one reason: Justice should be done. When they [pay reparations], they admit they did something wrong-terribly wrong-sending people to be murdered.”
Finally, I’m going on record to say this is not about hate speech or being Anti-Semitic. I’m saying, African Americans want the U.S. government to actively work on compensation just like they are doing for the Jewish community. I stand as a single voice of millions that feel America should vigorously and diligently prepare compensation for African Americans and open negotiations. Stop hiding behind technical legalese, law lexicon, and constitutional verbiage and shoddy constitutional excuses and do what is right and just.
What are your thoughts, am I alone on this??
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