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Slavery reparations--- essay
gskyhawk
Member Posts: 4,773
I copied this from a e-mail I received , does anyone know if it was really written by this guy and printed or is this just another e-mail HOAX?
Subject: FW: Slavery reparations
The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a culture.
Note that he elegantly describes the mood of many white Americans and does
so without prejudice-an interesting read.
Slavery Reparations ........by Fred Reed
On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of
Afro-American Studies at
Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks. It's
because of slavery, see. He
is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks.
I guess he'll send me a bill, huh? I feel like saying, Let me get this
straight, Hank. I'm slow.
Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right?
I don't blame you. I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I
believe in justice. I'll give you a
million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for
every year you were a slave. Fair
enough?
But tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round
numbers, I mean. Say to the
nearest dozen. And how long were you a slave?
Oh.
In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't
do and didn't happen to
you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday cake.
Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't
do and never happened to
me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and thrown from
the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet
you've never done it to anyone.
I want reparations.
Kinda silly, isn't it?
But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street
that runs in two directions. You
want money from me for what some other whites did to some other
blacks in another
century. How about you guys paying whites reparations for
current expenses caused by
blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a
city in my country. Cities are
expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean.
Whites had to pay taxes to
repair Los Angeles for you.
You can send me a check.
Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the
verdict in the trial of those police
officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial.
But I didn't burn my house and
loot Korean grocers.
Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities:
Newark, Detroit, Watts, on and
on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in
all its forms, of large police
forces and jails and security systems in department stores. I
can't live in the capital city of
my own country because of crime committed by blacks. Toss in the
cultural cost of lowering
standards in everything for the benefit of blacks.
See what I mean?
Now, I'd view things differently if you said, "Fred, blacks can't
get anywhere in a modern
country without education. We know that. We need better
schools, smarter teachers,
harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words.
Can you help us?"
I'd say, "Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes.
Let's sell an aircraft carrier and get
these folks some real schools and get them into the economic
mainstream." I'd say it partly
because it would be the right thing to do, and partly, because
I'd like to add you guys to the
tax base.
The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for
blacks to study and learn to
compete and stop burning places.
But is it going to happen?
You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing
blacks as miserable and
screwed up as they are. I spend a fair amount of time in the
projects. Those places are
ugly. It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into
semi-literate dope dealers who barely
speak English. It just plain ain't right. But, Hank, what am I
supposed to do about it? I can't
do your children's homework. At some point, people have to do
things for themselves, or they
don't get done.
Maybe it's time.
I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank. I think blacks
are too accustomed to getting
anything they want by just demanding it. True, it has worked for
over half a century. Get a
few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and
burn, holler about slavery,
and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.
Thing is, whites don't much buy it any longer. Most recognize
that what once was a
civil-rights movement has become a shake-down game. Few people
still feel responsible for
the failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness
keeps the lid on-but everyone
knows the score.
Which scares me, Hank. On one hand, blacks hate whites and
incline toward looting and
burning. (The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the
civil-rights movement. Ever
think about that?)
On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it.
Not good.
On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical
convenience), blacks keep demanding
things.
As I write, you demand reparations for slavery. Blacks in
Oklahoma (I think it was) want
money for some ancient race riot. Other blacks reject the
Declaration of Independence,
blacks in New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a
trial, yet more demand the
elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal
opportunity apparatus, which means
blacks want to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring nonexistent black
engineers.
That's a lot of demanding for one month, Hank. What happens if whites ever
say, "No"?
Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard,
and you can hoot and
holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it's
lots of fun, and you get a salary
for it. But don't you think you might do blacks more good if you
told them to complain less
and study more?
For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the
best approach might be to find
some really smart black guys, and get them to study digital design, not
Black Studies.
That's how everybody else does it. It works. Then blacks
wouldn't feel left out, and racial
tension would decline.
Sound like a plan?
Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of
Afro-American Studies spend in
the projects, encouraging poor black kids to study real subjects, Hank?
Subject: FW: Slavery reparations
The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a culture.
Note that he elegantly describes the mood of many white Americans and does
so without prejudice-an interesting read.
Slavery Reparations ........by Fred Reed
On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of
Afro-American Studies at
Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks. It's
because of slavery, see. He
is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks.
I guess he'll send me a bill, huh? I feel like saying, Let me get this
straight, Hank. I'm slow.
Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right?
I don't blame you. I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I
believe in justice. I'll give you a
million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for
every year you were a slave. Fair
enough?
But tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round
numbers, I mean. Say to the
nearest dozen. And how long were you a slave?
Oh.
In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't
do and didn't happen to
you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday cake.
Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't
do and never happened to
me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and thrown from
the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet
you've never done it to anyone.
I want reparations.
Kinda silly, isn't it?
But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street
that runs in two directions. You
want money from me for what some other whites did to some other
blacks in another
century. How about you guys paying whites reparations for
current expenses caused by
blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a
city in my country. Cities are
expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean.
Whites had to pay taxes to
repair Los Angeles for you.
You can send me a check.
Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the
verdict in the trial of those police
officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial.
But I didn't burn my house and
loot Korean grocers.
Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities:
Newark, Detroit, Watts, on and
on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in
all its forms, of large police
forces and jails and security systems in department stores. I
can't live in the capital city of
my own country because of crime committed by blacks. Toss in the
cultural cost of lowering
standards in everything for the benefit of blacks.
See what I mean?
Now, I'd view things differently if you said, "Fred, blacks can't
get anywhere in a modern
country without education. We know that. We need better
schools, smarter teachers,
harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words.
Can you help us?"
I'd say, "Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes.
Let's sell an aircraft carrier and get
these folks some real schools and get them into the economic
mainstream." I'd say it partly
because it would be the right thing to do, and partly, because
I'd like to add you guys to the
tax base.
The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for
blacks to study and learn to
compete and stop burning places.
But is it going to happen?
You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing
blacks as miserable and
screwed up as they are. I spend a fair amount of time in the
projects. Those places are
ugly. It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into
semi-literate dope dealers who barely
speak English. It just plain ain't right. But, Hank, what am I
supposed to do about it? I can't
do your children's homework. At some point, people have to do
things for themselves, or they
don't get done.
Maybe it's time.
I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank. I think blacks
are too accustomed to getting
anything they want by just demanding it. True, it has worked for
over half a century. Get a
few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and
burn, holler about slavery,
and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.
Thing is, whites don't much buy it any longer. Most recognize
that what once was a
civil-rights movement has become a shake-down game. Few people
still feel responsible for
the failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness
keeps the lid on-but everyone
knows the score.
Which scares me, Hank. On one hand, blacks hate whites and
incline toward looting and
burning. (The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the
civil-rights movement. Ever
think about that?)
On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it.
Not good.
On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical
convenience), blacks keep demanding
things.
As I write, you demand reparations for slavery. Blacks in
Oklahoma (I think it was) want
money for some ancient race riot. Other blacks reject the
Declaration of Independence,
blacks in New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a
trial, yet more demand the
elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal
opportunity apparatus, which means
blacks want to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring nonexistent black
engineers.
That's a lot of demanding for one month, Hank. What happens if whites ever
say, "No"?
Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard,
and you can hoot and
holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it's
lots of fun, and you get a salary
for it. But don't you think you might do blacks more good if you
told them to complain less
and study more?
For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the
best approach might be to find
some really smart black guys, and get them to study digital design, not
Black Studies.
That's how everybody else does it. It works. Then blacks
wouldn't feel left out, and racial
tension would decline.
Sound like a plan?
Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of
Afro-American Studies spend in
the projects, encouraging poor black kids to study real subjects, Hank?
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