
<p>The old idea of reparations for the descendants of slaves are popping up again. ; It is a very bad idea in every way. ; It is merely another Democrat left-wing scheme to use taxpayer money to gain votes. ; It lacks any moral, legal, or rational justification.</p>



<p>Yes, the United States bears the scar of slavery – and always will. ; It was common in the earliest colonial days – first brought to what is now the Carolinas by the Spanish in the mid-1500s. ; It gained a foothold in the English and French colonies. ; The first colony to legalize slavery was Massachusetts.</p>



<p>At the time of the Declaration of Independence … the Articles of Confederation… and the United States Constitution … slavery was found in every colony – but not without a growing opposition in the North. ; </p>



<p>Eventually, slavery divided the nation politically and geographically. ; The evil institution ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War, and several amendments to the Constitution. ; </p>



<p>That was 158 years ago. ; Unfortunately, it did not end institutional racial prejudice against freed slaves and their descendants – most notably in the old solid Democrat Southland.</p>



<p>But that was long ago. ; If there were a statute of limitation of reparations, it would have expired more than 100 years ago.</p>



<p>Reparations may be justifiably imposed on those who owned slaves – or the politicians who maintained institutional slavery by legislation, policy, and culture. ; Payments would be made to those who were subjected to slavery. ; But those folks are no longer alive – nor are their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren. ; There are no former slaves to compensate – or slaveholders to pay.</p>



<p>In fact, the vast majority of Americans have no ancestral history as slaves or slave owners. ; Millions of Blacks are the descendants of people who came to America after the end of slavery. ; Most White Americans are also descendants of folks who arrived here long after slavery ended – or descendants of northern abolitionists. Hundreds of thousands of White men died to end slavery in the Civil War. ; Should their descendants get reparations?</p>



<p>One argument raised in support of reparations is that today’s descendants of slaves or still experiencing the Draconian effects of slavery. ; That is not necessarily true. ; If there is any case to be made for the current suffering of Black Americans, it is not from the slavery of their ancestors more than 150 years ago – but rather the more than 100 years of institutional racism in the former Confederate states and the still segregated big cities.</p>



<p>If there is any justification for reparations – and I do not believe there is – it should come from those who imposed institutional racism, Jim Crow legislation, and violent terrorism at the hands of para-military vigilante groups. ; ;</p>



<p>When President Clinton raised the prospect of paying reparations for the descendants of slavery, I suggested that the only appropriate payee should be the Democratic Party. ; Slavery and the 100 years of institutional racism – Jim Crow and Bull Connor – were the sad legacy of the Democratic Party. ;</p>



<p>If you are going to absolve the Democratic Party because it has changed, then you surely need to absolve the American public in general because it has changed.</p>



<p>Apart from a lack of rationale for reparations, there is the impossible task of determining who would pay whom. ; Would it be the general taxpayers of the nation or of a state – such as California, where Democrats are pushing for state-funded reparations? ;</p>



<p>(Consider the irony. ; California was never a slave state. ; In fact, it was not even a state in the days of slavery. ; It was never one of the Jim Crow states. ; And yet, Governor Gavin Newsom thinks the people of his state should pay reparations.)</p>



<p>Supposedly, the money would go only to the descends of slaves. ; And how do we determine who they are? ; Most of the folks who descended from slaves have no records to prove it. ; Are we supposed to accept every claim without documentation?</p>



<p>Even worse, the proponents of reparations are setting up a scheme to create potentially false documentation. ; They want to place a question on the ten-year census – asking folks if they are descendants of slaves. ; With the prospect of getting money from Uncle Sam, I have no doubt that many people would make that claim as long as they did not have to document it. ; It is just human nature.</p>



<p>Would the bogus census question then be the “documentation” to establish slave ancestors?  ; That would make reparations nothing but a grand con game with the American taxpayers – Black and White &#8212; as victims.</p>



<p>I recently watched a television program about Jesse James. ; They interviewed several of his descendants. ; Should we be asking them to pay reparations to the victims of the James gang robberies? ; That makes about as much sense as reparations for slavery.</p>



<p>We can all agree that slavery was an evil and immoral institution. ; We can also agree that the 100-plus years of institutional racism was evil and immoral. ; We can also agree that there is a lot to be done to wipe out the residual of institutional racism where it remains. ; I have spent a lifetime in that battle. ; But reparations are not the answer. ; They are a cynical politically-based distraction.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Reparations for Slave Descendants Are a Very Bad Idea
