"...everyone is bored,and devotes himself to cultivating habits..these habits are not peculiar to our town.." Albert Camus "The Plague"

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Obama and Reparations: Apologies Not Enough?

The U.S. House of Representatives has issued a formal apology for slavery:
WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and segregation laws.... The House "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the US, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow." Source: Times of India
Such apologies are not unprecedented; six U.S. states have already formally apologized, most recently Florida. The other five are Maryland, North Carolina, Alabama, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Obama mentioned
reparations the other day:
Obama said:
"I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds." (emphasis added)
Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin
I wonder what he means by deeds?
The idea of reparations certainly reached its zenith when The African World Reparations and Truth Commission announced it was demanding $777 Trillion (that's trillion with a "T") from the West as reparation for the slave trade and colonialism.

Video commentator "Zo" aka "SuperSlave" has produced a series of excellent videos on contemporary racial politics. The video below makes specific reference to the notion of reparations for slavery and other ills foisted on African-Americans.








Also see: Democrats and Racial Politics: From Jim Crow to Barack Obama by Francis Wright
Excerpt:
As author Michael Scheurer so succinctly stated, the Democratic Party is the party of the four S’s: Slavery, Secession,Segregation, and now Socialism. Because the Republican Party was started in 1854 as the anti-slavery party, and Republicans fought for freedom and equality for blacks, the early civil rights leaders, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, were Republicans.

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