[StBernard] HOW MANY SLAVES DO YOU OWN????

[Westley Annis]

Whether you agree or not, this is an interesting point of view.

 

 

   Subject: HOW MANY SLAVES DO YOU OWN???? 
 
  Fred Reed, was a police reporter for one of the large Washington 
  newspapers....He now writes a column which can be googled 'Fred on 
  Everything'. 
 
  Fred published a weekly online column in which he got to say the things 
  his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper. His stuff 
  is iconoclastic and various articles have probably offended everyone 
  regardless of political orientation. So, with the warning that 'This is 
  definitely not politically correct,' here comes Fred. 
 
  The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a 
  culture. Please note that he elegantly describes the mood of many 
  Americans and he does so without prejudice. 
 
  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. Kind of 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 for cells and jails and 
  security systems in department stores. I can't live in the capital city 
  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 main-stream. ' 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 
  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 shakedown 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, wants 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 tensions 
  would decline. Sounds 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 life sho-nuf subjects?