Reparations for Deeds Done by Previous Generations

            Democrats must be desperate because they are calling for reparations for the deeds committed by Democrats hundreds of years ago. The Democrat presidential candidates as well as academics, entertainers, and thought police are pushing for reparations for slavery. Representative Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) sponsored a bill that would establish a commission to study the need for “a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery” and the lasting effects of it. 

            However, they seem to have forgotten history. It was the Democratic South that owned slaves in the first place. It was Democrats, not Republicans, who started a war in order to maintain slavery. It was Democrats, not Republicans, who fought against the Civil Rights amendments in the 1960s. It is Democrats, not Republicans, who fight to keep Blacks on the Democrat “plantation.”

            More and more Blacks are recognizing that the Democrats are simply using them to obtain and to maintain control of power in the nation. Black Americans can see that Donald Trump has done more for them than any Democrat president, including half-Black Barack Obama. Under the Trump administration Black unemployment has reached the lowest level ever. More Blacks are employed now than ever, and many Blacks are waking up to what the Democrat Party has been doing to them for years.

            Talk of reparations is no longer a fringe issue, but no one seems to know exactly what is meant by reparations. The Associated Press says that “Reparations [have] traditionally been defined – and understood by the American public – as ‘some type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants” by the American taxpayer. Even though slavery in America lasted more than 200 years, there are no former slaves or former slave owners alive today.

            The calls for reparation do not seem to understand that Americans have long considered slavery to be an evil practice. All the way back to the writing of the Constitution, honest and good men did everything that they could to stop slavery. During the Civil War white men fought and hundreds of thousands died in a battle to stop slavery. Politicians and other Democrats should face reality and understand that it was members of the Democrat Party who caused the damage. If anyone has to pay reparations for slavery, it should be the Democrat Party. 

            Americans of both parties have tried to make up for the problems caused by slavery. Yes, many Blacks are still living in poverty, but there are also many Blacks who are wealthier than many Whites. Americans even elected a Black as President of the United States. The fact is that he caused more racial unrest than any previous president. Blacks in Congress, such as Jackson and Representative Maxine Waters, continued to agitate the racial situation.

            Americans of all ages and colors are tired of the provocation of unrest over racial issues. I do not believe that paying reparations will make anything better. The purveyors of contention in our nation will simply find another reason to divide Americans.

            There are many people who are calling for reparations, and numerous others are arguing against them. George Will, a conservative columnist, wants to know who should pay the reparations and who should receive them. David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, argues that paying reparations to African American would simply open the doors for other groups, such as Native Americans and Mexican Americans, to demand the same.

            Frum suggests the following interpretations of reparations that he could support. The first would be a national acknowledgement that slavery was wrong and that Americans should remember and repent for this wrong. The second would be an intensified effort to make sure that all Americans have equal opportunities to succeed, such as better schools, jobs, health care, immigration system, and nutrition for children. In other words, he supports policies that would give all Americans a level playing field but not direct cash payments.

            Human beings have been discriminating against people who are different from them for thousands of years. My own ancestors were driven from their homes – right here in America – because they had different religious beliefs. We must admit that slavery was wrong, and we must do all in our power to overcome the effects of it. However, I do not believe that Americans who had nothing to do with slavery should have to pay money to other Americans who were never slaves. It just does not make sense, so we can assume that it is simply a political ploy by the Democrats to win votes. I hope that Americans will open their eyes and realize that a Democrat president would simply sell America down the road again – just as Barack Obama did.