Gunpowder Chronicle posted on August 2, 2008 2:10 PM | Rating:
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The slavery reparation controversy is swirling again. It seems we never can have a serious discussion on race in this country without this subject coming up. As always, it generates more heat than light.
Proponents of slavery reparations have some serious hurdles to cross, however, and unless they start doing so in a responsible and straightforward manner, they may just ignite a fire that consumes them.
I find the notion of slavery reparations reprehensible. The very notion of reparations is based on the notion that the sons are accountable for the sins of their fathers. And no notion is more anathema to our Republic than this notion. We are not to be bound by the sins or virtue of our forebears. We make our own ways, our own lives. Ours is not an aristocracy of the blood, but of the mind. Hereditary title -- and with it, obligation, punishment, and debt -- is foresworn by our Constitution.
My forebears here on this continent -- arriving in the early 1700s and settling largely on that land we call "Washington, D.C." -- owned no slaves. Why should I, through my taxes or other fees, be compelled to pay a debt my line did not incur? In fact, for those who were hear before the Civil War, they fought for the Union and to end slavery. You may have heard of one of them... General Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur.
The notion that I should be held accountable for the action of my forebears is as patently offensive as the notion that black Americans should be held under foot because some of their forebears were held in bondage. America is not a nation of generational intrigue and blood feuds. Every American -- black, white, purple, green, yellow or chartreuse -- should be offended by this notion.
I am. And should my government decide that reparations shall be paid, I might have to seriously look at changing that government.