Reparations and Remedies
By Beauregarde
The burden of slavery will probably never be lifted from the white man. And yet, the real shame of slavery is that Africans were ever brought to America in the first place. No system of labor was ever more costly or cumbersome, and the Africans are still demanding compensation for work their ancestors stopped doing almost 150 years ago.
For all the naysaying and acrimony over the payment of reparations to the descendants of African slaves, the idea has some merit. The problem with reparations, as currently construed, is the lack of a final remedy to the broader racial dilemma, which has either boiled or simmered since the slaves were freed. Besides the racial issues, many blacks are left out of the equation-- namely those African countries which provided the cargo for the slave ships.
What then is to be done with the estimated one trillion dollars demanded for reparations? Should all of this money simply be paid out in lump sums to truculent lawyers and Reverends? There is a better solution…
Rather than doling out government checks from welfare offices, an African Slave Reparation and Repatriation Fund should be created to undo the wrong that was done 400 years ago. Countries like Gambia, Senegal, and Liberia would receive a fixed bounty for every slave descendant who migrates to Africa to replace the souls lost to the Middle Passage. The US government would pay all relocation expenses, and once settled on the continent, the American-Africans would receive a generous stipend for life...in the currency of the host country.
In addition, any African nation could receive extra funds for acting as a penal colony for the hundreds of thousands of blacks incarcerated in America. As "colonists" instead of "convicts", a new start awaits black inmates who will otherwise languish in expensive prisons for most of their lives. Think of it-- a generation of young black men set free in a place where racism can never imprison them again!
With the mass migration and cash infusion from America, deprived African countries would become prosperous and economically viable, which reduces the hardships that cause Africans to flee to Europe and the United States.
If such a program were set in motion now, the racial friction between blacks and whites would disappear from America within two generations. More importantly, American multicultural ideals would be spread liberally over an entire continent for all to enjoy. What could be better to alleviate tribal strife and hatred than a lesson in multiculturalism from American blacks?
Now critics of such a plan will yelp that sending blacks back to Africa is a white racist scheme. But is it really just to force blacks to remain in America, where, by their own admonishments, they have been victims of racism for 400 years? And why should tax payers be forced to compensate discontented blacks every thirty or forty years for a practice that ended a century and a half ago? Reparations alone will not close the books on the slave trade. There must also be drastic change in the racial status quo.
Before slavery ended in the 19th century, the American Colonization Society foresaw that the best opportunity for freed slaves was back in Africa, where the little Republic of Liberia was established as a homeland for free blacks from the States. For many years, Liberia had the only democratically elected government in Africa. After years of civil unrest and tribal warfare, Liberia is now on the verge of total collapse. What could help Liberia more than a massive influx of money and educated immigrants? Think how much black intellectuals like Cornell West, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison could boost Liberian prestige. And with leaders like Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, and Al Sharpton, there is no limit to how far Liberia could rise!
Over the long haul, reparation combined with repatriation may be a bargain compared to paying off discontented blacks with entitlement programs and affirmative action forever and ever.
America simply cannot afford a trillion dollar shakedown to placate the embittered ghosts of Mammy and Uncle Tom. One day, we will need money to buy Texas and California back from Mexico.
http://www.cofcc.org/articles.htm
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