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Reparations for Black Nation Building: The Series - Part OneBy Ras Jahaziel Not Reparations for a More Comfortable Seat in the White Man's House
Before the development of such political maturity, the people who were bred in bondage had long forgotten what freedom is all about, and therefore their vision of FREEDOM was confined to any new paint-job on the old slave house. But who could blame them? The only place where some of them had ever seen FREEDOM was on paper, and the vast majority could not even read, so they had little chance of even seeing it there. They had long grown accustomed to being treated like dogs, and many had come to believe the lie that Africa's poverty was a result of some form of intrinsic inferiority. They were encouraged to blame themselves for their situation, and many preachers had explained, "that was the way "GOD" made it to be." In those times it was easy to pull a veil over the eyes of the people, and many were led to believe that the gaining of political independence and having a new flag and not singing "God save the Queen" anymore was the real attainment of freedom. Having a Black Prime minister and a Black government looked very much like the children of slaves were now free at last. Just like they did on emancipation day, there was dancing and singing when the new flag was raised. In some quarters it was really believed that the provision of MORE JOBS, the building of better roads, and the right to sit at desegregated lunch counters would have meant an end to the downward slide of the carriage of protracted genocide. Little did the "ex-slaves" know that after the excitement, the "better roads" would lead to nowhere. Aside from the widespread political ignorance that governed the people, there was also another factor that always made them cautious about their demands. They were quite aware of the long history of THE TERRORISTS and their capacity for becoming BEASTS. Even an attempt at registering to vote could bring down the lynching party, and if just a simple demand for the right to cross the segregated line could be met with such TERRORISM like the murder of little children, they well understood that the hour of history was not yet on their side. RACIAL TERRORISM was so dreadful in its restraint of the Black voice that only someone of privilege and high standing in white society could dare go before the seats of power and raise the call for BLACK REPARATIONS. That is why it was actually a white man by the name of Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania who in 1867 placed the issue of REPARATIONS before the US fortieth congress in section 4 of HR 29. Thaddeus Stevens, a white Republican, was not too blind to recognize that Reparations was the only just policy after enslaving a race for so many centuries, but the conscience of the slave holding nations was not susceptible to the bidding of such noble ideals. As they are accustomed to do when their clients have lots of money, "LEGAL MINDS" used their tricks successfully to keep the case out of the courthouse, so that it was eventually confined to the rubbish heap of history and the garbage bin of forgetfulness. Unfortunately, throughout the history of The White World Order, the majority opinion has never been of the Thaddeus Stevens sort, and so, every effort has been made to delay the case for Black Reparations until the day when the excuse can now be offered that it has become an irrelevant issue because "TOO MUCH TIME HAS ELAPSED AND THE INJUSTICE HAPPENED TOO LONG AGO." But suppose the criminal element of society learns from this lesson that CRIME can be made to benefit one's offspring as long as one can keep the case out of the courthouse long enough! If this lesson is taken as an example of what can be achieved by delaying the legal process, the criminal spirit is bound to be emboldened by the surety of such de-facto exoneration. But this has serious consequences in terms of the NON-ETHIC that it establishes, which is nothing less than "CRIME DOES INDEED PAY." What a contradiction for a people who profess to be anti-terrorists, a people who profess to be defenders of "freedom and democracy" and "law and order," and upholders of "values."
To put it in a nutshell, as long as one is sheltered in the house that slaves built, one is benefiting from slave labor. The only way to escape this truth is to minimize the contribution of slave labor or to erase and distort history completely. This is the main reason why European history books describe ROBBERS as discoverers, and the victimized people as "savages", "cannibals" and "heathens." Such historiography is in the same vein as a CRIMINAL trying to cover up his tracks. If such covering up of tracks had not been done so successfully there would be no reason to have to argue the case for BLACK REPARATIONS today. Whether they know it or not, the anti-reparations activists are really arguing that CRIME DOES AND SHOULD INDEED PAY. One only has to keep the case outside of the courthouse long enough till everyone agrees that the date of the crime is too far away.
>>> Read Part 2
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