,
7 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
It is laughable to see concern trolls on the right tut-tutting about how reparations will split the Dems along the lines of race—as if a divided left that keeps them in power isn’t the hot wet dream of embattled conservatives.
I’m not sure why reparations are even controversial?
I’m not sure why reparations are even controversial?
America stole labor, body and life from black slaves, then proceeded to define them by charter as subhuman (3/5ths of a white man with fewer rights), fight a bloody civil war to keep them so, then abused their descendants while exploiting their tool and innovation for centuries.
It‘s like white people dragged black people to a poker table in chains, took their chips, made trillions in winnings and when asked to share the winnings in any equitable way said, “what, I’m supposed to pay you billions now? I can’t afford that! Besides, I mugged you HOURS ago!”
It doesn’t matter that there isn’t a single living slaveowner in America. Slavery is our national sin, this country’s prosperity was secured at Black expense, and the cost to redress the lasting shame of our history is nothing compared to the human loss Black people experienced.
The cost of between $7 trillion and $14 trillion would probably have to be paid out over time, some of it in direct installment payments and others in-kind (free tuition, capital endowments to nonprofits etc). But as some have suggested, a one-time wealth tax would cover it.
Japanese American internees received redress. Holocaust survivors received redress. But when reparations to American descendants of slaves are raised it’s treated as something out of the bounds of imagination.
If the price is high, folks, it’s because the human cost was enormous. The longer we wait to address it, the greater the injustice becomes.
