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Thursday, August 22, 2002
Larry Elder :: Townhall.com Columnist
The reparation desparation
by Larry Elder
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"I just might walk up to the nearest white man and say, 'You don't understand this, this is a black thing,' and slap 'em, just for my mental health. . . . If they don't pay us reparations now, we're talking about scorched earth." New York City Councilman Charles Barron delivered this love letter during a recent "Millions for Reparations" gathering in Washington, D.C. Barron also said that if the government failed to act swiftly, he promised to storm the Treasury Department and take the money for reparations. From the same mall where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech, during which he urged Americans to judge based on the content of the character, reparations speakers made their case: Blacks remain "behind" because of slavery; slavers forcibly brought blacks to America only to face oppression; the Constitution, until recently, did not apply to blacks; the "black plight" results from slavery; the U.S. government needs to make a formal apology to blacks for the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade and its social and economic consequences; (blacks) need payment for 310 years of slavery, of destruction of (their) minds and the robbery of (their) culture; the slave trade robbed blacks of their culture, blah, blah, blah. The movement asks us to ignore, dismiss or minimize a few facts: -- The black American gross domestic product would make it one of the world's 15 wealthiest countries. -- The black American poverty rate, at 22 percent, is at an all-time low. A few years ago, a Fortune poll found that corporate blacks felt optimistic at the prospects for corporate upper mobility. -- A recent issue of Forbes looked at the top 100 celebrities, as defined by income, number of magazine cover stories, number of articles about, and number of Internet Web site hits. Of the 100, blacks (including Tiger Woods) made the list 26 times. -- A recent Harris Poll asked Americans to name their top hero or heroine. Jesus Christ topped the list, followed by Martin Luther King Jr. and Colin Powell. Michael Jordan also made the top 10 -- and 10 of the top 30 are black (if you count Tiger Woods). -- Newsweek recently ran a cover story on Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch; Ken Chenault of American Express; and Robert D. Parsons of AOL Time Warner -- all black CEOs. Pro-reparations "black leaders" like the Rev. Jesse Jackson remain locked in the victicrat mantra that blames slavery for America's "black plight," while, of course, suggesting money as the solution. Will the "black leadership" stand up and recognize the primary problem facing America, in general -- black America, in particular -- the absence of involved, responsible fathers? Rapper LL Cool J recently walked off the stage at a concert in Irvine, Calif., when rival gang members began fighting in the audience. Later, the rapper bluntly said, "It's just appalling. I think that it's just a prime example of how much how we as black men really need fathers and how our community is really suffering in terms of role models, and having someone around us who can guide us in the right direction, and how we are so in desperate need of attention that we will ruin an event just to get -- just to feel important." NBA star-turned-basketball-analyst Marques Johnson once analyzed the behavior of talented but surly black Portland Trail Blazers basketball player Rasheed Wallace. "Some of these . . . African-American players today come from single-parent homes," said Johnson, "where there's no strong father figure in the home . . . " Even the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan, during the "Million Man March" said, "We would like to structure a march calling on black men in particular to stand in unity to declare to the world that we are ready to shoulder our responsibility as the heads of our families and leaders in our community. . . . We want to reverse the ugly look of black men throughout the world by giving the world a positive look at militant, dedicated, sober, determined black men. . . . It is our responsibility to do for ourselves and our families." Will reparations magically reduce the percentage of black children born to unwed mothers? Will the money reduce the nearly 1,250 mostly minority gangs in L.A., comprising some 150,000 mostly young people? And perhaps, more importantly, will reparations improve the often self-defeating attitude of so many blacks? A Los Angeles Times poll once asked whether "everyone has the power to succeed" in America. Low-income whites said "Yes" more frequently than did blacks earning $50,000 a year or more! No Americans own slaves and no American slaves still live. The overwhelming majority of Americans object to the absurdity of non-slaveholders compensating non-slaves. But when and if I get my check, I intend to make a contribution to the campaign of LL Cool J for president -- of the NAACP.
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About The Author
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. His latest book, "What's Race Got to Do with It?" is available now.
 
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