San Francisco recently announced a plan that seeks to provide reparations for the Black community. Under this proposal, every eligible Black adult in San Francisco would receive payments of $5 million, elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, a guaranteed annual income of at least $97,000 for 250 years, and the ability to purchase a home in San Francisco for only $1.
The cost for this plan would be $600,000 per non-Black family or roughly $250 billion dollars in total to taxpayers.
This is not a parody; this is an actual proposal.
The city-appointed "Reparations Committee" would have you believe that their goal is equity and equality, but whether their intentions are genuine or not, the results of such a measure would only deepen a racial divide and stoke flames of resentment. It's irrational, it's financially implausible, and it is politically insane, and that’s why San Francisco Democrats are trying to make it law.
I say this as the great-great-grandson of a slave: if there were ever a political slippery slope, this is it.
Providing reparations to a group of people hundreds of years removed from the sin of slavery does not right the wrongs of history. It serves only to create a perpetual sense of victimhood, victim entitlement and promotes resentment amongst the people.
Perhaps this is exactly what the left wants, which is even more of a reason to reject an idea as disastrous as this one.
The issue of reparations for slavery has long been a controversial topic in the United States. While some argue that it is necessary to rectify the wrongs of the past, others believe that reparations would only create more problems than they solve.
I am one of those people. I am also someone who believes that reparations ignore history and the genesis of slavery, which includes Africans selling Africans into the slave trade, but we’ll get back to that.
SAN FRANCISCO REPARATIONS PROPOSAL MAKES WAVES: ‘AMERICA MUST ADMIT ITS SIN’
Moreover, the notion of reparations assumes that all white people benefited from slavery and have a moral obligation to pay reparations to all Black people. Such an assumption is both unfair and untrue, as not all White people benefited from slavery, nor do all Black people suffer from its legacy. This oversight from the left further illustrates the soft bigotry that accompanies their "solutions," to inequality.
Not every person born Black in America needs, or wants, a liberal to put their arm around them and take care of them. I for one, am more than capable of taking care of myself, as are most of the Black people I know.
The curse of the well-meaning liberals has been condemning the Black community for decades. We don’t need the Great Society on steroids, we need government out of our lives in exchange for a focus on family and values.
Once one group has been compensated, it would only be a matter of time before another group demands compensation for perceived injustices done to them. This would further divide the country along racial lines and create more resentment among people who did not receive any form of compensation. It would also be challenging to determine who is entitled to reparations and who is not, which would undoubtedly lead to legal challenges and further unrest.
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Even more unfortunate is that the authors of this horrific policy will undoubtedly call its opposers racist. Well, I’ve been black for a very long time, and I look forward to hearing what they call me.
Providing reparations based on skin color also ignores the historical context of slavery and how it began in Africa with Africans enslaving other Africans. Slavery has been a part of human history since the beginning of civilization, and Africans were not the only people to practice it.
The transatlantic slave trade was facilitated by Africans themselves, who captured and sold their fellow Africans to European traders. While slavery was undoubtedly a dark chapter in American history, it is not the sole responsibility of white people to pay reparations for it. In fact, its no living person’s responsibility.
The best thing liberals can do for the Black community isn’t writing a check with someone else’s money, it’s encouraging and supporting a return to a two-parent household.
Providing reparations to a class of people based on their skin color alone would only serve to deepen the racial divide in the United States. It's not a hand up, it’s a destructive Marxist proposal that will set precedent for nationwide wealth redistribution based on race. It’s counter to every principle our society is founded on, and if implemented, may be the first step to the very destruction of our society.
