Reparations is the making of amends for a wrong, by paying money to, or otherwise help, the aggrieved. Empty promises of racial reparations are just the latest divisive identity-politics wedge that the Democrat Party uses to pit one American against another.
While on surface reparations might momentarily appease both recipients and virtue signaling whites, the ethical complexities mean that any proposal would simply add a new layer of injustice. Every North American slave died a very long time ago, as did their oppressors. No one alive today can definitively say that “I suffered from slavery” or “I benefitted from slavery.” And to those who whine “my community can’t overcome that legacy of …,” The Railer simply points to the millions of all races, colors, and creeds, who have subsequently landed here with nothing more than the shirt on their back. They saw opportunity, worked hard, created families, and made a good life.
For argument’s sake, let’s play along for a moment. From whom do we take and to whom do we give? Do we take from Barack Obama and Camel Harris because their ancestors were slave owners and their families have retained some benefit from that? Do we take from the white great-grandchild of a 1920 Armenian refugee to give to a wealthy black Ghanaian immigrant whose forefathers may have sold slaves? Do we take from light skinned Asians to give to dark skinned Asians? What are the standards for proof of harm or entitlement?
Most proponents say that we should not consider this individually, but instead make a massive wealth transfer according to … skin color. You mean like the trillions we’ve already spent since the 1960’s on the War on Poverty, free food, free housing, free education, free medical care, free Obama phones, free …, free…, free … , which land disproportionately in communities of color? What about the state-sanctioned racism of quotas and affirmative action? Aren’t those liberty-killing and wealth-transferring policies reparations? Have these policies worked? Why was the poverty rate in 2012 the same as it was in 1965?
Given that there is no political consensus for trillions of dollars in the name of reparations, the left has decided to take the matter into their own hands, on your streets and in your neighborhoods. If you have anything of value, BLM and the Democrats will now take it by force, by violence. In their upside-down morality, the looters and moochers have God and virtue on their side as they stuff their U-Haul’s with your property.
Let’s start with Chicago. My brother’s family used to spend long weekends in downtown Chicago to walk and shop on Black Friday. That family tradition ended after the Laquan McDonald protests of 2015. Its been downhill ever since, with wave after wave of looting and violence, the worst occurring in the early hours of August 10th.
20-year-old repeat felon Latrell Allen (guess his ethnicity) fired a gun at police earlier that Sunday – backdrop; a park full of children – and was injured when the Blue Team returned fire. Well, to BLM and the Democrats that’s more than enough excuse to do some lootin’. “Bring yo town tools!” BLM left an estimated $60M in damages along the Magnificent Mile. Here’s what BLM Chicago spokeswoman Ariel Atkins said later that day in a protest at a southside police precinct:
“I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store, because that makes sure that person eats. That makes sure that person has clothes. That is reparations. Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”
Looting equals reparations. Let that sink in. None of the rest of it makes any sense either (thank you Teacher’s Unions). If you watch the riot videos it is very, very clear that these folks are well fed, more Jabba-the-Hut than the Thin Man. And I’m not sure how a stolen Gucci purse magically transforms into clothes that fit your children’s sizes and tastes. But Ariel’s nonsensical justification is an isolated case, you say. To which The Railer responds, sorry it isn’t.
Martha MacCallum interviewed New York’s BLM leader, Hawk Newsome, on her 8/18 show. She played the Ariel Atkins’ clip and asked if he would disavow the Chicago looting as reparations. He refused to do so, filibustering with faux social justice jibberish. But he did say:
“Now, if you want to talk to me about reparations, nothing falls short of a solution other than people cutting a check. If you want to do something about reparations, cut the check.”
And if you don’t “cut the check?” In Louisville, KY, BLM activists are running their own Mafia style extortion and protection racket.
Fernando Martinez, a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, was one of dozens of business owners in the downtown “NuLu” district who received a letter from “local organizers and activists” in recent days that made a number of demands, including a requirement that they make “a recurring monthly donation of 1.5% of net sales” to local black organizations, and that they display a sign that shows support for “the reparations movement” or face “repercussions of noncompliance.”
The Railer has seen a copy of a similar letter left with a family-owned Italian restaurant in Newtown, PA, which “suggested” among a list of demands, an immediate donation of $500, … or else. The “or else” clause is good old-fashioned bodily harm and destruction of property. The same game is playing out in Georgetown, Washington D.C, Dallas, among others.
How about Seattle? Here’s the headline:
BLM Activists Storm Neighborhood in Seattle, Demand Residents ‘Get the F*** Out!’ ‘Open Your Purse!’
According to video livestreamed by ConcreteReporting.com, dozens of activists marched through a residential area pounding drums, flashing lights on windows, yelling through loudspeakers, and demanding that residents give up their homes.
“Get the f*** out so we can come back!” one activist yelled. “All y’all white motherf***ers get the f*** out of our neighborhoods so we can come back!”
“Get the f*** out and give us our sh** back!,” he yelled. “Reparations baby!”
Another yelled, “Pay the fee! Open your purse!”
In another example, Andy Ngo, a reporter tweeted at 1:30 AM, 8/21:
“Wake up, mother f—ker wake up!” chant BLM in Portland tonight as they go through residential areas and shut down the streets.
They shouted through megaphones and shone bright lights into the windows. No mention of lasers at this incident, but blinding people is another token of reparations.
Lost in all of this are the little, worthless, innocent people caught in the middle; the workers who lose their jobs, the shopowners whose dreams are destroyed, the families trembling in their homes.
From Chicago comes the story of a 36 year-old owner of a small jewelry store.
Mr. Te saved his inventory and cleaned up. He said he may face looting again. “I’m almost ready to move to find a much quieter location in a less violent city. It’s basically a lawless land.” (Wall Street Journal, 8/12/20)
The narcissist psychopaths behind these “peaceful protests” don’t give a rat’s rear end about how their tantrums affect or destroy innocent lives – often the very people they claim to defend. And will BLM pay reparations to the thousands of people whose lives, jobs, and businesses have been harmed or destroyed by these racist, Jacobin, nihilists?
And where are the Democrat Mayors who have run these diverse urban utopias for decades? Was there one mention of any of this at the Democrat Virtual Convention Snoozapalooza? Every single Democrat House and Senate member mouths the lie, “these are peaceful protests, they’re all just pregnant mothers and disabled veterans…” Here’s the hard truth: the Democrat Party supports this campaign of violence. With their KKK out of fashion, BLM and Antifa are their new Black Shirted Stormtroopers.
Bear in mind that the rich, white, coastal elites who run the Democrat Party don’t actually want to pay reparations, or tamp down the violence, just like they don’t actually want to fix the schools, end poverty, end income inequality, end racism, etc. Reparations is just another deliberately unsolvable inferno that they flog at 2-year election intervals.
Their political power, and path to more, relies on maintaining and growing these social ills. When you look beyond their words and instead consider the results of their policies, they are clearly designed to make things worse. You know what these violent cities need? Fewer police are the answer. It is so insane that The Railer struggles to type the words.