Reparations . . .?

It's just stunning to me given the now out-there knowledge of how deep slavery and colonialism ran . . . the talk of reparations too often devolves into the social and political epithet:

The Hand Out

Seriously . . . that is all folks seem to be able to wrap their heads around:

Literal 'Passing of Funds' into Literal Hands.

And that is common even in the Black Community too.

You KNOW the world's wealth was built on your backs.

You KNOW how LONG it went on for . . .

Do you really think that Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Blacks, East Indians can EVER be made whole for what they've eternally lost in culture, actual human lives, property, and 'back pay for services rendered' aka labor, and have ALL OF THE ABOVE adjusted for inflation and interest (for punitive arguably justified measure)??

Can anyone calculate that figure?

Folks who 'fear this' and folks who want a literal 'check' you need to answer the following:

MLK has this video below where he talks about 'getting our check' at the end.  Please watch:

HOW really do you expect that 'payment' to be made?

Do you think it will be like winning the lotto??

You think the world you know today would actually survive and still be standing IF that wealth and value were suddenly 'liquidated' and given to the once-downtrodden?

My answer is you CAN'T literally cut a 'check'.

I also don't think MLK was talking about cash payout either.

This isn't some relatively small number of folks - like in the Holocaust - of a few million WHO RETAINED RECORDS or records were retained of what they once freely and non-controversially owned.

(The very nature of our subjugation meant that no records were 'intended' to be kept of where we came from or what we may have had or who we may have been before we were 'taken'.)

No offense meant to Jews but your number is around 6 million . . .?

But . . . 

. . . We're talking about an initial number of those directly and initially affected by slavery and Colonialism of HUNDREDS of millions . . . 

. . . AND their generations of progeny which collectively total BILLIONS of souls!

Can you tangibly in 'coinage and paper' 'pay these people off' and 'move on'?

No.

So those of you feeling the need to bring this conversation about 'reparations' down to an easy political and social football of 'The Handout' . . . you're being factually obtuse and intellectually dishonest.

To those of you who really expected some 'money in your hands' . . . get real please?  You too are being somewhat daft and unrealistic about this as well.

On second thought there are rare cases where freed men of color (like in '12 Years A Slave') may have had their very 'property and liberty' illegally stripped from them and in those cases there are records, which on verification can be used by the descendant to petition the state or federal government for redress of a much more narrow and individualistic scope than the topic of discussion here.  Yes this is essentially 'reparations' too, but it doesn't address nor is it adequate to attempt to soothe collective generational pain populations of African descendants still 'feel' and experience.  I just don't think literal compensation is viable solution for the larger group.

So . . .

How do you enact 'reparations'?

I don't have the answers in that I don't know how that would or is 'supposed to look'.

But I can give my opinion about how to start.  

Economically . . .?

You start to make it right by having fair economic policies that uplift the poor and favor the middle class, in which people of color are mostly represented

You start to make it right by Instituting and constantly tweaking leveling policies.

Socially . . .?

You start to make it right by ADMITTING your ubiquitous 'privilege' if you are a member of the majority who has unwittingly benefitted and still continues to benefit from that system your forebears put in place.

To start you DO NOT impugn the life experiences of ethnic minorities and the accompanying struggles with your 'opinion' on the validity or your 'assessment' of 'how long' the collective duration of how much blacks and others of color 'say or complain about this and that' . . . should be!  

No offense but stated plainly:

You simply will NEVER truly 'get it' because it never will be your reality.  

Respect that fact. 

You have a responsibility, if you truly want to 'make it right', to LISTEN, learn and try to understand/empathize as much as possible with the plight of those 'not like you'.

This is not an exhaustive 'listing' by any stretch . . . but it's a start.

It's the direction the conversation about Reparations needs to be headed, if we're truly serious about making a more perfect union in the USA.  In fact this shouldn't stop at our borders, it ought to be applied worldwide wherever there has been a racial history of subjugation and the resulting, tangible and not-so-visible inequality.

So don't shy away from the conversation about Reparations.  It's a worthwhile and important topic for our times.  It pays dividends in terms of helping to bridge the gaps, and starting to soothe the centuries of pain inflicted, and still being felt over the globe as a result of that 'unhealthy' history.

(C) Dike Matthew 5/22/14