Real, real dumb.
I suppose to be a billionaire, you don’t have to be particularly intelligent. Read: Donald Trump.
Add: Robert Johnson. Who? Yeh, him. The guy that started Black Entertainment Television.
Then sold it. To become a billionaire. He said he wants a check for slavery from the government.
Somewhere around here there was a discussion about avoiding the discussion on black people. Never a comfortable conversation, but somehow it manages to just keep getting worse.
No to reparations. There – I said it. No. Nope. Nada. Not a thing. Why? No one alive today was ever enslaved.
So there.
But.
…
Many people alive today are descendants of those who were subjected to … that … and hostilities didn’t exactly end on Dec. 6 1865 (Georgia last of the 27/36 to ratify the 13th — Juneteenth what? and Mississippi waited until 1995 / who doesn’t love that[snide]) so there is an argument that even after the 13th/14th/15th amendments, certain natural-born Americans haven’t really gotten the full benefits of being born here.
George Floyd, here’s looking at you, man.
Most will accept that as a given BUT a check? To whom, exactly? And paid by what? Through what? And why?
No. No. Aaannnddd … no.
Because those getting that check will likely just spend it at Best Buy. Or Target. Or for rent.
And then what?
And talk about some resentment!?! If one believes racial (wait: humans R us? {Malachi 3:10}) animus exists now, just wait until some other folks get to thinking about who got a check and why and from whom and for what.
No. No. Aaannnddd … no.
GOD gave me an answer for that too. He is … Is. I just love Him.
GOD said (rough translation) – Hey, what was the underlying burden borne and benefit lost with the American institution and practice of slavery? No, not the rape and murder and the auctioning of infants. All that was bad, yes, but one can move past that.
The real problem was the theft of labor. Wealth tends to be generational, gotta build on that and blacks couldn’t build on that because they had to build … well, everything else, sort of. And it’s not like they got prevailing wages.
So — the suggestion? Tax break. Exemption from federal taxation. If one works, one gets paid. Whole check. No taxes deducted from the paycheck. If earn $20 hour, paid $20 hour – no deductions at the federal level, and the participating slave states? Them too. No social security benefits, no Medicare … unemployment yes because employers pay that but any other welfare/entitlement benefits? Nopes, not if claiming the exemption.
Blacks get to enjoy the full fruits of their present-day labor, and others don’t really have a legitimate argument against it. Unless, you know, racist.
You’re welcome.