By Patrice Lockert-Anthony
I do not want simple economic reparations (in any amount) for Black Americans. I do believe that White America owes Black America. I do not believe that what has been done thus far through conscience, and/or legislation, in any way, makes up for what has been done throughout history, or is being done now. I think that the vast majority of White America, when it comes to Black America, are irresponsible, and cannot think its way out of a paper bag when it comes to race-based issues. There is entirely too much "lack” for that to happen. There is a lack of consciousness. There is a lack of accountability. There is a lack of culpability. There is a lack of desire. There is a lack of will. While these things are true; White America cannot apply critical reasoning to the problem at hand (their problem made mine).
Here is the two-fold problem around economic reparations for Black America:
One: There is no amount of money in this very wealthy nation (or the world), that would serve as anything more than a very tiny band-aid trying to cover the gaping wound that is racial hatred and treatment of blacks in America. That is obvious to me, and I daresay to many others. Hundreds of years of slavery, decades of Jim Crow, followed by many, too many, decades (into the present) of pernicious policies, rules of behavior, and acculturation to wrong-thinking and wrong doing by both civil society and the official types who are paid to serve, protect, care for, educate, govern, etc., all of America’s citizens.
Two: and perhaps less obvious is that White Americans have, all along, sought ways in which to avoid having to face the egregious nature of their wrong doings. They have also, in many ways, and many times, sought to apply the band aid rather than seek, and work for, the cure to this deadly disease of racism. If then, knowing that, we gave them the out of paying economic reparations . . . what then? Do we believe that the psychology of the racist would somehow magically dissipate? Do we believe that having paid us off; suddenly White America would climb onto the heretofore assiduously avoided bandwagon, to talk about, work through, and heal, the diseased rift of consciousness, that ripping our ancestors from the Motherland and enslaving them, put into play? I have no confidence in such a belief.
Once the monies have been paid out; I believe the conversation will be shut down and whenever cries of “that’s unfair” or “that’s racist” rend the air, the response will be a categorical, “No. No, we’ve paid that debt. We’ve given you the economic means to pull up on the bootstraps. It’s on you now. You can’t blame us anymore.”
That is where all these current arguments are coming from about how it’s all about “class” issues. As if the only reason black Americans are in prison in gargantuan disproportionate numbers, engaging in destructive behaviors, being beat down by bad cops, getting politically tricked out of voting, dying in ways that are far beyond suspicious, etc., is only because we lack the economic means to access success.
Do any of my readers, of whatever makeup, actually believe that nonsense? Remember this. There is always a "Why?”. There is always a, "HOW?”. You must ask yourselves what happened (within the specific construct of race relations in America) to create the economic disparities? When that question is answered honestly; you will understand why approaching the issue as purely economic (class-based) is erroneous and disingenuous.
Black America isn’t less achieving because of class-based issues. Black America is "behind” because of racial intent, race-based planning, and race-based design. It is what it is because of an accrual of damage (psychic, emotional, educational, legal, civil, etc.). Our presidents were involved.
Our Supreme Court judges were involved. Our senators and representatives were involved. Our business communities were involved. Our medical professionals were involved. Our military was involved. For hundreds of years continuing into the present day the cultural, and often legislated, law of the land was to have Black Americans legitimized as lesser human beings and lesser citizens. To behave as if that isn’t so is to, at the very least, behave stupidly. Somewhere in the middle it is to be behave as ignorantly irresponsible. At the very worst, to deny it is to be somehow less than human (somewhere below three-fifths).
In faith~
