This is an e-mail that I got a few days ago. What do you monkeys think of the whole issue?
For those of you unfamiliar with Fred Reed, he's a police reporter for one of the large Washington newspapers. Fred writes a weekly online column in which
he gets to say the things his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper.
His stuff has probably offended everyone at one time or another regardless of political orientation. So, with the warning that "This is definitely not politically correct," here is a summary of an article for your perusal.
Please note that he describes the mood of many white Americans and does so without prejudice.
Slavery Reparations .........by Fred Reed
On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks.
It's because of slavery, he says. He is joined in this endeavor by a group of other professional blacks.
Let see now, Hank. I'm slow. Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right?
I don't blame you. I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? How many slaves do you suppose I have? And how long were you a slave?
Oh, in other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't do and didn't happen to you! That makes sense. Sort of like lug nuts on a birthday cake!
Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and never happened to me. I've never been coated in syrup and thrown from the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet you have never done that to anyone. I want reparations.
Kinda silly, isn't it? - You want money from me for what some other whites did to
some other blacks in another century.
How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. There are many other examples.
Yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers!
Now, I'd view things differently if you said, "Fred, blacks can't get anywhere in a modern country without education.
We know that. We need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?" I'd say, "YES, Hallelujah!"
You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing blacks suffer in any way! It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semiliterate dope dealers. It's just not right.
Are blacks too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it?
Get a few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.
Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement has become a
shakedown game.
For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Valley, the best approach might be to find some smart, hard working black guys, and get them to study digital design, not Black Studies. That's how everybody else does it. It works!
Fred Reed
For those of you unfamiliar with Fred Reed, he's a police reporter for one of the large Washington newspapers. Fred writes a weekly online column in which
he gets to say the things his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper.
His stuff has probably offended everyone at one time or another regardless of political orientation. So, with the warning that "This is definitely not politically correct," here is a summary of an article for your perusal.
Please note that he describes the mood of many white Americans and does so without prejudice.
Slavery Reparations .........by Fred Reed
On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks.
It's because of slavery, he says. He is joined in this endeavor by a group of other professional blacks.
Let see now, Hank. I'm slow. Be patient. You want free money because of slavery, right?
I don't blame you. I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? How many slaves do you suppose I have? And how long were you a slave?
Oh, in other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't do and didn't happen to you! That makes sense. Sort of like lug nuts on a birthday cake!
Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and never happened to me. I've never been coated in syrup and thrown from the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet you have never done that to anyone. I want reparations.
Kinda silly, isn't it? - You want money from me for what some other whites did to
some other blacks in another century.
How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. There are many other examples.
Yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers!
Now, I'd view things differently if you said, "Fred, blacks can't get anywhere in a modern country without education.
We know that. We need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?" I'd say, "YES, Hallelujah!"
You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing blacks suffer in any way! It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semiliterate dope dealers. It's just not right.
Are blacks too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it?
Get a few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.
Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement has become a
shakedown game.
For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Valley, the best approach might be to find some smart, hard working black guys, and get them to study digital design, not Black Studies. That's how everybody else does it. It works!
Fred Reed
