Slavery Reparations Deserved
Re “Why I Don’t Want Reparations for Slavery,” Commentary, July 15: I am so glad John McWhorter does not want reparations for slavery. That may leave more for those of us who realize reparations are deserved.
Although I was born and raised in New Jersey, both of my late parents were born and raised in South Carolina, and both were grandchildren of slaves. As I grew up, I listened to the sordid accounts of murder, mayhem, beatings, other physical abuse, sexual abuse, degradation, humiliation, insults, separation of families and other dehumanizing actions heaped upon African slaves here in the United States.
As a missionary who regularly works in West and Central Africa, I see the effect of colonialism, which has devastated that beautiful continent. I take tons of medicine, medical paraphernalia and eyeglasses to destitute Africans whose only crime was being born. The reparations that McWhorter scoffs at would pay for a lot of wheelchairs.
Lloyd J. Earles
Hawaiian Gardens
Let’s see, now! We have Justice Clarence “whatever ya’ll say” Thomas, UC Regent Ward “let them eat cake” Connerly and now John “ya’ll ain’t gon’ make me lose my tenure” McWhorter. What the three of them have in common is their pathetic lack of pride in my people’s collective effort to rise up from slavery to the degree that a seat on the Supreme Court becomes possible, a seat on the UC Board of Regents becomes available and a black associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley is one step away from a full professorship.
We all know about “publish or perish,” and what better way to ensure acceptance of one’s article by a mainstream publication than to attack an unpopular proposition for mainstream America. Well, John, I want my 20 acres; no mule, but an air-conditioned John Deere supersized tractor will suffice. I want the government money for not planting too much cotton. I want the right to sell the water allocated to my land to whom I damn well please, probably San Diego. I want an apology given to my ancestors for destroying their culture and subsequently their homeland, Africa, by taking away by force countless millions of the strongest and youngest. And we all want an apology from McWhorter for loathingly stating that no matter what “subsidies” were given to black Americans living below the poverty line, “in the long run it would make no difference in the overall condition of their lives.”
This contempt for people struggling to escape poverty and all that it entails is truly insipid and putrid.
Robert Thomas
Los Angeles
The only thing I could add to McWhorter’s excellent and well-reasoned arguments against reparations is the thousands of lives that the white community in the Union states devoted to freeing the slaves. If we were to add up the value of these lives and factor that amount forward to today’s dollars to account for interest and inflation, that amount should be subtracted from any funds being paid to the victims of slavery. We were all victims. Get over it.
Jeff McCombs
La Palma