By Randy Rossi -
I was stunned to read in the Wall Street Journal today how reparations for African Americans because of slavery 155 years ago are once again being discussed in Congress by Democrats to appease blacks to win their votes. As our entire nation is facing chaos and anarchy in violent riots started each night by Black Lives Matter and other anarchist groups; the rule of law, our great republic, and even civilization are under attack every night in many of our large cities run by Democrats from Portland, NYC, Chicago, and others. Many of these cities being run by Democrats are promoting defunding the police which will insure complete anarchy and in some cities run by Democrats like Seattle and NYC, massive defunding or even total defunding has already been approved. That folks is the definition of insanity!
The whole concept of reparations for slavery is insulting for anybody of any race who has studied history. First and foremost, 650,000 Americans died in the Civil War to free the slaves. On top of that, 1.2 million Americans were wounded in the Civil War. Reparations for slavery were already paid with the blood of 1.85 million Americans in order to end slavery. On top of that, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman gave every freed slave 40 acres of land and a mule to help them live successfully in freedom. Republicans in Congress successfully passed the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments which ended slavery, made blacks citizens, and gave them the right to vote. It is interesting to note that Democrats overwhelmingly voted against those amendments that Republicans passed! Gosh, and Democrats were the party of the Confederate Army which fought to keep slavery while the Union Army which fought to end slavery was led by Republican President Abraham Lincoln. No wonder Democrats want reparations to hide their guilt. Interesting to note, the Democrats were also the party of the KKK which continued to try and take away freedom and equality from blacks after the Civil War. Yet Democrats continue to try and rewrite history and hide their mistreatment of blacks by using your tax dollars to pay for reparations to buy black votes. Sound OK to you?
There are many other reasons why reparations for slavery to blacks make no sense. First, 13% of the slaves were held by free black plantation owners. 8,000 black slaves were held by several native American tribes like the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes who fought with the Confederate Army to keep their slaves. Nearly 100% of the slaves were first captured in Africa by competing African tribes and sold to Europeans or Muslims for profit. And while Democrats in the South were the party fighting to keep slavery in the Civil War, 100% of the Northern States run by Republicans had already made slavery illegal by 1804. So who should pay reparations? Those that promoted and fought to keep slavery or those that made slavery illegal and fought to free the slaves? Based on hard facts, if reparations are approved; they should be paid by Democrats, African-Americans, and Native Americans whose ancestors initiated slavery and fought to keep slavery.
But it gets even more complicated if you study history. Slavery in one form or another has been practiced on every continent (except Antarctica) and every country on Earth at one time or another for thousands of years. The last nation to make slavery illegal was Mauritania in Africa in 1981. Interesting. The sad thing is that close to 30 million slaves are still being held illegally in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Sadly, slavery is a human tragedy that has been around for thousands of years and has been practiced around the world. The good news is that Americans shed their blood to end slavery and to pay for their sins in the Civil War before most nations in the world did. America paid its reparations in the Civil War. The fact that Democrats are ignoring history and the blood our ancestor shed to buy black votes is an insult to our ancestors, history, and logic. And every African-American should be insulted by this obvious attempt to ignore and belittle history for political gain.
As I have said before it gets personal for me. 26 of my ancestors fought with the Union Army led by Republican President Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves. Based on statistics, 6 of them died and 13 were wounded in their fight to free the slaves. They paid my reparations and they would be very disappointed in me if I did not recognize their noble sacrifice by agreeing to pay reparations today. America did the noble thing 155 years ago and shed its blood to free the slaves. It is time for America to move on and celebrate our sacrifice for freedom and end this purely political reparations con game designed to ignore history and common sense.
