. . .
K “In the land of the red, white and blue that purports to cherish ‘life’, ‘liberty’ and ‘property’, the White man arrived and confiscated the property of the Red man and often took his life and curtailed his liberty and transported the Black man to work the purloined property and violated his life and his liberty and his property interests. And hers.”
J “And then doubled down and did the same thing to the Brown man and the Yellow man. And woman.”
. . .
J “Let’s borrow from the Great Declaration and include ‘the pursuit of happiness’ and from the French and admix ‘liberté’ and ‘égalité’ and ‘fraternité’ into the formula.”
. . .
J “No one doubts that the promise of ‘forty acres and a mule’ descended and degenerated into the ‘Great Hundred Year War of Terror in America’ directed and orchestrated by almost every public and private institution in both the South and the North against anyone Black from 1865 to 1965. Even today there is only an unstable modus vivendi regularly under attack.”
. . .
K “The fundamental problem is that the victims are not alive and the oppressors are not alive. Society is not well served by anointing someone who is not an individual victim with official individual victimhood status and accusing someone who is not an individual oppressor with official individual oppressorhood status. The wrong solution to a very real and very deep and very sustained problem is not the right solution.”
. . .
K “No public commentator to date has fleshed out the process and mechanics of establishing and implementing the Great Divide/Schism in America. Would the government establish a cabinet-level Department of Reparations? Would there be one unit of reparations paid to someone who proves that he or she is Black or Brown or Red on both sides of the family? Would the amount be reduced if the individual’s family came to America after 1907 or 1865 or 1932 or some other randomly selected date?”
J “And what about Barack O’Bama? There you have the intersection of race and class and income.”
K “Right. Would he only get a half unit? Would Barack O’Bama’s half unit be reduced because his father came to America after 1907 or 1865 or 1932? Or his mother’s family? Would the reparations payments be taxed or tax free? Would the reparations payments be paid out of the general fund or by a separate reparations tax on Whites? Would Whites be exempt from the reparations tax if they could prove that their family came to America after 1907 or 1865 or 1932? Would Barack O’Bama remit a half unit of reparations tax to the reparations fund because he is half White and receive a half unit of reparations payments because he is half Black?”
J “The tax and the payment could be offsetting.”
K “Would there be ‘means testing’ so that a successful half Black neurosurgeon does not receive any reparations payment. Because of her income, would she pay taxes to the reparations fund? It goes on and on and on. Each one of these divisions creates another divide.”
J “O’Bama should get another half unit because the other half of his family is Irish. The Irish were oppressed and ostracized upon arrival. But they were White and thus much, much more readily accepted by and assimilated into White society.”
K “Much, much, much more readily. The ‘Plessy Ferguson Reparations Bill’ is not the way to challenge and address what is going on in Plano and Ferguson. There is no single piece of legislation that could further divide this country in twain than a piece of legislation that further divides this country into two groups that are expressly separate and unequal.”
. . .
K “The prejudice is on a group level and must be challenged on a group level. Start by releasing every other Black and Brown and Red and Yellow prisoner from the American Prison Gulag who is likely in prison simply for being Black or Brown or Red or Yellow. Extend the statute of limitations on affirmative action another fifty years or pick a specific ending date such as 2065.”
J “If the ‘Great Hundred Year War of Terror in America’ is said to have reached a de jure end with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, something is going to have to be done to furlough the five lobbyists on the Supreme Court who have unilaterally abrogated the modus vivendi. In the end, if you want a good and great society, place a few coins in every pocket and a few ideas in every head.”
. . .
J “Go big. My thought is to institute a Universal Basic Income (UBI). Far too many people in America of all shades are suffering the effects of systematic and institutional economic terrorism. The country is pursuing a War on Terror. The War on Terror should be refocused and redirected at the many millions of Americans who suffer the terror of not knowing whether they will have a meal in their belly or a roof over their head. The cost is insignificant and inconsequential because there is no cost too great to fight and win the War of Terror.”
K “I still have a fundamental problem giving folks money simply for existing.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The Great National Dissolution: Resolving The Great Civil War (April 18, 2011)”, “Watertown? Ferguson? Your Town? Your Son? Will They Allow It In Laramie? (August 11, 2014)”, “The Conservative Solution To Affirmative Action (October 15, 2012)”, “Race and Class And Crime: Jail White People. Oh, And Happy Martin Luther King Day! (January 15, 2018)” and “Columbus And The Redskins (October 14, 2013)” and a dozen other e-commentaries.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Think big, think long
May 3 – World Press Freedom Day
e-commentary 