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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! The "What is the Deal?" Deal-of-the-Week: $2,500 Last-Minute Getaway Sweepstakes July 17, 2005 Compensation or Extortion? By Jan A. Larson Warning: The following commentary is not politically correct. If you are prone to excessive hand wringing or fits of spontaneous weeping, stop now and go read the comics. I was recently telling my wife that it seems that I'm going to be left with no choice but to take a trip to Washington to demand that I be paid the salary I am due for the years I served in the U. S. Senate. My wife then pointed out that not only had I had never been a senator, but that I had never so much served as an elected official at any level. She also indicated that even if I had been in the Senate, she was quite sure that I would have been paid my senatorial salary. Of course she was right, but then I told her that I was every bit as entitled to compensation for my non-service in the Senate as are the African-American loudmouths demanding that they be paid reparations for their non-suffering as a result of slavery. Reparations were a topic at the recent NAACP convention in Milwaukee. The notion of reparations for slavery, abolished 140 years ago, is so ludicrous that it barely warrants commentary, but because it is so ludicrous, I just couldn't help myself. Few would argue that slavery was a good thing and although the selling of human beings into forced labor existed for centuries before the founding of the United States and continues in various forms in some places in the world today, it seems that the story of slavery for many begins and ends with the enslavement of black Africans by wealthy white American plantation owners. Some of those wealthy plantation owners, or their descendants, went on to become wealthy business owners, all owing their vast fortunes to slave labor and, by golly, it is time that they paid up. Well, if not the slave owners themselves (after all, they're dead) someone has to pay. At least that is the position promoted by reparation advocates. Political correctness and the fear of public criticism or boycotts apparently inspired financial giant J. P. Morgan to kowtow to reparation demands and set up a scholarship program for African-Americans. Like sharks to blood in water, slavery reparations extortionists are, or will soon be targeting other companies with a corporate history back to the mid-1800s or earlier that can be shown to have any links to the period of legalized slavery. It would be one thing if the modern-day descendants of slaves could show that they were personally damaged by the fact that their ancestor was a slave, but the fact is, they can't. For any slave descendant in the United States, a claim of damages resulting from slavery in the 19th century is no different than Bill Gates demanding compensation because he is a billionaire. Every single person in the United States today that had an ancestor brought to this country against his or her will should be eternally grateful that their ancestor endured the suffering of slavery long enough to reproduce. African-Americans today have full access to the prosperity and opportunities of America, that is, if they choose to avail themselves of those opportunities. If not for slavery, most African-Americans would be waking up each day in sub-Saharan Africa wondering where their next meal is coming from and whether they will die from malaria, genocide or AIDS. Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 and institutionalized segregation eliminated 100 years later. In the subsequent 40 years, a large segment of the black community, and especially the so-called "leadership" of the black community have promoted a culture of victimization, blaming all ills on something (slavery) or someone (whites). Demanding reparations is just another attempt to focus "blame" for the failures of a large segment of the black community on something other than the leadership and the community itself. The reparations movement does nothing to further the fortunes of African-Americans. It only serves to further racial division. It is long past time the man-on-the-street to join responsible African-Americans in denouncing charlatans such as Julian Bond and the NAACP and their promotion of a culture of victimization. There are far, far too many examples of successful African-Americans for any clear-thinking person to believe that the legacy of slavery and segregation is holding blacks down. The reparations efforts are really not about compensation for past wrongs, but are nothing more than an extortion scheme that would only maintain the inferiority complex of many black Americans and enhance the status (and pocketbooks) of the NCAAP leadership and their attorneys. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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