Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Payback is best left as a bad movie with Mel Gibson....
Just in case you didn't know, slavery is bad. Just even in principle, it's an awful, awful thing. In practice it's inhumane and unthinkable. That said, there was a group that came forward recently seeking reparations for the descendents of former slaves in the United States. This group claimed to have matched their DNA with that of some people in Africa. People, who had been, at one point in time, raided by slave traders, taken from their homes and families, brought to the states and sold into slavery. The lawsuit diverged a bit from previous attempts in that it was aimed at corporations and not at the U.S. government. Now, as guilty as Lloyd's of London, FleetBoston and R.J. Reynolds might have been of "aiding and abetting the commission of genocide" the plaintiffs are about 150 years too late.
The plaintiffs are complaining that these companies destroyed their national and ethnic identity, but let's be honest. That's a load of bullshit. These people were born in the United States. They were raised in the United States. The simple fact that they are suing shows that their American identity is alive and well. Seriously, these companies didn't destroy their national and ethnic identities, they never had an "African Identity". The truth is that most people, African Americans and otherwise, would be appalled at the current situation of most people on the continent of Africa. Now, had they sued the entertainment industry alleging the same thing, perhaps I would have been on their side... or at least listened.
It's just too late for this sort of thing. This was something that would have been more than legitimate a couple of hundred years ago with the original slaves, or at least their first generation relatives, but now it's time to move on. Did Andrew Johnson blow it when he didn't support legislation offering former slaves 40 acres and a mule? Yes, he did, big time. It's not surprising seeing how Andrew Johnson was possibly the dumbest president we've ever had. He was lucky if he signed his name correctly, much less signed the right bill.
Here are some suggestions for these yahoos next time they want to file a lawsuit. Sue for something a bit more current and something that the people today and the media can latch onto...
Sue for the Jim Crow laws, or for the systematic way in which minorities were forced to stay in the inner cities, even as the whites took flight because of a very controlled dispensing of mortgages.
Sue for the way blacks were portrayed on television for the most part through the 80s... go watch old episodes of Columbo... I've seen them all... the only black guys who ever appeared we always waiters...this, of course, was better than most shows, which simply portrayed all blacks as either criminals, minstrels or morons.
Sue Byron Allen...that man set blacks back about 200 years...which means if he was brought on the current case he might make it legitimate.....hmmmm.
Sue for the racial profiling that has been so prevalent in many areas (more on this coming up soon).
Sue the eateries that wouldn't serve you.
Sue white America for constantly assimilating black culture and then making it so uncool that even the most white-bread black person would be embarrassed...see The Running Man.
Sue every soulless white singer who's stolen a great song and committed such an atrocity that a human rights tribunal should have been commissioned.
Sue every successful black athlete who's convinced legions of high school kids that education is unnecessary and that they'll be able to easily sustain a career in professional sports.
Sue Vanilla Ice....please....he's still going.
Sue the cabbies who won't pick you up in New York City.
Sue the media for thinking that 17 minutes of weather with 13 minutes of murders makes up a balanced representation of the stories going on in our communities.
Sue a government who doesn't seem interested in helping raise those in need up.
Sue a government that has the audacity to believe that people need their help in the first place seeing how it was that same government that put them there to begin with....
There are more, but I'll stop there. It's time to stop seeking reparations. History is something best remembered, reflected upon and put behind us. Apply the lessons learned in the present and aim to do so in the future, but it's damn hard to get to the future, when you're still shackled to the past. Let it go.
The plaintiffs are complaining that these companies destroyed their national and ethnic identity, but let's be honest. That's a load of bullshit. These people were born in the United States. They were raised in the United States. The simple fact that they are suing shows that their American identity is alive and well. Seriously, these companies didn't destroy their national and ethnic identities, they never had an "African Identity". The truth is that most people, African Americans and otherwise, would be appalled at the current situation of most people on the continent of Africa. Now, had they sued the entertainment industry alleging the same thing, perhaps I would have been on their side... or at least listened.
It's just too late for this sort of thing. This was something that would have been more than legitimate a couple of hundred years ago with the original slaves, or at least their first generation relatives, but now it's time to move on. Did Andrew Johnson blow it when he didn't support legislation offering former slaves 40 acres and a mule? Yes, he did, big time. It's not surprising seeing how Andrew Johnson was possibly the dumbest president we've ever had. He was lucky if he signed his name correctly, much less signed the right bill.
Here are some suggestions for these yahoos next time they want to file a lawsuit. Sue for something a bit more current and something that the people today and the media can latch onto...
Sue for the Jim Crow laws, or for the systematic way in which minorities were forced to stay in the inner cities, even as the whites took flight because of a very controlled dispensing of mortgages.
Sue for the way blacks were portrayed on television for the most part through the 80s... go watch old episodes of Columbo... I've seen them all... the only black guys who ever appeared we always waiters...this, of course, was better than most shows, which simply portrayed all blacks as either criminals, minstrels or morons.
Sue Byron Allen...that man set blacks back about 200 years...which means if he was brought on the current case he might make it legitimate.....hmmmm.
Sue for the racial profiling that has been so prevalent in many areas (more on this coming up soon).
Sue the eateries that wouldn't serve you.
Sue white America for constantly assimilating black culture and then making it so uncool that even the most white-bread black person would be embarrassed...see The Running Man.
Sue every soulless white singer who's stolen a great song and committed such an atrocity that a human rights tribunal should have been commissioned.
Sue every successful black athlete who's convinced legions of high school kids that education is unnecessary and that they'll be able to easily sustain a career in professional sports.
Sue Vanilla Ice....please....he's still going.
Sue the cabbies who won't pick you up in New York City.
Sue the media for thinking that 17 minutes of weather with 13 minutes of murders makes up a balanced representation of the stories going on in our communities.
Sue a government who doesn't seem interested in helping raise those in need up.
Sue a government that has the audacity to believe that people need their help in the first place seeing how it was that same government that put them there to begin with....
There are more, but I'll stop there. It's time to stop seeking reparations. History is something best remembered, reflected upon and put behind us. Apply the lessons learned in the present and aim to do so in the future, but it's damn hard to get to the future, when you're still shackled to the past. Let it go.
