Bernie Sanders & Reparations

Ta-Nehisi Coates has been making a lot of noise this week claiming that Bernie Sanders should support reparations for descendants of slaves, that is, giving a chunk of money to most black people in this country.

Here is his reasoning.. It's pretty thin on logic.  Even thinner on proof that it would do anything to right the wrongs of the past 200 years.

It's a ridiculous argument on its face but it's been getting press. The right is using it to try to drive a wedge between black voters and Bernie.

Apparently, the Socialist Party of the US supports reparations so Bernie, as a self-avowed socialist, should too.  However, there's socialist and then there's Socialist.

Bernie's platform on lessening social inequality seems much more likely, to me, to make a difference in the status of the underprivileged.

Quote :

The “wealth option,” accomplished by cash payments, is what we tend to think when we hear “reparations.” In this scenario, the federal government would mail checks to individuals, either in a lump sum or spread out over time. There are a few, immediate concerns with this notion. First, who is eligible? Given the pervasiveness of anti-black prejudice, should it go to all black Americans—who, regardless of origin, deal with the burden of white supremacy—or should it go to the descendants of slaves, who share a unique disadvantage? And how do we determine lineage? Through self-reporting? Through a comprehensive census of black Americans? Genealogical records for slaves are so scarce that any method of selection will come with the risk of fraud, since for most, we can’t confirm with absolute certainty that a given person is a descendant of slaves.

And even if we could agree on recipients, how much should individuals receive? A uniform sum or an amount based on your heritage, i.e., the more enslaved ancestors you have, the bigger your payment?

Besides, if ANYBODY is due reparations it's Native Americans.

Hearing on reparations yesterday. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Chris Hayes tonight.

I have a better idea, I think. Instead of monetary reparations, give black people two votes, for the foreseeable future. Period.

Reading Norman Granz, looking up the history of The Reconstruction, reading about Jim Crow laws.....

Black people have come a long way since 1865, but they're still nowhere near being treated equal.  No law, no amount of monetary reparation, no attempt to right the wrongs of the past (and present) will have any effect until public sentiment is changed.

I was born in 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education. Yet today, schools are more segregated-- voluntarily -- than ever before.

Why?

Why do black positive role models (Bill Cosby, O.J. Simpson, Kanye West) turn out to be such monsters?  Not all -- probably not any more than any other race -- but enough to reinforce stereotypes.  People like Oprah and Neil Degrasse Tyson survive in the system by staying quiet about race.  Michael Jackson used his immense popularity and wealth to try to make himself white, and adopted white children and told people they were his own flesh and blood.  Self hatred: the minds most in need of changing are black.  

One step forward, two steps back.  Our first black president is followed by a white supremacist.  Black athletes are castigated for raising black power fists at the awards ceremony, or taking a knee during the national anthem.  Spike Lee makes challenging films, but Wakanda erases all the good he's done.

I dunno. I would've thought in my lifetime things would change.  Will BLM finally be the tipping point?  Or will the southern GOP succeed in disenfranchising half the country?  

The next few months will tell.

Reading Heather McGhee "The Sum of Us"," in chapter 9 "The Hidden Wound" she talks about the danger of color blindness.

White people like me often crow about how unracist we are by claiming we don't see color.  That we judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

But as Heather points out, this is dangerous.  By claiming all people are alike under the skin, it makes it easier for anti-racists like me to claim that all the systemic inequality in society, in employment, in household wealth, in housing, in policing -- all that burden that Black and Brown people bear -- is their own fault.  They have equal skills and equal opportunity; if they haven't succeeded in life whose fault is that?

She touches on reparations in her book, and seems positively inclined.

But simply "repairing" the wrongs of the past 200 years wouldn't fix the systemic racism; in fact it would make it worse, as white resentment would boil over.

Reparations can't be money.

The reason systemic racism endures is because white people have all the power.  Black people are perfectly capable of competing equally, but they don't have the same access to capital, or access to making rules, or access to decisions.

From 1787, when the Three Fifths Compromise was drafted and adopted, until 1868, when the 14th Amendment was adopted, Black people were about half a person, legally.  No power, no representation, no ability to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

For 81 years they were 3/5th of a person.

Therefore, for the next 81 years, or until approximately 2100, every Black individual should be given two votes.  Locally, regionally, nationally.  Instantly DOUBLE the power of the Black vote, without costing whites a cent.  Give Blacks two generations to take the levers of power, legally and equitably, and use that power to level the playing field.  Get voter participation up, get lobbying to court the Black vote, get white voter participation up.  Blacks make up about 14% of the populace nationally.  Boost that to 28% and see what happens in 80 years.

It'd be a fun experiment.