By Daniel Nardini
Of all the things that have been proposed by certain elements within the Democratic Party, the one on reparations for African Americans has to be one of the most asinine. With a growing downturn in the U.S. economy, record crime, and inflation eating away at the spending power of most Americans, current California Governor Gavin Newsom and his Democrat cohorts have proposed that every African American in the state who can prove they had ancestry that were slaves could receive anywhere between $900,000 to $1.2 million dollars. How this scheme will be financed is as questionable as the whole idea itself. We must keep in mind that California was a free state that prohibited slavery. So why is the state seeking to provide reparations for African Americans when slavery was not allowed in California in the first place?
I can say the same thing about the state of Illinois. Illinois was always a free state. In fact, Illinois prohibited slavery in its 1848 state constitution. So why should African American residents in the state be given reparations when Illinois was never a slave state? I hope no such state proposal is ever passed in the Illinois or even considered like in California. Likewise, I find it inexplicable that the City of Evanston had decided give as much as $400,000 to all African American residents who qualify for housing subsidies and other benefits for slavery and discrimination their ancestors had suffered in the 19th and 20th centuries. I could well ask why Italian Americans are not being compensated for what their ancestors had suffered during the same period? My Italian immigrant grandfather suffered discrimination in housing and was unable to find a job. In the end he went into business with two other Italian immigrants to deliver milk and other dairy products. Where is my reparations for what my grandfather suffered?
Discrimination happened to so many immigrant groups and to so many Americans I cannot even begin to find a starting point. Why should one group be picked over all others? But this is what is happening under the current leadership of the Democratic Party, and they are trying to further divide this nation as if we are not already badly divided as it is. They do not seem to be able to resolve a lot of the problems we all face now. A good acquaintance of mine told me she is afraid of even going into downtown Chicago because of roving gangs attacking people. Even with the Chicago police doing their best it is not always enough; we may need the National Guard now. I am not the least interested in discussing the past and seeking justice or righting wrongs from an instance in our history. I am deeply concerned about what we as a nation and as a people are facing NOW.
The Reparations Fallacy
By Daniel Nardini
I can say the same thing about the state of Illinois. Illinois was always a free state. In fact, Illinois prohibited slavery in its 1848 state constitution. So why should African American residents in the state be given reparations when Illinois was never a slave state? I hope no such state proposal is ever passed in the Illinois or even considered like in California. Likewise, I find it inexplicable that the City of Evanston had decided give as much as $400,000 to all African American residents who qualify for housing subsidies and other benefits for slavery and discrimination their ancestors had suffered in the 19th and 20th centuries. I could well ask why Italian Americans are not being compensated for what their ancestors had suffered during the same period? My Italian immigrant grandfather suffered discrimination in housing and was unable to find a job. In the end he went into business with two other Italian immigrants to deliver milk and other dairy products. Where is my reparations for what my grandfather suffered?
Discrimination happened to so many immigrant groups and to so many Americans I cannot even begin to find a starting point. Why should one group be picked over all others? But this is what is happening under the current leadership of the Democratic Party, and they are trying to further divide this nation as if we are not already badly divided as it is. They do not seem to be able to resolve a lot of the problems we all face now. A good acquaintance of mine told me she is afraid of even going into downtown Chicago because of roving gangs attacking people. Even with the Chicago police doing their best it is not always enough; we may need the National Guard now. I am not the least interested in discussing the past and seeking justice or righting wrongs from an instance in our history. I am deeply concerned about what we as a nation and as a people are facing NOW.