>To make the point that a substantial part of the wealth moved by
>"reparations" is moved to people--like Alexis Herman, Thomas Sowell,
>Ward Connerly, Vernon Jordan--who don't especially need it (hell,
>it's highly probable that at least one of my ancestors involuntarily
>took the middle passage around 1800) is not "racist."
>
>What is your motive for claiming that it is?
>
>Brad DeLong
I don't think you are a conscious racist, Brad, if that is any help. You
just demonstrate a insensitivity of the sort that would drive people of
color from PEN-L. Most PEN-L'ers are better educated on these questions,
but unfortunately are too much into collegiality to make a point about it.
Addressing the substantive question, Randall Robinson has not put forward a
particular solution to the reparations question, not even one involving a
pricetag as Michael alluded to. What is not in question is the morality.
"The moral basis for reparations is simply stated: 1) slaves were not paid
for their labor for more than two hundred and sixty-five years, thereby
depriving the descendants of slaves of their inheritance; the descendants
of the slavemasters inherited the benefit derived from slave labor, which
properly belonged to the descendants of slaves; 2) the United States
Government promised ex-slaves forty acres and a mule and did not make good
on that promise; and 3) systematic and government-sanctioned economic and
racial oppression since the abolition of slavery impeded and interfered
with the self-determination of African Americans and excluded them from
sharing in the growth and prosperity of the nation."
Vincene Verdun
Associate Professor, The Ohio State University College of Law
Louis Proyect
(The Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org)
