The current movement in the United States to demand reparations for slavery is perhaps the most aggravating of all the unreasonable demands that have been made of the American people in the 21st century. Slavery was outlawed approximately one hundred and fifty years ago. There is no one to whom to pay legitimate reparations because no one in living memory has been affected by slavery. There is also the factor of race, which presumes that Blacks are all descended from innocent slaves, while Whites are all descended from evil slave-owners. This ignores a basic fact of American society: we are a land peopled by immigrants, many of whom came after the end of slavery and, therefore, don’t even have a historical connection to slavery in America.
Nevertheless, activists in California are making another attempt to extort money from citizens who have nothing to do with slavery. A state task force has been convened to study how to compensate descendants of enslaved people in California. Since people who never owned slaves don’t owe anything to people who never were slaves, it is difficult to see how any kind of reparations could be justified. They’re trying, though, and one of the possibilities being recommended is creating a school curriculum, based on the Charleston Syllabus, that will teach the history of slavery and its legacy in California.
Hellbound and Down 