Thanks Clay!

THIS IS A LITTLE LONG, BUT A VERY GOOD READ.

CLAY






I just got this. Some people would probably go ballistic when reading this. I didn't. In fact, I laughed at the logic and phrasing, if not the actual argument itself. The sheer audacity of this guy for taking on the subject matter! Anyway, I thought you'd find it interesting and provocative.


Cheers.




As you will recall, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Harvard professor who

got arrested by Cambridge Police a month or so ago.



Fred Reed was a police reporter for one of the large Washington

newspapers. He now writes a column which can be googled ~ "Fred on

Everything."



Fred published a weekly online column in which he got to say the things

his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper. His stuff

is iconoclastic and various articles have probably offended everyone ...

regardless of political orientation. So, with the warning that "This is

definitely not politically correct," here comes Fred.....



The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a

culture. Please note that he elegantly describes the mood of many

Americans and he does so without prejudice.








Slavery Reparations ...........by Fred Reed!



On the Web I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of

Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay

reparations to blacks. It's because of slavery, see. He is joined in

this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess

he'll send me a bill, huh?



I feel like saying, "Let me get this straight, Hank. I'm slow. Be

patient.



You want free money because of slavery, right? I don't blame you."

I'd like free money too. Tell you what. I believe in justice ... I'll give

you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every

year you were a slave. Fair enough? But tell me, how many slaves

do you suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean...say to the nearest

dozen. And how long were you a slave?



Oh. In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't

do and didn't happen to you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a

birthday cake.



Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and

never happened to me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and

thrown from the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet you've never done it to anyone.

I want reparations. Kind of silly, isn't it?



But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street that runs in

two directions. You want money from me for what some other whites did

to some other blacks in another century?



How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses

caused by blacks? Not long ago blacks burned down half of Los Angeles,

a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and

you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for

you. You can send me a check.



Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in

the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the

Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers, or

burn down a city.



Over the years blacks have burned a lot of American cities: Newark,

Detroit, Watts, on and on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years

of welfare in all its forms, the cost of all of those police calls

people had to make, for cells and jails and security systems in department stores.



I can't live in the capital city of my own country because of crime

committed by blacks. Toss in the cultural cost of lowering standards in

everything for the benefit of blacks. See what I mean?



Now, I'd view things differently if you said to me, "Fred, blacks can't get

anywhere in a modern country without education. We know that. We

need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller

pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?"



I'd say, "Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes. Let's sell

an aircraft carrier and get these folks some real schools and get them

into the economic main-stream.' I'd say it partly because it would be the

right thing to do, and partly because I'd like to add you guys to the tax

base.



The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for blacks to study

and learn to compete and stop burning places. But is it going to happen?

You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing blacks

as miserable and screwed up as they are.



I spend a fair amount of time in the projects. Those places are ugly.

It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semi-literate dope

dealers who barely speak English. It just plain ain't right. But, Hank,

what am I supposed to do about it? I can't do your children's homework.

At some point, people have to do things for themselves, or they don't get done.

Maybe it's time.



I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank ... I think blacks are

too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it. True, it

has worked for over half a century. Get a few hundred people in the

street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and

sadly the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.



Thing is, whites don't much buy it any longer. Most recognize that what

once was a civil-rights movement has become a shakedown game. Few

people still feel responsible for the failings and inadequacies of blacks.

Political correctness keeps the lid on -- but everyone knows the score.

Which scares me, Hank.



On one hand, blacks hate whites and incline toward looting and burning.

(The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the civil-rights

movement. Ever think about that?)



On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it. Not

good, Hank.



On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical convenience),

blacks keep demanding things. As I write, you demand reparations for

slavery. Blacks in Oklahoma (I think it was) want money for some ancient

race riot.



Other blacks reject the Declaration of Independence. Blacks in New York

hint broadly at burning and looting over a trial, yet more demand the

elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal opportunity

apparatus, which means blacks want to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring

nonexistent black engineers. That's a lot of demanding for one month,

Hank.



What happens if whites ever say, "No"?



Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard, and you

can hoot and holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess

it's lots of fun, and you get a salary for it to boot. But don't you think

you might do blacks more good if you told them to complain less and study

more?



For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the best

approach might be to find some really smart black guys, and get them to

study digital design ~ not Black Studies (as you teach). That's how everybody

else does it. It works. Then blacks wouldn't feel left out, and racial

tensions would decline. Sound like a plan?



Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of

Afro-American Studies spend in the projects, encouraging poor black

kids to study real-life sho-nuf subjects?



~~~











--------------------------------------------------------------------------------