Opinion: Why Black folks were abused and degraded by other races Part 2 of 10
THE REPARATION ISSUE AND WHITE FOLKS DISRESPECT FOR BLACK FOLKS
(First Draft completed on April 12, 2011; to be revised.) Click here for Part 1 – By Ozodi Thomas Osuji – To grasp the extent of white Americans disregard for African Americans one has to follow the debate over whether they should make reparation to African Americans or not. They are willing to make reparations to other groups but not to African Americans, those they enslaved for almost three hundred years. I have been following the reparation debate. The issue is very simple. From 1619 to the 1800s African slaves were brought to what is now the United States of America. Those slaves were captured in Africa and brought to the Americas against their wishes. They were sold to white farmers and their labour was used for free to do farming that enriched white farmers. Their labour was used for free to cut down the virgin forests of America and develop America. It took a civil war to end slavery in the United States. After the civil war black folks were for a while free citizens but thereafter terrorist organizations, such as the Ku Klaus Klan, arose and used intimidation to prevent them from exercising their paper freedom. In essence blacks were re-enslaved in post reconstruction America. To the present black folks are still discriminated against in America. Generally, they are the last hired for jobs and the first fired when there are economic downturns. Simply stated black folks have been given the rough end of the stick in America.
One would expect a decent people who did such a dastardly thing to other human beings to own up their crime and make amends for it. The least they could do is acknowledge the crime and apologize for it. But when it comes to black folk white people would not even accept that they committed a crime much less apologize for it. They adamantly refuse to apologize for their criminal behaviour. Indeed, many of them do not even see what they did as criminal. In their warped minds they were doing black folks a favour by enslaving them. As they see it, Africans lived hideous primitive lives and those blacks who were brought to the Americas as slaves were lucky to be exposed to slavery for slavery is better than living in Africa.
But what do blacks say for themselves? Do they see their slave status as preferable to freedom in Africa? To racist whites that question is beside the point; black opinion is irrelevant and not to be counted in social discourse. Thus, what black folks say about their enslavement in the land is not paid attention to. The more virulently racist white Americans say that if black folks do not like their second class status in America that they can always pack up and go back to Africa, where they are said to belong. It is either the white way or the high way. Alas, black folks built America and to leave a country they built to white sociopaths would amount to the worst cowardice in history. Black folks and other Americans own America despite the grandstanding of racists whose parents may actually have come to America only recently and contributed zilch to the building of America.
Lately, America acknowledged that it did wrong by rounding up the Japanese living in the west coast and sending them to concentration camps during the second world war. Congress authorized funds to pay reparation to those unfairly treated Japanese.
During the Second World War, Germany killed millions of Jews. It has acknowledged its crime against Jews and is making monetary reparation to the nation of Israel as amends for its crime.
Germany killed many Russians during the Second World War. When the war ended Russia did not wait for talk on reparation but simply took from Germany whatever it felt like taking as reparation for what Germany did to it, and this included taking skilled German workers, sending them to Russia and using them to work to improve the war battered Russian economy.
The point is simple. Those who committed crimes against others, if rational tend to acknowledge their crimes and make reparations for them. America has done so for the Japanese. But when it comes to black Americans total contempt for them is shown in white Americans refusal to even acknowledge that a crime was committed against black folk, talk less paying reparation to them.
Apparently, white America has contempt for black Americans for there is no other way to understand the refusal to even apologize to those they enslaved. It is as if white folks believe that black folk are not even human beings and even if they are human they are too powerless to do anything about the injustice meted out to them.
Those who cannot seek revenge for what is done to them are to be ignored. The Japanese can wreak havoc on the American economy for what is done to them so reparation is made to them to ally their anger. Jews can destroy the Western economy so they are paid off to assuage their anger. Black folk, well, they are seen as powerless, as nothing hence not taken seriously. As it were, the approach to them is: let them be angry all they want, they lack the military capacity to do anything about their anger. If they act out and try to do something about their plight we shall round them up and place them in American jails. Already one out of four male black Americans between ages fifteen and twenty five is either in jail or is supervised by parole and probation officers. America controls black folks with its injustice system masquerading as a justice system.
This dismissive approach to black folk is intriguing. Anyone who has studied history knows that generally civilizations are toppled by those they oppressed. Rome saw Germans as barbarians and used them as slaves. They ignored the Germans cry for justice. Eventually those Germans toppled the Roman Empire. If you have eyes to see you would have noticed that blacks and other nonwhites are oppressed in America and that they are seen as uncivilized barbarians. These latest barbarians are actually increasing in number. Before the end of the twenty first century the so-called new barbarians would become the majority of the American population. If history is true the governing of America would end up in the hands of nonwhite folks just as the barbarian Germans took over the Roman Empire.
Many Americans believe in American exceptionalism; that is, they believe that the trend of history will not affect them. However, all they have to do is look and see what is already happening around them. The world’s second and third largest economies, China and Japan, are now in Asia, not Europe. Soon, India, Brazil and other countries would surpass many European countries. Indeed, America itself would be surpassed by China and other countries. History is like stubborn facts, it proceeds regardless of what one makes of it; one may delude ones self into believing that one is special but the fact is that no one is special; we are all the same and coequal and history affects us in the same manner. Empires come and empires go. America has reached its apogee and like everything that goes up must come down.
If it is inevitable for blacks and other nonwhites to rule America so why do white America treat them as if they are eternally powerless and are not going to be able to do something about their plight? I believe that what is going on here is that white folks are trying to make black folks so angry that when black folks come to power they would seek maximum revenge and punish as many white folks as is possible. That is to say that white folks have a wish to be punished; they want to be punished by those they have attacked.
The world is designed for human beings to attack each other and in so doing make each other angry and push each other way. In so doing people retain the sense of separation they came to experience in this world.
Black folks are an intensely spiritual people and what is happening to them gives them an opportunity to behave differently from what would be expected from history. History teaches us that those attacked tend to defend themselves and take attack to their attackers. Our human history is characterized by offense and defence and defence and offense. Black folks will break this historical pattern and forgive white folks and love them. This is because they are here to show the world a different manner of civilization, one based on love rather than anger and attack.
Africans are here to initiate a new human civilization, one that unified all mankind rather than separated them into particularistic enclaves from where they attacked one another. Africans are the representatives of love. Since love is union Africans are here to show mankind how to love one another and in so doing produce peace and happiness on earth; that is, bring the kingdom of God to earth and make the will of God done on earth as it is done in heaven. God’s will is that his children love him and love one another for they are all members of one family, the family of God. God’s will is that he and his creation are eternally joined and unified and that separation is only an illusion (a mistake to be corrected when we return to union with each other and with God).
The objective of white abuse of black folks is for black folks not to respond with anger and vengeance but to forgive white folks and teach them love. White folks are savages and black folks are here to civilize them; that is, teach them love. These sociopaths and anti- social personalities’ from the colds of Europe must be civilized and shown how to engage in pro-social behaviours; white folk must be taught to love one another and all human beings.
With regards to reparation clearly those who made mistakes ought to make amends for their mistakes. White folks used African labour to develop America. It stands to reason for white folks to make reparations for this crime. This does not entail giving black folks money. It may entail revamping the American economic and social system so that all Americans are allowed to go to school, from kindergarten to university, paid for by the public; it may mean giving publicly paid health insurance to all Americans etc.
Reparation must sooner or later be paid. At present black folks do not have power in America and cannot do something about their plight. All they can do is chaff about the injustice done to them. Those who do not have real power tend to engage in fantasy whereby they imagine themselves powerful and day dream how they could have magical powers and use those powers to correct their situation. Blacks at the moment have fantasy power, not real power and therefore can be ignored. But by and by blacks would have real power in America. At that point they would be tempted to do what white folks did to them, oppress white folks. However, as noted their historical mission and why they were visited with too much suffering is for them to redirect the focus of human history and show mankind love, and develop a love based civilization. Black folks current passive indulgence in fantasy, in passive idealism hereby they imagine themselves powerful in the future, their wishful thinking will eventually be translated into possession of real power; that is the promise of history to them and there is nothing any one can do to prevent it.
There are white racists who are so deluded by their people’s possession of nuclear weapons that they say that if black folks act out white folks ought to use nuclear weapons to wipe them out. This is interesting fantasy. Explode nuclear weapons in urban America and you kill not only blacks but white folks. We know that white folks are cowards; they are driven by fear of death; they desire to live and are terrified of dying. Their national security state is motivated by their inordinate fear of harm and death. Afraid of harm and death they are currently spending themselves into penury preparing for defence against others attack. Indeed, they are eviscerating their civil liberties in an effort to protect themselves from phantom foreign attackers. Actually their enslavement of black folks and their discrimination against black folks is predicated on their fear; only cowards enslave their fellow human beings; courageous persons work for the good of all human beings. No, white folk would not use their nuclear weapons in America given the collateral effects on their selves.
Killing black folks by other means or sending them back to Africa is out of the question for even the densest white person knows that there is no such thing as America without black folks; America would not be where it currently is without the contribution of black folks (just think of who leads world’s musical and popular culture). It is one thing to marginalize black folks and another to get rid of them. Besides, if they got rid of black folks who would inferior feeling white folk feels superior to? Racists’ delusion of superiority requires the presence of those they fancy themselves superior to, black folks. The symbiotic dance of master and slave must continue in the land of the blind.
If it were possible white folk would run away from America. A black wag said that the exploration of space, especially going to the moon was motivated by white folks desire to run away from blacks, to find a different planet they could run to and leave blacks to own planet earth. See, when black folks move into a white neighbourhood white folks move out. They would keep running until there are no more places to run to and at that point they would learn to live with other races and work to improve every ones life.
It is only a matter of time before Africans acquire nuclear weapons. Therefore, using nuclear weapons to terrorize black folks into kowtowing to the wishes of white folks is out of the question. Black folks are going to force a solution to the race question despite white folk’s delusions of power.
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