I am against reparations. I am against sovereignty for Native American nations. I don't think there is any way to atone for the injustices of the past, nor do I think that basing said atonement on the color of one's skin is likely to be of value to our nation in the long run.
It is possible that my background is unique, but in a nation of immigrants, I think it is far more common that my background is commonplace. I am 1/4 Native American (Blackfoot). My Papaw assimilated. He married a white woman, had a very large family, left us legacies both positive and negative, and rarely mentioned his heritage beyond a preference for corn meal rather than flour. He liked to keep candy handy for his plethora of great grandkids. He liked to drink. He liked to give to his community and his church of choice. He didn't like it when I called him "Little Buddy" because it drew attention to the fact that he was short. When his more-or-less white son was struck by lightning and rendered paralyzed and brain damaged, my Papaw cared for him for the rest of his life. He also fathered my Grandpa, who fathered my mother, who married my dad and then gave birth to me. Dad's family came from the British Isles. In fact, a couple of year ago, we ate dinner across the harbor from the ship (the Queen Mary) upon which our ancestors crossed. To my knowledge, then, I had no white ancestors living in the U.S. while slavery was in practice. As far as I can trace, my relatives (again, none of whom were white during the time period in question) were from Northern states in which slave holding was illegal. Currently, I have family members who are considered "white," those who are considered "other" or "mixed," and those who are considered "black." Furthermore, I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood in which I had the exact type of experiences -- gang violence, teen pregnancy, rampant drug use and crime, visiting relatives in prison, etc. -- that reparations seek to "repair" for black Americans. Finally, I happen to be literally color blind. With all of this as my experience and background, I simply can't see how it is in any way just or productive to penalize me for the color of my skin in order to make reparations to others for the color of theirs.
Equal rights under the law are important and (finally, after much struggle) have been achieved for all legal citizens above the age of 18. I think that we are much better off learning from the past and attempting to keep such atrocities from ever occurring again on our soil than we are from placing blame based on something as arbitrary as skin color, which changes from generation to generation, and imposing financial penalties on people who never held slaves on behalf of people who never were slaves. No person now living can atone for something he or she did not do, just as no person now living can accept an apology or reparations for atrocities that were not committed against him or her. Slavery is indeed a dark chapter in our nation's history, as are the atrocities committed against various Native American nations. But the way to honor the past is not to throw money at it or to impose financial penalties based on arbitrary differences like "race." The way to honor the past is to learn from it and to ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes in the present.
I, personally, would never pay money to my uncle or to certain cousins because my Dad is of British decent -- even were it to be signed into law. It would be an unjust, racist law. My family members all grew up in the same neighborhood under relatively similar circumstances. No one of us was more privileged than the other based on the pigmentation of our skin. Largely because Thanksgiving dinner and family reunions include a wide variety of so-called "races" and backgrounds, I think reparations are founded on fallacy. I think they only lead to division. I think the way to make things better for some is to make things better for all. We're all Americans, regardless of what happened in the past. We're all in this together. Whether willingly or not, most of our relatives came here due to oppression of some sort or, in the case of Native Americans, suffered oppression of some sort. To play the "my ancestor was more oppressed than your ancestor" game is both ridiculous and counterproductive to our national interest.
I apologize if my views are offensive. I don't mean to offend. I merely wish to express my wish that we finally view one another as equals. That can't happen in a society that views us as "blacks," "whites," "Native Americans," or any other arbitrary racial grouping, nor can it happen in a society that punishes or rewards people for the sins and tribulations of our forefathers and foremothers.
