Friday, October 7, 2016

Is the proposal of reparations for African-Americans unrealistic?

I was reading my copy of the Pocket Constitution by TheCapitol.net recently and happened to notice the often overlooked last line of the First Amendment. There isn’t usually much excitement or interest in these words, unlike the earlier part which has received so much attention like in Freedom of Speech/Religion/the Press or Freedom of Assembly. That being said, I decided to take a closer look at what does it mean that the people have a right to petition the Government for a “redress” of grievances-why the Government? I hadn’t given much thought to the word ‘redress’ and figured it meant pretty much the same as petition; or something like it. I decided to get a more technical explanation on the word so I pulled out a copy of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th. Ed) from my shelf, and looked up the word.  To my surprise, the word 2redress 2: compensation for wrong or loss; REPARATION. There are also several words that need to be reviewed, like grievance, injury, petition and injustice. According to the same source, petition 2: a: a formal written request made to an official person or organized body (as in a court); grievance (syn) 2: a cause of suffering or distress (as under unsatisfactory working conditions/labor); injustice (syn)- applies to any act that involves unfairness to another or violation of his [basic human] rights; injury (syn)- applies in law ‘specifically’ to an injustice for which one may sue to recover compensation [restitution/reparations/remuneration??].

Now, putting all these terms together it seems that there is precedent for citizens (the People) to bring legal action against the Government that legalized and codified by statute institutionalized slavery, as authorized by the Constitution. The same document on which this Republican form of governance is built also provides the means for remedy. Sure, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery but it did not eradicate the generational harm that still afflicts the lives of millions of African-Americans suffering from this horrid legacy. A quote from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech (August 23, 1963) says, “The Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

There are those in and out of the political arena who think it laughable or absurd to suggest such a thing as reparations but the Constitution itself bears witness to the fact that it is our inalienable right as a citizen of this great nation to seek and expect some type of obligation from the Government to make “whole” a class of people who have been systematically disenfranchised and brutalized since their ancestors first stepped upon these shores shackled in iron chains from head to feet. We are not property but people and not only do we demand the right to reparations but the Constitution says we do. If this is not the case, then this document isn’t worth the ink that these words are written with and those who gave their lives for the old Red White and Blue died in vain

 
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St Apt 701
Tacoma, WA 98402
October 6, 2016
robertrandle51@yahoo.com