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 701Tacoma, WA 98402
October 6, 2016
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
