David Swindle: The Return of the Reparations Monster
[David Swindle is a free lance writer, film critic, and blogger. He is currently working on a book on the ideas of David Horowitz, the research for which can be read and contributed to at his blog Books In Depth. He can be contacted at DavidSwindle@gmail.com.]
The ideas of the Left are a bit like the villains in horror movies. Just when world events should signal their obvious defeat they somehow manage to rise again. The fall of the Soviet Union should have been the end of the Marxist idea. Yet all the true believers did was repackage the same reactionary theories into new monstrosities.
Another leftist movement was dealt a similar blow on November 4, 2008 with the election of America’s first African-American president. If ever there was evidence that America was not fundamentally racist this was it. Further there could be almost no greater sign that the American dream was alive and accessible to everyone. Barack Obama came from a single parent home and had lifted himself up through hard work and determination to become the leader of the free world.
These events should have obliterated the reparations-for-slavery movement. But its chief advocate in the House, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) has, as he’s done every year since 1989, reintroduced HR 40, legislation that would “establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.”
If there’s one thing about sequels it’s that the monster’s weaknesses remain the same. Thankfully if the Reparations Movement is going to try and rise from the dead, those that would oppose it are better prepared this time around. David Horowitz’s Uncivil Wars: The Controversy Over Reparations for Slavery is a utility belt for dispatching every pro-reparations argument under the sun.
The first part of the book chronicles Horowitz’s attempt to place his “Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea – and Racist Too” ad in college newspapers across the country back in 2001. Seemingly everywhere he went he encountered those who tried to silence him, prevent the ad from being published, and tar and feather him as a racist. To a man with half-black grandchildren and a long history in the Civil Rights movement the insult stung – especially since nothing in the ad could be construed as “racist” by any thinking person.
To understand why Horowitz was slandered it’s important to grasp what his unforgivable offense was in the eyes of reparations proponents. Part II of Uncivil Wars is titled “Reparations and the American Idea” and its here where the meat of the conflict resides. In the eyes of reparations advocates the United States is irredeemably racist even to this day. Blacks and other minorities are “oppressed” by “institutional racism.” This is the only thing in their minds that can explain contemporary disparities in achievement among the races.
Horowitz challenges this vision of America. And to defend a “racist” institution like America is to be a racist in the eyes of the Left. So Horowitz argued counter-intuitively that actually America has given African-Americans the opportunity to lift themselves up. Horowitz first discussed Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom’s America in Black and White in his essay “Martin’s Children” from his book Hating Whitey and he cites it again in Uncivil Wars to demonstrate a decidedly non-racist point: over the course of the 20th Century the African-American community has made tremendous advances. In 1940 87 percent of African-Americans lived in poverty. In 1960 it had dropped to 47 percent. And by 1995 it was 26 percent. These leaps weren’t handed to African-Americans as reimbursements for centuries’ old offenses against their ancestors. They were made by generations of Americans who worked hard to rise from their heritage.
If America is fundamentally racist and in need of reparations to cure its ails then why is it there a thriving black middle class? Why is it that Oprah Winfrey could go from wearing potato sack dresses as a child to having a net worth of $2.7 billion as an adult? Why is it that we just elected a black president whose middle name is Hussein? The answer is not one that leftist reparations advocates can tolerate: the American Idea works.
The founders set up a system in which individuals had the freedom to succeed or fail based on their own merit. It took some time for that opportunity to be extended to all citizens but since it has with the success of the Civil Rights movement African-Americans have continued to prove white racists wrongheaded by the strength of their achievements. This is a profoundly unifying, exciting vision of the American Idea. In the book’s conclusion, Horowitz summed up with declaring that, “the American founders did create a crucible so powerful in its principles that it could – out of the multiracial, multiethnic variety of our remarkable people – finally make them one.”
The reparations argument and the facts surrounding the rise of the black middle class are a demonstration of a concept that’s likely to frighten the Left even more: Progressive dreams should be pursued, but through conservative means. It’s been a continued dream of the Left to see minorities rise out of poverty and into positions of power. And that has come to pass, unfortunately it’s been through ideas championed by the Right. Minorities have embraced the challenge of American society. They’ve educated themselves, started businesses and stable families, and participated in the founders’ system. And the election of Obama, while a defeat for the Right in the political battle is a definitive victory in the ideological Uncivil Wars.
In all likelihood Conyer’s bill will fail for the 20th time. And it certainly won’t help his cause that the black President whose victory he celebrated in November is opposed to reparations himself. Nevertheless, it will likely only be a matter of time before the reparations creature leaps to life again, reinventing itself but continuing to ignore history. At least those standing guard against it will be well-prepared with plenty of silver bullet arguments and wooden stake facts close at hand.
Read entire article at Frontpagemag.com (click here for version with embedded links)
The ideas of the Left are a bit like the villains in horror movies. Just when world events should signal their obvious defeat they somehow manage to rise again. The fall of the Soviet Union should have been the end of the Marxist idea. Yet all the true believers did was repackage the same reactionary theories into new monstrosities.
Another leftist movement was dealt a similar blow on November 4, 2008 with the election of America’s first African-American president. If ever there was evidence that America was not fundamentally racist this was it. Further there could be almost no greater sign that the American dream was alive and accessible to everyone. Barack Obama came from a single parent home and had lifted himself up through hard work and determination to become the leader of the free world.
These events should have obliterated the reparations-for-slavery movement. But its chief advocate in the House, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) has, as he’s done every year since 1989, reintroduced HR 40, legislation that would “establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.”
If there’s one thing about sequels it’s that the monster’s weaknesses remain the same. Thankfully if the Reparations Movement is going to try and rise from the dead, those that would oppose it are better prepared this time around. David Horowitz’s Uncivil Wars: The Controversy Over Reparations for Slavery is a utility belt for dispatching every pro-reparations argument under the sun.
The first part of the book chronicles Horowitz’s attempt to place his “Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea – and Racist Too” ad in college newspapers across the country back in 2001. Seemingly everywhere he went he encountered those who tried to silence him, prevent the ad from being published, and tar and feather him as a racist. To a man with half-black grandchildren and a long history in the Civil Rights movement the insult stung – especially since nothing in the ad could be construed as “racist” by any thinking person.
To understand why Horowitz was slandered it’s important to grasp what his unforgivable offense was in the eyes of reparations proponents. Part II of Uncivil Wars is titled “Reparations and the American Idea” and its here where the meat of the conflict resides. In the eyes of reparations advocates the United States is irredeemably racist even to this day. Blacks and other minorities are “oppressed” by “institutional racism.” This is the only thing in their minds that can explain contemporary disparities in achievement among the races.
Horowitz challenges this vision of America. And to defend a “racist” institution like America is to be a racist in the eyes of the Left. So Horowitz argued counter-intuitively that actually America has given African-Americans the opportunity to lift themselves up. Horowitz first discussed Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom’s America in Black and White in his essay “Martin’s Children” from his book Hating Whitey and he cites it again in Uncivil Wars to demonstrate a decidedly non-racist point: over the course of the 20th Century the African-American community has made tremendous advances. In 1940 87 percent of African-Americans lived in poverty. In 1960 it had dropped to 47 percent. And by 1995 it was 26 percent. These leaps weren’t handed to African-Americans as reimbursements for centuries’ old offenses against their ancestors. They were made by generations of Americans who worked hard to rise from their heritage.
If America is fundamentally racist and in need of reparations to cure its ails then why is it there a thriving black middle class? Why is it that Oprah Winfrey could go from wearing potato sack dresses as a child to having a net worth of $2.7 billion as an adult? Why is it that we just elected a black president whose middle name is Hussein? The answer is not one that leftist reparations advocates can tolerate: the American Idea works.
The founders set up a system in which individuals had the freedom to succeed or fail based on their own merit. It took some time for that opportunity to be extended to all citizens but since it has with the success of the Civil Rights movement African-Americans have continued to prove white racists wrongheaded by the strength of their achievements. This is a profoundly unifying, exciting vision of the American Idea. In the book’s conclusion, Horowitz summed up with declaring that, “the American founders did create a crucible so powerful in its principles that it could – out of the multiracial, multiethnic variety of our remarkable people – finally make them one.”
The reparations argument and the facts surrounding the rise of the black middle class are a demonstration of a concept that’s likely to frighten the Left even more: Progressive dreams should be pursued, but through conservative means. It’s been a continued dream of the Left to see minorities rise out of poverty and into positions of power. And that has come to pass, unfortunately it’s been through ideas championed by the Right. Minorities have embraced the challenge of American society. They’ve educated themselves, started businesses and stable families, and participated in the founders’ system. And the election of Obama, while a defeat for the Right in the political battle is a definitive victory in the ideological Uncivil Wars.
In all likelihood Conyer’s bill will fail for the 20th time. And it certainly won’t help his cause that the black President whose victory he celebrated in November is opposed to reparations himself. Nevertheless, it will likely only be a matter of time before the reparations creature leaps to life again, reinventing itself but continuing to ignore history. At least those standing guard against it will be well-prepared with plenty of silver bullet arguments and wooden stake facts close at hand.