I've Solved Slave Reparations: Here's Who Should Pay.

Rep Burgess Owens (R) testifies against reparations.

The fight for reparations is ramping up. Between white guilt and racial activism, committee hearings may prove to be for more than just show. Even politicians like former President Barrack Obama are advocating for the idea (even though he didn’t make the push as president).

Who deserves reparations and who pays is extraordinarily complicated. I believe reparations would do more harm than good at this point in time, but since folks on the left are so insistent, I’ve done them a favor and figured it out.

Advocates of reparations believe Black Americans are entitled because of the atrocities committed against them, such as slavery, segregation, and “systemic racist” policies such as redlining. It’s true the government did some very bad things to Black Americans, but the federal government isn’t a separate evil entity that we get to fight like a boss battle at the end of a video game. The American people elect officials, and we fund them with our tax dollars. Any reparations paid would come from the pockets of citizens, and that price tag would be astronomical.

Would we expect the descendants of slaves to fund their own payouts? Most people say no. But how do you sort that out? Not all Black Americans are descendants of slaves. Some free blacks even owned slaves. Are we going to trace everyone’s origins? If they can prove slave ancestry, are they excluded from taxes? Does that burden fall to immigrants from all ethnicities who weren’t in the US at the time? Does that burden fall to descendants of white people who didn’t own slaves? What about white abolitionists and Union soldiers? What about blacks who have slaveowner ancestry?

Reparations require a victim and a perpetrator. Is it moral and just to hold men and women accountable for the sins of their bloodline, committed over 150 years ago? How is that less evil than attributing malice toward someone based on the color of their skin? We need to judge people based on their own individual decisions.

It’s far fairer for reparation advocates to base payments off association. After all, not all Americans were responsible for these atrocities.

Out of the two major political parties that exist today, one pushed for slavery and the other was founded to stop it. Instead of restructuring after the Civil War, the Democrats kept their name and remained a party of racism. They were the party of segregation and Jim Crow. Policies like “redlining” happened under progressive democrats like Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Woodrow Wilson revitalized the KKK when he showed Birth of a Nation at the White House, and Senator Robert Byrd (a great friend of Senator Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden) was a former recruiter for the KKK.

Available in merchandise! “Denounce white supremacy. Defeat Joe Biden.” Racist history listed on back.

There is a myth the parties switched, but the vast majority of Democrats who stood against Civil Rights died as Democrats. Instead of convincing the world that there was a massive switch of ideologies and members, wouldn’t it have been more beneficial if the Democrats rebranded with an entirely different party and platform? They decided to still be a part of the racist institution that harmed so many Black Americans. Why should we allow the party of cancel/accountability culture to get away with that?

Here’s what I propose: Democrats should have to pay. If anyone chooses to freely associate with the only major political party that pushed for slavery, they should make the payouts. The recipients would be all non-democrat blacks who can prove they have enslaved ancestry. Given that 87% of blacks vote democrat, the recipient pool is dramatically smaller and much more feasible for compensation. It’s also believable that Democrats would be able to pay this bill considering how much money is raised for elections and lobbying efforts.

Joe Biden became the first presidential candidate to raise $1 billion. The Democrat National Committee raised nearly half a billion. Amy McGrath raised $94 million and still only pulled 38.2% against Mitch McConnell in 2020. Mike Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion on his four-month presidential campaign. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg gave $350 million for elections. Back in 2018, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke raised $38 million in three months. It would be difficult to make the case that democrats can’t dish out the cash, especially since reparation advocates come from their side.

The most productive thing for our nation would be to remember the past, acknowledge how far we’ve come, and do our best to move forward. I don’t think we can do that while appropriating and profiting off the pain of our ancestors, but if Democrats are determined to pay for the sins of their past, perhaps we should let them.