Why I Don't Want and Don't Deserve Reparations
The Reparations Movement – a government payout to descendants of slaves – is making a comeback. Super Bowl star Burgess Owens, who happens to be black and whose great grandfather was a slave, finds this movement both condescending and counterproductive. He wants no part of it. In this video, he explains why.
When the older slaves escaped, they took Silas Burgess with them to _____________________________.
South CarolinaEastern GeorgiaWest Texasnone of the aboveHow long did it take Silas Burgess to pay off his 102 acres of farmland?
within 2 yearswithin 3 yearswithin 4 yearswithin 5 yearsSilas founded the first black church and first black elementary school in his town, and was a ____________________________.
RepublicanChristianpillar of his communityall of the aboveThe reparations movement minimizes the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of white Americans and a Republican president who gave their lives to eradicate slavery.
TrueFalseWhat percentage of black households today live the middle-class American Dream?
35%40%45%50%
- At the core of the reparations movement is a distorted and demeaning view of both blacks and whites.
Reparations brands whites as an oppressive people too powerful for black Americans to overcome. Those who push the reparations movement often portray black Americans as hapless victims devoid of the ability, which every other culture possesses: to assimilate and progress.
View sourceProgressives “suggest that slavery is the root cause of the misery found within today’s urban community,” former NFL star Burgess Owens asserts. The left’s reductive view portrays black Americans as permanent victims and ignores policies of the last half-century that have hurt the black community.
View sourceWATCH: Burgess Owens on reparations.
View sourceRelated reading: “The Scapegoat for Strife in the Black Community” – Thomas Sowell
View source- Reparations proponents ignore the massive costs America has already paid for slavery.
America paid a devastating price for slavery at the cost of 600,000 lives during the Civil War.
View sourcePresident Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The Republican president’s death was ultimately a result of his promotion of the cause of black liberation.
View sourceSouthern Democrats tried to reverse the gains of the Civil War by introducing Jim Crow laws.
View sourceRelated reading: “The Scapegoat for Strife in the Black Community” – Thomas Sowell
View source- Black Americans have made great strides despite anti-family policies aimed at the black community over the last 50 years.
Though they were designed to help black families, President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs did more harm than good.
View sourceThe welfare state, more so than the legacy of slavery, is to blame for the current problems facing the black community.
View sourceIn 2017, there were over 16,000 black households in the top one percent of net worth.
View sourceIn 2001, Robert Johnson became the first black billionaire after selling the Black Entertainment Television (BET) cable channel.
View sourceAccording to a report from the Institute for Family Studies, almost 6 out of 10 black men will enter the middle class by middle age. Those living in poverty has dropped from 41 percent to 16 percent since 1960.
View sourceRelated Reading: “Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps” – Burgess Owens
View source- Prominent Democrats are increasingly calling for slavery reparations despite its massive costs and demeaning premise.
A recent study published in the Social Science Quarterly estimated that slavery reparations could cost anywhere from $6 to $14 trillion dollars. Other studies have put the potential price tag at $10 trillion.
View sourceNew Jersey Senator Cory Booker, commenting on a proposed reparations bill, said, “It is impossible for us to craft an American future that is fair and just without openly acknowledging and confronting its inequalities.”
View sourcePresidential candidate Elizabeth Warren endorsed the reparations bill, saying, “Black families have had a much steeper hill to climb – and we need systemic, structural changes to address that.”
View sourceActor Danny Glover and author Ta-Nehisi Coates both called for reparations in a House hearing.
View source2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro said, “I’ve long believed the country should consider reparations because of the atrocity of slavery.”
View source- Burgess Owens’ great-great-grandfather Silas Burgess escaped slavery and became a successful farmer.
Silas Burgess came to America on a slave ship and sold on an auction block in Charleston, South Carolina, to the Burgess Plantation.
View sourceHe was able to escape the plantation through the Underground Railroad at age 8.
View sourceHe escaped with elder slaves and was helped along by white and Mexican Americans.
View sourceEventually Silas Burgess became a successful farmer of 102 acres of farmland, which he cultivated and paid off within two years.
View sourceRelated Reading: “Why I Stand: From Freedom to the Killing Fields of Socialism” – Burgess Owens
View source
My great-great-grandfather, Silas Burgess, came to America shackled in the belly of a slave ship.
He was sold on an auction block in Charleston, South Carolina, to the Burgess Plantation.
Orphaned by age 8, he was, fortunately, surrounded by elder slaves who, though physically chained, mentally envisioned themselves as free men. They escaped, taking young Silas with them, making their way to West Texas.
Silas worked hard and saved his money. Eventually, he became the owner of 102 acres of farmland, which he cultivated and paid off within two years. I proudly carry the name of my first American ancestor—who, like millions of others drawn or brought to our country, struggled past overwhelming obstacles to live the American Dream.
Silas founded the first black church, the first black elementary school in his town. He was a Republican, a Christian, and a pillar of his community. He was proud and industrious and taught his children to be the same.
Now, because great-great-grandpa Silas was once a slave, so-called “progressives” want to give me money.
Never mind that, like him, I am an entrepreneur who received an excellent education, built businesses, raised a remarkable family and, unlike most white Americans, earned a Super Bowl ring.
Because of work I’ve never done, stripes I’ve never had, under a whip I’ve never known, these progressives want to give me money I’ve never earned. The fact that this money will be forcibly taken from others who also dreamed, worked and sacrificed for it, I’m told is not my concern.
But it is.
At the core of the reparations movement is a distorted and demeaning view of blacks and whites.
It grants superiority to the white race, treating them as an oppressive people too powerful for black Americans to overcome. It brands blacks as hapless victims, devoid of the ability which every other culture possesses to assimilate and to progress.
The reparations movement conveniently forgets the 150 years of legal, social, and economic progress obtained by millions of American minorities. It also minimizes the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of white Americans and a Republican president who gave their lives to eradicate slavery.
I think Grandpa Silas would have seen this loss of American lives as payment in full. Every grateful black American, then and now, would feel the same.
The reparations movement also reinforces a view of racial relationships that undermines America’s Judeo-Christian foundation. It defies the ideals of forgiveness and second chances and scorns individual accountability.
Proponents of reparations believe that black Americans are incapable of carrying their own burdens, while white Americans must bear the sins of those who came before them. Proponents do not take into account the majority of white Americans who never owned slaves, who fought to end slavery, or who came to America long after it was ended.
This divisive message marks the black race as forever broken, a people whose healing can only come through the guilt, pity, and benevolence of whites. Tragically, we now see this playing out on our college campuses. As young white Americans acknowledge their skin color as a “privilege,” young black Americans—with no apparent shame—accept their skin color as one that automatically confers victim status.
In doing so, they seem unaware that this perception of blacks was shared by the 1960s Southern white supremacists of my youth. Those who seek reparations have accepted the theory that skin color alone is capable of making one race superior to the other—that with no additional effort, values, or personal initiative, white Americans will succeed, while black Americans will fail. At its very core, this represents the condescending evil of racism.
It certainly does not represent black America’s potential.
40% of black households today live the middle-class American Dream. There are thousands of black Americans among our nation’s top 1% of income earners—doctors, lawyers, engineers and professors; not to mention music, TV, film and sports stars. Many of our society’s most revered and celebrated citizens are black.
The journeys of these Americans to wealth and prominence vary, like those of their white counterparts, but many benefited from having ancestors like Grandpa Silas, who embraced the opportunities their country provided and who left behind a legacy of proud, productive, patriotic, and successful families. Why should white Americans—my neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens—owe me anything?
If Grandpa Silas were here, I’m certain his message to everyone, whether black or white, would simply be this:
Good character cannot be bought by bribery.
I’m Burgess Owens for Prager University.
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