By Burgess Owens |
The Wall Street Journal
The Underground Railroad Aids with a Runaway Slave” by John Davies.
PHOTO: BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
My ancestor Silas Burgess came to America in chains. But
even he was able to live the American Dream.
Silas
founded the first black church and first black elementary school in his town. He
was a proud Republican, a devout Christian, the patriarch of a large
family, and a pillar of his community. He was proud and industrious and taught
his children to be the same.
Now,
because of him, a bunch of Democratic presidential hopefuls want to give me
money. Never mind that like Silas, I am an entrepreneur who has lived the
American dream—having received a world-class 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’ll never know, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Elizabeth Warren and others
want to give me free stuff. Never mind that it will be taken from others, who
also dreamed, worked and sacrificed to earn it.
I wonder
what great-great-grandpa Silas would think.
At the
core of the reparation movement is a divisive and demeaning view of both races.
It grants to the white race a wicked superiority, 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 progress. Neither label is earned.
The
reparations movement conveniently forgets the 150 years of legal, social and
economic progress attained by millions of American minorities. It also minimizes the sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of
white Americans and a Republican president made laying down their lives to
eradicate slavery. I think grandpa Silas would believe that this historical loss of life alone is
payment in full. Every proud, contributing and thankful generation of black
Americans since would think the same.
The
reparation movement also reinforces a spiritual view of racial relationships
that is antithetical to America’s Judeo-Christian foundation. It defies the
ideals of forgiveness and second chances and scorns individual accountability.
Proponents of reparations act as though black Americans are incapable of
carrying their own burdens, while white Americans must bear the sins of those
who came before.
The idea of
reparations demeans America’s founding ideals. A culturally Marxist idea promoted by socialists, reparations denies
the promise granted by an omnipotent God that we are truly equal and that
regardless of race we are capable of overcoming obstacles and past injustices. By indoctrinating others into
this cynical ideology, an elitist class of progressives exploits past differences
and ensures that they will divide us in the future.
It is
their divisive message that marks the black race as forever broken, as a
people whose healing comes only through the guilt, pity, profits and
benevolence of the white race. This perception is playing out on our
nation’s college campuses, where young white Americans claim privilege due to
their skin color and young black Americans, with no apparent shame, accept this
demeaning of their own color as truth.
As they
repeat this mantra, they seem unaware that this perception was also shared by
the 1960s Southern white supremacists of my youth. They have accepted the
theory that skin color alone is capable of making one race superior to the
other—that through an irremovable white advantage, with no additional effort,
values, personal initiative, honesty or education, 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. Despite the Great
Society programs that introduced all sorts of perverse, dependency-inducing,
and antifamily incentives into the black community some 50 years ago, 40% of
black households today live the middle-class American Dream according to the
most recent census data, making between $35,000 and $99,999. Many rank
among our nation’s most powerful and prestigious. There are tens of thousands
of black Americans among our nation’s top 1% of income earners.
The journeys
of these Americans to wealth and prominence vary, like those of their white
counterparts, but many benefited from having ancestors who embraced the
opportunities their country provided and who left behind a legacy of proud,
productive, patriotic and successful families. Why should these people be given
a handout? Grandpa Silas never believed anyone owed him success. Why should I
believe white Americans owe me anything?
Socialist
historians have for generations hidden the contributions and success of the
black community in America. This has cost us our pride in our past, taken our
appreciation for the present, and left us with a lack of vision for our future.
The message from our past great black generations is simple: Character cannot
be bought and will never allow itself to be diminished by bribery.
Grandpa
Silas’s life expectancy was 36. Mine is almost 76. According to a recent report
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by living past 65, my life
expectancy may be longer than whites of the same age. Which I guess is good, if
reparations advocates are going to make me spend grandpa’s money.
Mr. Owens was a Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders. He
is the author of “Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and
Wimps.”
