Time to bury the reparations corpse

Jul 30, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
I saw a movie once that was weird in the extreme. A man had a corpse for a puppet! The poor corpse was tied to strings and was being used in a most sickening manner. Surprisingly, some people were fooled – until they got near to it and realized that it wasn’t a living person, but a corpse.
Anytime I hear those who support this nonsense call for reparations, I am reminded of that corpse. When will they ever realize that reparations simply will never happen?
The reparation movements have very little support, even amongst their own people. Here in the Caribbean, most people, and especially most young people, only have one main thing on their minds – just getting by or how to migrate to North America and Europe. Indeed, despite all of the efforts of these reparation groups, very few of us even know anything about reparations at all.
How will these reparations movements get Europeans to support them when even their own people think they are a pack of jokers?
Of course, there is no basis whatsoever for these reparation claims. The system of slavery was acceptable during its time – both legally and morally, and by both whites and blacks. So which court is ever going to rule that Europe should pay? None whatsoever!
Talking about any court case, which Caribbean government or politician will ever muster up the will to vote billions (yes, billions) of scarce public money to carry this lost cause to any respectable court? Absolutely none! They talk and make all sorts of grand speeches about reparations, but they will never act!
The British legal firm (yes, British, oddly enough) that they have on standby to push through any legal case has already stated that the legal fight for reparations will be a very difficult one. This is the same firm that demanded seventeen billion dollars for that Ivory Coast case some years ago – a case that was easy! Also, despite what some think, this firm, if by some miracle it is ever hired, must be paid whether it wins or not – and it cannot win.
Let’s say that by some “Jesus come-back” miracle, a court does rule in favour of these reparation movements, how will it ever enforce such a ruling – demanding that these European powers give up all they have? Which army can do that? Can’t these reparation movements see that theirs is a totally lost cause, fit for the graveyard?
Corpses are totally indifferent to reality – and so are these reparation movements. They refuse to accept the glaring historical fact that Africans sold out their own into slavery. Indeed, the Africans have pointed this out, far too often, that if it weren’t for their actions, slavery as we know it would never have happened.
Which European country, during slavery would have bothered with the Africans, if they had to be fighting them all the time to get slaves? None! So why is no demand for reparations being made of these Africans too? Simple – money!
Finally, like all corpses, some of the actions of these reparations movements are starting to stink. Realizing that they have lost their cause with us grown-ups, they are now targeting our children. Many of their conferences these days involve “trying to win the minds of the next generation” – that is, trying to fool our kids.
This kind of intellectual pedophilia won’t work. Our children may have very impressionable minds, but they are not idiots! Also, what these reparation movements fail to realize is that these children do eventually grow up!
You know, that corpse on that movie began to decompose so much that it began to attract the worse smell. It started to bloat and all sorts of worms eventually took it over, among other worsts. It bears a striking resemblance to these reparation movements. Let’s move on and bury this corpse!
Michael A. Dingwall

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