> Fwiw, Adolph Reed, who's neither ignorant nor white,
> shares a similar view: http://www.progressive.org/reed1200.htm
Yes, and Reed, as with so many other things, is in the microscopic minority with his view. On this issue, he is ignorant, and if "whiteness" is defined by your disconnectedness from "Blackness," ala Clarence Thomas, well...
> Why should a campaign for reparations be based upon the
> "notion that *white America*, however defined, owes
> reparations to black Americans for slavery and its
> legacy"?
It ISN'T.
> Why not organize a campaign on the ground that *the
> ruling class* owes reparations to black Americans for
> slavery and its legacy?
It already IS.
Once again, we have non-Blacks who don't "get it" falling into this simple reductionism.
As a simple example, one of the three pillars upon which the case for Black Americans is being presented at the World Conference Against Racism, etc., is that the foundation of racism is economic exploitation. In other words they are presenting a Marxist argument, not simply running around ranting about "da white man."
So, folks can tell Adolph Reed, thank you, but we are already quite aware of the class nature of our exploitation, but that only adds another piece of the puzzle to the demand for reparations, it does not dissuade us from pursuing it.
> According to my understanding of slavery, racism, &
> their injuries, non-black American workers are also
> entitled to reparations for slavery and its legacy, but
> most of them have yet to become hip to their own
> injuries.... :-)
Part of that's the same old story: the ignorance, backwardness, treachery, and reactionary nature of the white working-class.
Your JOB, if you really want to be USEFUL, is to go about dealing with THAT, instead of trying to lecture Blacks about what we should or should not be doing.
As for other non-Blacks: when it comes to the issue of Indigenous peoples especially, there is solidarity and yes, even a merging or expanding of the demand to include reparations for Indigenous peoples. This is a subtlety that gets lost in mainstream reports, but those working on the issue understand and embrace it.
In addition, and this is another example of where a fistfight might have broken out if this was face to face, while clearly understanding that ALL non-ruling class peoples in this country have been exploited and brutalized in one way or another, the key distinction regarding the Indigenous and the African is GENOCIDE and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. We're not just talking about indentured servitude, exploitation of wage labor, or even various acts of treachery. It's that level of "evil" that causes us to seek reparations. Reparations deals with the economic, and stuff that is beyond economic.
> I had not waded on this issue, and it may strike many as
> strange that I would do so now to come to the defense of
> James Heartfield, but this comment is so over the top
> that I can not help myself. There is not an argument
> here that someone could engage, but an attempt to
> silence with sheer vitriol and race baiting.
Get a life. Besides the fact that "white" has nothing to do with race, but about ignorance and arrogance, you people have gotten so used to having your asses kissed with genteel bourgeois discourse that you can't seem to handle the passion of someone who is not willing to allow anyone to run around blaspheming the Black liberation struggle, of which reparations is a major part.
You can say anything you want, but the fact is, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about, and people like me are going to call you and others on it. Deal with it.
> There remains the very real question of whether the best
> way to obtain such services and resources is a discourse
> of reparations. This is a question of political strategy
> which has nothing to do with a knowledge of the Black
> radical tradition, because it is not a question of
> whether the discourse of reparations has any resonance
> in the African-African community, but whether it will
> fly in the larger society.
Yes, see, this is exactly what I'm talking about. We don't give a damn about the larger society, not in the sense of not wanting them to care, but in the sense of who is framing the debate. The difference with the reparations issue, which has people like David Horowitz and Adolph Reed freaked out, is that it is a newly re-emerged discussion, in which Blacks are not on the whole seeking the advice of "whites", class-reductionist Marxists, or anyone else. This is a speeding train, and you either jump on board and contribute/help, or get the fuck out of the way (or else you'll get run over).
It's the same thing that happened when the Black Power movement first emerged. People on the Left and the Right got scared because suddenly, us crazy Negroes had veered off in another direction, and weren't listening anymore to either of our former masters.
Art