Reparations 101 Is The New Curriculum For Woke Warriors

Call them the three Rs of Woke Racism 101. Recriminations. Retribution. And Reparations

Those awash in the latest progressive racism and retribution claims know the first two elements in this equation all too well. But they’re about to become very aware of the third leg of this guilt stool. And it may prove even costlier than all the other fever dreams from the Left.

Yes, they want taxpayers to pony up for historical episodes that predate them by generations, even centuries. Guilt money. And lots of it.

Forget that blacks and native tribes owned slaves. Or that whites were enslaved at times during America’s history. Someone’s going to pay, and they’re going to be white.

Much as the Left recently floated trial balloons on socialism, universal healthcare and hate speech restrictions, it has now begun sending out emissaries to test the public appetite for paying reparations on historic grievances. Since the advent of the Obama presidency leading members of the Left— including presidential aspirants— have suggested taxpayers pay for the sins of slavery, native assimilation or other historic grievances .

If they want to see how it looks they need only look north. In Canada, the Trudeau government has made it rain reparations, pouring dollars and fulsome apologies to assuage historical events perceived through the rearview mirror. So $85 million was paid to those involved in so-called purges of gay people.

Trudeau also expressed remorse and guilt to those European Jews turned away by Canada in 1939. Trudeau then apologized in Iqaluit to those Inuit affected by tuberculosis treatments from the government in the ‘50s. (Which led Dene people to demand they, too, get the velvet love from the government.) 

Let’s also not forget the $10.5 million in reparations Trudeau bestowed on Omar Khadr who just happened to kill an American serviceman while he served with al-Qaeda. This is a short list of those getting Sorry notices— and sometimes cash from government. 

Till now this revisionist activity has not spread to the U.S. government. But judging by candidates for the 2020 Democrat Party nomination that could be about to change. Already, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Juliàn Castro have indicated that they would support Americans having to pay up for the sins of the past. Warren has cited “generations of discrimination” to justify the cash grab (while ignoring her own escapade as a fake Indian). Harris, whose family came from Jamaica, echoes the idea, suggesting monies be re-directed to poor blacks.

(Ironically, many of these ignoble racial moments can be laid at the door of the Democrats themselves through their long protections for slavery, lynching, segregation, Jim Crow and organizations such as the KKK. It was only in the 1960s that Democrats shed their chrysalis and convinced the media that it had been the Republicans’ fault all along, allowing their current roster of leaders to come at reparations with clean hands.)

Mainstream Democrats like Joe Biden and even Bernie Sanders— who are currently leading in the polling for the nomination— are not onside with reparations. Yet. But donning the hair shirt is now a party game for the Dems, so it’s hard to envision a successful presidential candidate not having to pay obeisance to this issue. If the price of winning the Dems 2020 nominations is placating the florid Left wing of their party, reparations might be the price of that support. 

It’s unlikely even the batshit crazy wing of the Dem Party thinks that running against Donald Trump on a reparations platform would be a smart political idea. One can only imagine the subtle rejoinders from The Twitter King as he savaged opponents who recommend transferring billions for slavery guilt to unemployed blacks.

But the progressive Left is nothing if not persistent. A dozen years ago, Barack Obama was a sanctity-of-marriage proponent. So was Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill. The notion of running on third-trimester abortions was likewise not considered a prudent stance even for liberals. A presidential candidate advocating for universal single-payer health care was similarly thought a suicide mission.

But here we are. Sanders himself made the point that, if the Left keeps on trying it can push its agenda on a pliant electorate. Then the sky’s the limit. Reflecting on his 2016 campaign for the Democrat nomination the Vermont socialist observed, that “all his radical positions are now considered mainstream” in an America that considers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a sage. 

"Those ideas that we talked about four years ago that seemed so very radical at that time, well, today, virtually all of those ideas are supported by a majority of the American people and have overwhelming support from Democrats and independents,” Sanders said in New Hampshire.

In other words, those opposing reparations had best be prepared to play the long game if they wish to stop Warren, Harris and Castro from imposing their will on America. A very, very long game.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of his website Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also a best-selling author whose new book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports And Why The Free Market Could Save Them is now available.