Oratory did not end with the demise of Demosthenes nor did black slavery begin in the
United States of America. However, one would think so by listening to what has become
a profitable race hustling industry in this country.
In a sense this article was encouraged by an essay written by Fred Reed, a police reporter
with a leading Washington newspaper who responded to the rantings of Henry Louis Gates Jr.,
the chairman of Afro-American studies at Harvard. It appeared that Professor Gates had as yet
to stop his demands that whites pay reparations to blacks for the suffering of these same people having been enslaved and brought to this “terrible” land against their will.
We have been and continue to be bombarded with racial reconstruction, contrition, apology, resolution, exploitation, preference, extortion, reparation and whatever else you wish to
name it. It's like a virus which will not stop feeding upon itself. Someone, somewhere must
present the facts of life to those who wish to continue slurping at the Jackson-Farakhan-Rangel-Gates whining trough. A useless exercise which is tantamount to pitching
one's tent on quicksand.
It is truly sad to read and note the historical ignorance of those who accuse America of being
the cruelest slave nation on this earth. One student is quoted as having stated that this
country introduced the cruelest form of chattel slavery ever recorded and maintained for centuries. This is not only an indication of abysmal ignorance but an example of what has
not been learned in our historically sparse educational system. Furthermore this is an illustration of the philosophy and the folklore of the pseudo-leadership which comprises the
point men of today’s blacks. These are the people who have been so thoroughly brainwashed
as to be completely bemired in a venom which will not allow the back foot to pull out of the
past nor the front foot to lead them from the swamp. A symptom indicating our need to
“pushing back the frontiers of ignorance” as economist Walter Williams so aptly puts it.
The great tragedy of our time is that a majority of the black population has latched on to a political party and a black leadership which ensures and encourages their complete dependence on government. The second portion of this tragedy is that they don't know it. Here are a people
who at one time had ancestors become slaves by the accident of conquering tribes and birth,
mainly in Africa, and yet today are themselves responsible and accountable for the self imposed corral into which they have enslaved themselves. They were born free and yet bemoan the
fact that they are the products of their own self imposed captivity. Their leadership helps
educate them just enough in the arena of subservience in order that they languish and die in the hell hole of servitude.
History indicates that the practice of slavery dates to prehistoric times. It has been practiced by mankind since the advent of human history. It has been a cultural phenomenon of humans,
the kindest and gentlest animals on this earth, and yet, the most cruel. The ancient
Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese civilizations utilized slaves. The Egyptians and Hebrews of
ancient cultures were not without slaves. In pre-Columbian America, slaves were a part of the
Aztec, Inca and Maya societies. In the Homeric Epics, slavery was the destiny of prisoners
of war. By the 19th century you could add all of Europe to the practice of slavery and slave
labor. Conquerors have been enslaving the conquered since time immemorial. Slavery and slaughter exists all over the world today and no less in the bowels of Asia and at the cores of North,
Central and South Africa. Whites, blacks, Asians and people of any race or nationality
imaginable were slaves of others at one time or another.
Between 1792 with Denmark to 1888 in Brazil, slavery was almost officially abolished in most
of the civilized world. Contemporary history indicates our nation was the only country which
dared to fight a civil war in order to rid itself of this dastardly institution. As Tom Sowell pointed out in a recent article, “there were white slaves still being sold in Egypt two decades after blacks were freed in the United States” Today we have freed the people of Iraq from both slavery and slaughter. Today and at this very moment there are tribes in Africa still
slaughtering and enslaving each other. Where are the cries of the pious American black
leadership or isn’t there enough money over there?
Contrary to the outcries and the revised historical documentation of the moaners, the slave
traders who purchased the slaves in Africa did not conquer tribes and villages and make them
slaves. They were already slaves on the market and being shuttled to the countries with the most purchasing power. They were slaves enslaved by their own conquerors and sold. For those who were transported here the question could be asked of their descendants if they would have preferred
that their ancestors would have been sold and sent somewhere else in the world or to this
country? If they had been sent somewhere else what would their plight be and where would they
be today?
There is no perfect world out there. There is no country on this earth without prejudice. But
they are living in the greatest and most generous country this globe has ever spawned and yet
too many reek of despair. They have been blessed to live in a nation where millions of people
throughout this world would give everything they own to live and not without good reason.
And yet these parasites wish to be paid reparations for the privilege of having to live here.
These are our present day losers since the need for this type of rationale excuses their
inability to cope and to make it in a nation which has more opportunities than any other on
this earth. These are the same individuals who would look at black successes and call them Uncle Toms. These are the same whiners who frown on the value of education since it would be
tantamount to following "Whitey's" agenda. These are the same activists who need follow the
advice of the Tom Sowells of this world who would say to them, "Fervor in defense of failure
is no answer for any race."
On the other side of the coin it was a welcome relief to find a writer who summed up the success of his people in so many words. "It has been around 60 years since the holocaust, and Jewish people have not let that deter us one bit. We have been very successful because we focus on three main issues: family, education and work." What a refreshing statement after listening to and
reading the diatribe of the negativists.
It is to their credit that enough blacks have broken their shackles and have taken advantage
of the opportunities and the freedoms of the greatest nation on this earth. For those
ungrateful wretches who think that living in this country is an ordeal all they have to do
is look around them. There are more black millionaires, more black upper class, more black
middle class and more successful black entrepreneurs in this country than in any nation on
earth. If you can't make it here, you can't make it anywhere.
So to the activists it can only be said, "The statute of limitations on the race question ran
out. Reparations is a hand-out you don’t deserve or need. Get with it, get a life, get off the wailing wagon, direct your energy to a productive pursuit and you will be amazed at how
much happier your life will become."
George M. Haddad has a Bachelors Degree in Sociology and a Masters Degree in Social Administration with extensive work experience with the mentally ill. He is a World War II veteran having served in the Infantry; Interpreter of the French language; Interrogator in Technical Intelligence and Sgt.-Major of a Separation Center. Also the former Executive Director - National Institute for Burn Medicine - affiliated with the University of Michigan. He is retired from the National Staff of the YMCA as a troubleshooter in financial management and administration and has worked as a management consultant to non-profit corporations. He has written frequently on medical, social and political issues and has many published articles to his credit. He currently writes from Franklin, Michigan and can be contacted at gmhaddad@comcast.net