Some of my friends in Spain complain that I always criticize Spain’s shortcomings and never those of the U.S. I do not think this is necessarily true, but I do admit that I am a strong proponent of the US political system (though not necessarily of its politicians and it government’s policies). In fact, in terms of the strength and effectiveness of democratic institutions there is absolutely no comparison. Be that said, the U.S. has a massive problem that was very well described in an Op-Ed piece by Jonathan Capehart today in The Washington Post on the legacy of America’s Curse.
One thing that often disturbs me here in Europe is the total self-denial of racist undertones in the way people speak and think about different cultures and ethnicities. What would be considered racist statements in the U.S. (ie, the ones that made Don Imus lose his job this week), are not considered offensive in Spain — the Spanish national team coach made similar statements last year and remains scandal-free and happily in his post.
Europe should learn from the lessons of U.S. history lest it face the same destiny. The U.S. is a perfect example of how waiting too long to cure racism, even in its subtlest expressions, will have dire consequences for generations to come.
Here is Mr. Capehart’s article on the legacy of racism and how some states are trying to make political amends through contrition.
Contrition for America’s Curse
By Jonathan Capehart
Thursday, April 12, 2007; A27
Virginia did it in February. Maryland did it in March. North Carolina did it yesterday. Georgia, Missouri and Texas are thinking of doing it, as is the U.S. House of Representatives. “It” is a social justice fad that I can get into. “It” is an apology for slavery.
Actually, Virginia and Maryland didn’t come right out and use the word “apology.” Both states opted for “profound regret.” North Carolina expressed ” profound contrition.” Translation: We’re sorry. My reaction: Apology accepted.
That last sentence is sure to get me in trouble with the “40 acres and a Lexus” crowd. Obviously, that’s an exaggeration of the broken promise of 40 acres and a mule made to freed slaves during Reconstruction. But for many African Americans, an apology for slavery is not enough. They want reparations — and that’s not acceptable. But I’ll come back to that in a minute.
Slavery ended in 1865. Its equally ugly and violent replacement, Jim Crow, ended in 1965. To bring things close to home: My cousins and I are the first generation of our family not to have to pick cotton in the fields of North Carolina. Yet the pernicious side effects of both institutions — racism and all that comes with it — are alive and well. The damage done to the nation is so pervasive that President Bill Clinton called the racial divide “America’s constant curse.”
While things are a far cry better today than they were when black labor was free and black lives were deemed valueless, blacks remain burdened by the legacy of slavery. Black male unemployment in 2006 was double the rate for all men, according to a report released last month by Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that HIV-AIDS is a leading killer of African Americans and that African Americans make up half of those diagnosed. In 2000, African Americans were just 13 percent of the population but represented more than 40 percent of all convicted federal offenders, a 2004 report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies noted.
Some are tempted to tell blacks yearning for an apology for slavery to get over it, to move on. But that’s not possible. Even presidents of the United States know it’s not possible. In a special address on race at the University of California at San Diego in 1997, Clinton said, “There is old, unfinished business between black and white Americans.” In 2003, on Goree Island, Senegal, a gateway to servitude for millions during the slave trade, President Bush said, “The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times.” Yet such honesty has not given way to a formal apology.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) introduced a well-meaning resolution in February to apologize for slavery. But some of the language left me cold, particularly where it says the House “expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans.” That’s a reparations red flag. When I asked Cohen about this last month, he assured me that this resolution is about getting people to talk about our troubled past in order to take the first step to healing. Cohen swears his intent isn’t to jump-start a movement for reparations. I’ll take him at his word — for now.
The debate over reparations would be oh-so-ugly. It would raise more questions than answers. Who would be eligible? (Would Sen. Barack Obama, who is half white Kansan and half black Kenyan? Or Oprah Winfrey, a billionaire?) Who would decide? (I can hear the blacker-than-thou crowd scrambling for seats at that table.) What form would reparations take — money, land, tax credits, something else? How much would it be worth? How would it be paid? I have more questions than I have space to ask them. Trying to answer just those five would be bound to tear at the brittle fabric of national unity.
The breakdown of racial barriers over the past 40 years has made America a beautiful ethnic swirl. A 300-million-person Benetton ad writ large thanks to the sacrifices of millions of African slaves who helped make the United States a power unlike any other in history, one that was built on the back of “one of the great crimes of history,” as Bush said on Goree Island. For that, the United States must apologize. Then we can move on.
Grave Error 