If America is in the mood to hand out money to insurrectionists, then it’s time for reparations because Black bodies were the collateral that built this country.
What stays with me is the distinction between stolen labor and stolen humanity.
Most of us have heard the story that our ancestors worked without pay. Fewer of us have wrestled with the reality that they were made into the currency itself—not just the hands that built the house, but the collateral used to finance it.
The numbers are staggering, but what hit me hardest was the reminder that every line item on a ledger was a person with a name, a family, a dream, and a future.
Thank you for refusing to let the receipts become more important than the human beings attached to them.
I received most of my (public) education in the south, but never encountered the Cornerstone Speech of the Confederacy until I was past 50 years, and on my own. I always knew that the war WAS over slavery, however. I just didn't learn the details in any public setting.
The erasing of history should count among the worst crimes of the GOP:
60 years….
Toward the end of World War II, America’s richest citizens were paying a tax rate of up to 94% with historically little pushback or complaint, because that’s what America required to defeat fascism, and maintain Democracy.
During the start of a new century under President “W”, people paying even as little as 1/4th of that WWII tax rate demanded even lower tax rates…twice. During wartime.
60 years…..
From the end of America’s Civil War, and for the next 100 years, there were essentially ONLY Democrats in elected federal offices from the south due to southern hate for Republican President Lincoln.
Beginning around 1960, the GOP began to implement their Southern Strategy. Following that period, in 2025 (white) American “Christians” overwhelmingly voted to replace their worship of Jesus with their worship of a man who wasn’t even able to name the Golden Rule: Donald Trump.
The new MAGA savior told them he could save their souls by altering the past, if they would be willing to abandon all sense of personal responsibility. And abandon Jesus, of course. And the 100% Democratic south became overwhelmingly GOP, as it remains.
60 years…..
In the early 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became one of the most effective and respected freedom fighters on Earth.
In 2025, virtually everything Dr. King accomplished was either driven from the American memory or weaponized in an attempt to prevent anything like Dr. King’s legacy from EVER being influential in America again.
The GOP eliminated patriotism as a positive American trait and replaced it with GREED….
The GOP removed the loving words of Jesus from the hearts of white Americans, and replaced them with HATE…
The GOP eliminated Dr. King’s legacy as they removed his principles of brotherhood and personal sacrifice from the American psyche, and replaced them with FEAR…
Seemingly, this “Trifecta of mind control: greed, hate and fear” is an indication that the GOP can accomplish anything they want towards gaining control, and the DNC won’t even know until it’s just too late.
Here in the deep south, even white people (except MAGA) generally want positive change. And since the evidence seems clear that Trump is TERRIFIED of Black Americans (especially women and parents), there is great political power available to be claimed and used for the good of everyone able to accept something other than a hate-based reality.
I agree with every word you wrote 100%. There would be NO real wealth in America without chattel slavery, and this is why they are fighting so hard to disenfranchise Black people now.
Barack Obama's election and decency as a President terrified them.
They don't want to be held responsible in any way.
I know some of my early ancestors were slaveowners, and I hate it, but it's true.
What stays with me is the distinction between stolen labor and stolen humanity.
Most of us have heard the story that our ancestors worked without pay. Fewer of us have wrestled with the reality that they were made into the currency itself—not just the hands that built the house, but the collateral used to finance it.
The numbers are staggering, but what hit me hardest was the reminder that every line item on a ledger was a person with a name, a family, a dream, and a future.
Thank you for refusing to let the receipts become more important than the human beings attached to them.
RLL,
I received most of my (public) education in the south, but never encountered the Cornerstone Speech of the Confederacy until I was past 50 years, and on my own. I always knew that the war WAS over slavery, however. I just didn't learn the details in any public setting.
The erasing of history should count among the worst crimes of the GOP:
60 years….
Toward the end of World War II, America’s richest citizens were paying a tax rate of up to 94% with historically little pushback or complaint, because that’s what America required to defeat fascism, and maintain Democracy.
During the start of a new century under President “W”, people paying even as little as 1/4th of that WWII tax rate demanded even lower tax rates…twice. During wartime.
60 years…..
From the end of America’s Civil War, and for the next 100 years, there were essentially ONLY Democrats in elected federal offices from the south due to southern hate for Republican President Lincoln.
Beginning around 1960, the GOP began to implement their Southern Strategy. Following that period, in 2025 (white) American “Christians” overwhelmingly voted to replace their worship of Jesus with their worship of a man who wasn’t even able to name the Golden Rule: Donald Trump.
The new MAGA savior told them he could save their souls by altering the past, if they would be willing to abandon all sense of personal responsibility. And abandon Jesus, of course. And the 100% Democratic south became overwhelmingly GOP, as it remains.
60 years…..
In the early 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became one of the most effective and respected freedom fighters on Earth.
In 2025, virtually everything Dr. King accomplished was either driven from the American memory or weaponized in an attempt to prevent anything like Dr. King’s legacy from EVER being influential in America again.
The GOP eliminated patriotism as a positive American trait and replaced it with GREED….
The GOP removed the loving words of Jesus from the hearts of white Americans, and replaced them with HATE…
The GOP eliminated Dr. King’s legacy as they removed his principles of brotherhood and personal sacrifice from the American psyche, and replaced them with FEAR…
Seemingly, this “Trifecta of mind control: greed, hate and fear” is an indication that the GOP can accomplish anything they want towards gaining control, and the DNC won’t even know until it’s just too late.
They just need to wait patiently for 60 years….
This is the view of one older white, southern, male living in the rural deep south:
"Every “white payroll dollar” in America’s history to this day comes substantially from the pockets of slaves and their descendants."
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/reparations-inheritance-done-ethically-56f42083470e
Here in the deep south, even white people (except MAGA) generally want positive change. And since the evidence seems clear that Trump is TERRIFIED of Black Americans (especially women and parents), there is great political power available to be claimed and used for the good of everyone able to accept something other than a hate-based reality.
💜Yes…and amen!
I agree with every word you wrote 100%. There would be NO real wealth in America without chattel slavery, and this is why they are fighting so hard to disenfranchise Black people now.
Barack Obama's election and decency as a President terrified them.
They don't want to be held responsible in any way.
I know some of my early ancestors were slaveowners, and I hate it, but it's true.
#TeachTheBabies