Reparations and that Chicago story Cohen told about Trump
Sen. Kamala Harris of California told a host of the syndicated radio show "The Breakfast Club" that the idea of reparations should be considered as a way to fight economic inequality. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has spoken favorably of the need for reparations, for Native Americans who lost to European settlers as well as for African-Americans. So has former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
Most serious proposals, by the way, ask not for a big lump-sum payout to black folks, as many imagine, but programs and policies to reduce inequality and promote education and skills training.
Sounds good to me. Even though I could possibly benefit as a descendant of American slaves, I'm not holding my breath waiting for my 40 acres and a mule.
In fact, the idea of a lump sum was effectively shot down by, among others, comedian Dave Chappelle, who produced a famous skit that imagined a lump-sum reparations payday for black folks. By sundown, the recipients were all broke again.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont prefers economic-based remedies over race-based remedies. That was basically President Barack Obama's preference, knowing that it is much easier to build a multiracial consensus around programs like the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, that offer benefits to the disadvantaged regardless of race.
But it remains to be seen how much racial "identity politics" will get in the way of productive Democratic Party politics, especially when and if more pragmatic center-left hopefuls, such as former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, enter the race.
Obama's model isn't perfect. But it beats the right wing's fantasy that reparations mean a massive socialist giveaway to black folks of at least 40 acres, with or without the mule. Let the debate begin.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
