"40 Acres and a mule" - That was the modest aim of the American Negro when he was given his freedom from the injustice of slavery. Not too much to ask you might think. But you would be wrong. African Americans today are still dealing with the legacy of hundreds of years of slavery, followed by over a century of being treated as
second class citizens only fit to travel at the rear of a bus.
It is fashionable today to claim that now African Americans have the vote, that everything in the garden is rosy, and that we have put the centuries of white racism behind us. While this view provides comfort for many "white" people, the facts tell a different story.
There are millions of examples of casual everyday racism of "white" America. One that sticks in the mind is Rodney King Here was a man who was savagely beaten by white racist police officers, for the simple crime of being black.
Who could forget the travesty of justice that was the farce of OJ Simpson's trial ?
But it is not just high profile African Americans who are the subject to the institutionalized racsim of white corporate America. The average African American in the street gets it as well.
The question remains unanswered. America still holds collective guilt for the way in which Black Africans were enslaved and brought to this country. It ALSO is responsible for the total failure to provide any reparations whatsoever to the unfortunate victims of its racism.
The ideal solution is unfortunately unlikely to find much support among the average citizen of America. But I feel that introducing a law such as that introduced in South Africa, could go some way towards mitigating some of the very real anger felt by African Americans toward their "white" European oppressors. And it might well prove to be cheaper in the long run for the taxpayer. The prospect of having to sit on the back seat of a bus should not bother too many white Americans, since by virtue of their unequal wealth, they will rarely find themselves travelling on public transportation. On the other hand, think what a boost African Americans would feel to see whites confined to the back of the bus - it would send them a very real message that America is serious about compensating for all those years of racism.
White Americans would do well read this website. It appears to offer the only real hope for the white man of understanding why he is so universally hated and detested by most people of color.
What do others think ?