Better in their words…

Africa as well as the UN are pushing for African Nations to build an African-led action plan for “reparatory justice,” for the slave trade that ended over 150 years ago.

Honestly, the world is fighting two wars and the United Nations is focused on paying Africa hush money to stop talking about the slave trade that African nations initiated hundreds of years ago. Reparations don’t work. We all know this. This is the most ridiculous idea that the United Nations has endorsed in a long time.

Frankly, this smells like blackmail or a quid-pro-quo deal.

From an article in Reuters:

Africa seeks action plan on slavery reparations at Ghana conference

Reuters, November 15, 2023

ACCRA, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Financial reparations are long overdue to Africans and the diaspora as compensation for the enslavement of people of African descent, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Tuesday on the first day of a conference on how to address such historical injustices.

Advocates have long called for paying reparations or making other amends for slavery, but the movement has recently gained momentum worldwide amid growing from African and Caribbean countries.

“No amount of money can restore the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade … But surely, this is a matter that the world must confront and can no longer ignore,” Akufo-Addo said, launching the four-day reparations conference in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

The event is expected to produce an African-led action plan to push for reparatory justice, establish an African committee of experts to oversee the plan’s implementation, and boost collaboration with the broader diaspora, according to a list of planned outcomes on its website.

“The entire period of slavery meant that our progress, economically, culturally, and psychologically, was stifled. There are legions of stories of families who were torn apart,” Akufo-Addo said. “You cannot quantify the effects of such tragedies, but they need to be recognised.”

From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by European ships and merchants and sold into slavery. Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations under inhumane conditions in the Americas, mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, while European settlers and others profited from their labor.

In September, a United Nations report said countries could consider making financial payments among other forms of compensation, but cautioned that legal claims are complicated by the time passed and the difficulty in identifying perpetrators and victims.

Africa and the UN apparently feel that African Nations should have an “African-led action plan to push for reparatory justice, establish an African committee of experts to oversee the plan’s implementation, and boost collaboration with the broader diaspora, according to a list of planned outcomes on its website.” Lets see, more money thrown at African leaders – which, based on past performance, will most likely create a few billionaires and do nothing for people living in poverty.

In the earlier article, the UN is on record stating:

GENEVA, Sept 19 (Reuters) – The United Nations said on Tuesday countries could consider financial reparations among the measures to compensate for the enslavement of people of African descent, though legal claims are complicated by the time passed and the difficulty in identifying perpetrators and victims.

Lets be clear, the victims of the slave trade were the slaves themselves. Not African nations. Certainly not Caribbean countries. The idea that Ghana or other African nations should be reimbursed for a slave trade that they helped design and benefited off of is absurd. Furthermore, do people in the Caribbean really think they would have been better off if their ancestors had stayed in Africa? Get real.

From the 1600s to the mid 1800s, Europeans were not capable of going into Africa and rounding up people. No, African leaders did that for them. African leaders and countries sold prisoners, already enslaved peoples, political dissidents and POWs from Africa to ship owners (slavers). Africans were as much or more responsible than that slavers themselves.

The slave trade of hundreds of years ago was horrific. Families were torn apart, people were tortured and suffered unimaginable losses. But that was then. Hundreds of years ago. Not now. The world can not pay out money to every victim of war, famine, slavery and circumstance. Certainly not for the past sins of nations that occurred hundreds of years ago. This is a crazy idea that is well past its expiration date. And who would do the paying?

This is just corrupt leaders trying to milk wealthy nations for more money. Well, I have news for them, the piggy bank of the United States is broke. The USA is deeply in debt and in no position to take on another financial obligation.

Furthermore, what quid-pro-quo did the United Nations agree to – in order to push reparations? Maybe those amendments to the WHO Pandemic Treaty and International Health Regulations?

This is a bad idea for the USA to engage in reparation payments for anything, let alone something that ended 150 years ago. Paying money to the UN or African nations for the slave trade, whereby most slaves did not end up in the USA, makes no sense at all. Such reparations money will just go to line the pockets of corrupt politicians and cartels.

Congress must pass a resolution to end this reparations nonsense both domestically and internationally. Once and for all.

In the USA

Despite reparations being illegal in Georgia, the city of Atlanta is now discussing creative methods to issue reparations to its Black residents.

• In May, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives for reparations for the slave trade and racism with a $14 trillion price tag.
• In Chicago, the major just appropriated $500,000.00 to fund a sub-committee to develop a plan on how to dole out money for reparations to black residents there.
• At the state wide level, California has a dozen reparation bills waiting to make it to the floor.
• All over the USA, from Asheville, NC to Evanston, IL, such legislature is being discussed and voted on.

What is needed across America is infrastructure for industrial zones and business parks. Internet for remote and educational access by people living in rural areas. Small business incentives and better healthcare options.

Innovation and work ethic built this great country, lets invest in ways to return to that mindset. That is how we build individual resiliency and sovereignty.

America First.

Do not build a culture of rewarding victimhood, either at the individual or national level. That is not a way to build a strong society or a people.

Instead, build a culture around productivity. Provide new jobs, opportunities, ways to better oneself – build resilience into the economy at the micro and macro level. Teach people the joys of creating, building, a strong work ethic. That is what made America great and this is the ethos we must return to. That is how we can improve our nation. Not by paying money to African leaders for the alleged past sins of our or their ancestors, but by investing in infrastructure in our own country.

And yes, we do need to again work to make home ownership affordable to everyone. That means teaching responsibility, how to save, financial independence and how to acquire the skills that make a person able to make a living, where one can afford to buy a house. It means ensuring that foreign investors and investment firms, such as Blackrock, are not able to buy up large segments of the real estate in the USA – which drives up the prices of home ownership.

Reparations are a bad idea. But investing in America and the American people is a great one.