Reparations? Too Late for that!

A writer writes!

I read an opinion article the other day that supported reparations being given African American  families.  The idea may have been a good one a hundred years ago, but now it's too late.  A hundred years ago a reparations payment to an African American family to help send children to college, or to fully pay for a home would have been a building block for the future for African American families.  At this point the systematic roadblocks that have prevented African American families from achieving positive events for 200 plus years  can't be overcome through just a one time reparations payment.

In some ways the affirmative action policies of the 1970s and beyond were a form of reparations. In the 1970s Opportunities were made available and doors opened to African Americans which had been bolted shut before.  Those opportunities included admissions to colleges where African Americans had been barred from entering.  Selection of African Americans for jobs and special job programs also provided opportunities for breaking down barriers and walls that had prevented African American children from achieving elements of prosperity in America.

Simply handing a family a reparations check along with an apology no longer is an answer. Opportunity is what African Americans still need.  When those opportunities are presented it is then up to that person to fully take advantage of a door being opened.

I would rather live in a society where opportunities are continually given a person regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or physical limitations.  Opportunities today can help to overcome the crimes of the past committed in this country against minorities, Native Americans and whomever else those people feared and hated, just because they could.

Reparations.  No thank you.