Once again Thomas Sowell has done good work. In his latest column, Rattling The Chains, he comments on Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons and her “slave trade” committee’s quest to uncover the Ivy League school’s connection to slavery:
Dr. Simmons said that the idea of appointing a committee to look into Brown University’s past came to her because she is a descendant of slaves and the building in which she works was built with the help of slaves. Unfortunately, there are descendants of slaves all over the world, and they are every color of the rainbow.Slavery was an ugly, dirty business but people of virtually every race, color, and creed engaged in it on every inhabited continent. And the people they enslaved were also of virtually every race, color, and creed.
A recently published book titled “Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters” by Robert Davis shows that a million Europeans were enslaved by North Africans between 1500 and 1800. Nor were they the only Europeans enslaved.
I added my two cents earlier this month, so I’m throwing in a dollar’s worth this time.
How could a black woman, who made it all the way to the presidency of a school like Brown, come up with something as absurd as a reparations panel? That an educated, free black woman and 15 of her educated colleagues think this is a worthwhile endeavor speaks volumes about the absence of shame and rational thought.
Simmons and others are fully engaged in the “gospel of oppression.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word “Gospel” as the “proclamation of the redemption preached by Jesus and the Apostles, which is the central content of Christian revelation.” A more appropriate definition here is “Something, such as an idea or principle, accepted as unquestionably true.”
The gospel of oppression, preached by liberals, is accepted as unquestionably true by the majority of people who vote for liberals. Sold a bill of goods by black “leaders” and white liberals, some blacks have bought the idea that they will never get ahead in America because of white people. And even if they manage to get ahead (like Simmons), it’s their responsibility to make white America pay.
Booker T. Washington, the counterpart of today’s black conservative, wrote, “There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays.”
That was 1911, a little less than 50 years removed from slavery. Wouldn’t he be shocked to know how prescient that statement was!
Only 141 years after the abolishment of American slavery, a new form has sprung up in its place, one that has nothing to do with chains around wrists and ankles. Today’s slavery has everything to do with chains around the mind, inhibiting people from thinking through competing ideas. There is only one truth, and some ideas contain more of it than others.
American slavery today is much more subtle than rattling chains. As Washington noted, some people make a living from encouraging blacks to adopt a victim mentality, which permeates every thought and action of the “victim.” Think about it. Despite walking around as free men and women, unchained and unbound, some blacks really believe they’re doomed by “white racism,” preventing them from making their mark in the world.
As we see with President Simmons, highly educated blacks are not immune. Instead of joyously reveling in her accomplishments and giving the glory to God, she forms a panel of academics to dredge up Brown’s connection to the slave trade!
Let’s suppose that Brown is “liable” for dealing in slaves. Who will pay the reparations? Will the money come from alumni and donors, tuition and grants? If alumni must bear the cost of reparations, must you determine who individually benefited from slavery? Or does merely attending the school render you “liable?” Do black alumni pay? This committee of…(no name-calling!) men and women will have to answer these questions and many more.
Of course the people who should pay reparations are dead and gone, including the Arabs who bought and sold African slaves and the Africans who bought and sold African slaves. For all I know, I could be a descendant of a Brown University graduate who was the descendant of an African slave trader!
But don’t worry, Dr. Simmons. The government takes enough of my money to make up for it.
