Burgess Owens on Reparations: Democrats Should Pay for ‘All the Misery Brought to My Race’
EXCERPT:
OWENS: “The history of our black country, black America has been stolen from us for decades, almost over a century. Booker T. Washington in 1882 began Tuskegee University. By 1905, there were more self-made black millionaires than Harvard, Yale and Princeton combined. The ‘40s and ‘50s and ‘60s, the black community led our country in the growth of the middle class. Led our country in terms of men committed to marriage, over 70%. Now it’s 30%. Led our country in terms of commitment to business ownership, 40%. Now it’s 3.8%. Men matriculated from college. Now we have a high percentage of men incarcerated in college. By the way, my degree was biology. I learned a long time ago that slavery is not a gene in the DNA helix. It’s our actions, our attitude, our beliefs. I do not believe in reparation because what reparation does is it points to a certain race, a certain color, and it points them as evil, and it points the other race, my race as one that is not only racist but also beggars. I do believe in restitution. Let’s point to the party that was part of slavery, KKK, Jim Crow, that has killed over 40% of our black babies, 20 million of them. State of California, 75% of our black boys cannot past standard reading and writing test. A Democratic state. Let’s pay reparation. Let’s pay restitution. How about a Democratic Party pay for all the misery brought to my race? And those, after they learn our history, decide to stay there, they should pay also, they are complicit. And every white American, Republican or Democrat, that feels guilty because of your white skin, you should need to pony up also. Then we would get past this reparation and recognize this country has given us greatness. Look at this panel. It doesn’t matter, our color or how we think. We’ve become successful in this country like no other because of this great opportunity to live the American Dream. Let's not steal that from our kids by telling them they can’t do it. Thank you."
