Letter from “Red Riding Hood” to African Reparations Committee:- If blacks receive one cent for reparations, I as an Irish American will file a Civil Rights Complaint for race discrimination as I am a white Irish American whose ancestors in America were also slaves. It has been proven through the study of evolution that all people came from Africa, and all people have suffered devastation in history through war, plaque or environmental upheavals. It was probably wrong for the Jews to receive the money from Nazi Swiss bank accounts, that money should have been used to rebuild Germany. That would be like saying since Iraq has been devastated through war that they should have access to all American bank accounts. I see you have Tony Blair’s address on your web page. That has got to be a joke because the Irish have been slaves for the English for thousands of years and you would have to go to Ireland today to see how little has changed, especially in Northern Ireland. Most people see reparations as extortion and it’s only making matters worse for the black man as the hatred for extortion grows among white men. Did you know that it was this kind of attitude that the black man had with the Arab that caused the Arab to enslave the black man? I feel you need to think about it more before pushing this issue any further. It will lead to riots and violence and your people will be killed. It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of teaching your children hatred, you should be teaching them evolution. The Jew is not God’s chosen people, the bible was written by Jews about Jews. Adam and Eve did not farm and grow crops for sacrifice if they are the skeletal remains found in Ethiopia. God created man through the love that one male primate had for a female primate and it caused a cultural and genetic change that caused man to evolve over billions of years. So let the Jew bang his head up against that wall in Israel a few more hundred years until he figures it out. Thanks for listening. Your friendly African Irish American _____________________________________________________________________________ Reply from the Africa Reparations Committee to “Red Riding Hood’s Letter” Dear “friendly African Irish American”, Thank you for taking time to read our web site. We are interested to hear international views on the issue of African reparations, and your views are therefore welcomed. We have noted all that has been said by you, and respond accordingly. 1.White Irish American whose ancestors were also made slaves By arguing that a similar wrong was done in history, and is such as to exonerate another wrong later in time, is a bit like the murderer pleading to the Judge that Caine had killed Able, and therefore as historical precedent exists no issue of murder need be addressed. Irish servitude in Ireland, or discrimination experienced by the Irish in America, bear some telling distinguishing features from the Atlantic African Slave Trade. “Chattel slavery” as an enterprise advanced by Britain, France, Spain and Portugal ( and other European nations) against Africans did not, by comparison to Ireland, deprive culture, identity, language, familial ties via the “Middle Passage” and subsequent separations over centuries, and then superimpose ( post-emancipation) institutionalised systems of discrimination against the enslaved people. The physiognomy of the Irish people with their European counterparts, indeed made it feasible to be incorporated into general “white society” in a way that will never happen in quite the same way with the African-American. An aspect of your analogy is accepted, that of man’s inhumanity to man, but while the comparison is useful as a general reference, it does not equate either quantitatively or qualitatively with the experiences of the Atlantic African Slave Trade. We had made reference to the Irish experience in the letter to Prime Minister Blair.The fact that he saw “white” Irish historical injustice at the hands of the British, as worthy of apology, but no similar regard being had for Africans, supports our point of the ongoing disregard for “Black” African feelings. Blair, in his approach to the question of apology/reparations is indicating and saying much, in a way not totally dissimilar from the expressions in your own letter. Some things have changed over the years, and other attitudes remain the same. 2.All people coming from Africa, and the right to reparations. The best scientific brains of the day assert that mankind did originate on the African continent. Again, by inclining to the plea of “historical precedent” and by arguing that all groups had somehow experienced historical suffering, is to deny the legitimacy of any claim against any group of any wrong done. We fail to see how your argument can be sustained as one of credence. Iraqis were bombed in violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter by the invading US forces, but because, “all people have suffered devastation in history through war”, then no nation or person is ever accountable for any injustice perpetrated against others in war. That, in essence, is the logical conclusion of your argument. Ipso facto, all groups did something to some other group, and so no group need be accountable for any actions perpetrated against any other group. Likewise, we come full circle, for that as Caine killed Able, then no murder or wrong by anyone against anyone else subsequently need be addressed. Historical precedent exonerates all, seems to be what you are saying is a legitimate defence ( defense). The victors write the laws, and even when the vanquished find legitimate claims based on the victors laws, no one is entitled to seek justice. It can be said in response to your analogy, that there is an objective standard of international law, and therefore US conduct in Iraq can objectively be assessed by reference to that measure. By reference thereto – did the United States comply with Article 2 of the UN Charter, and seek a necessary “Security Council” resolution for its attack on Iraq? No – the US abandoned the UN, started an unnecessary war for oil in Iraq, was left without any credible excuse at to the war being one necessitated by a search for WMDs, and the slaughter in Iraq continues, where now the US wants to be the occupying modern day colonial power. That, we believe, is closer to the reality of what is being occasioned in Iraq. We are not in agreement with you on many issues – for - why was it wrong for the Jews to have received reparations for their losses suffered in World War 11? Was it the Jews who killed themselves in Germany; or, did another group inflict losses upon the Jewish people which group was then obliged to pay reparations? Was it the Jews who stole their money in Switzerland; or, did the Swiss banks connive to steal the money, and then Switzerland was made to pay reparations for Swiss wrongdoing? These, we believe, are the pertinent questions arising from your letter. 3. Blair and the Irish By parity of reasoning, one may as well argue that nothing has changed since the days of slavery on plantations, and, the discrimination against Blacks shows “how little has changed”. We do not share your views about Ireland, and do not believe that the empirical evidence will support your point of view. There is much that has been done by way of support for Irish development by way of European Community investments. We would argue instead, that as with the Irish experience, (a) Blair should tender a similar apology to Blacks, as he had done for the Irish and (b) there should be a European supported African investment venture ( as a practical and openly acknowledged form of African Reparations) on the lines of the concerted efforts made to assist Ireland. The case for Africa stands. Again, Ireland has been far better treated than most of Britain’s colonies that were exploited over centuries. It was in the mid-1950s that Britain, after 300 years of enslavement and colonialism of people in its Caribbean colonies, thought for the first time that it was time to establish a “University of the West Indies” in its then colonial Caribbean territories. By comparison to Ireland, this says quite a lot, to use but one verifiable example. 4. Reparations as extortion If you are correct, then you might as well argue that the GI Bill in the US was itself extortion, as something was being returned for something given. Soldiers went to war from the US, and whites were accorded substantial governmental benefits under the GI Bill, and blacks were repaid with discrimination, hatred and exclusion. Something was given, by way of centuries of extracted free labour ( labor), and “40 acres and a mule” were deemed satisfactory compensation – but no payment was ever made. The Cherokees were sent on the “Trail of tears” and so there you have historical precedent of injustice, broken promises, and “extortion” ( only, not in the sense you implied). The claim for reparations stands as both legally and morally justifiable. 5. Basis for riots and violence We comment and ask:- (i) Was it not African resistance and the underground railway that met with the same objections you are raising? – It will only enrage the white man and your people will be killed. Thus, do not resist and do not seek that which is just and right. Dr. King, in more recent times, was met with much the same objection. He was killed by the F.B.I., but the struggle still goes on. (ii) Your argument seems to be that Blacks resisted Arab domination and so Arabs in consequence enslaved Blacks. Much seemed to have turned on religion – Muslim versus non-Muslim, as well as physiognomy. It must be taken then that one ought to submit to all forms of injustice imposed and never should a claim be made for compensation for any wrong done? Had Nelson Mandela heeded your advice, then there would never have been a war against Apartheid, and all would have been perfectly acceptable in a racially segregated South Africa, as would have been a similar case in a racially segregated America. The South African claim for relief of Apartheid era debts as “odious debts” that should not be repaid, has good precedent in international law. Alas! your advice was not accepted, so the white man, no doubt, is quite upset. Racists opposed equality of opportunity, and there were riots and violence. So, Blacks, on the basis of your argument, must heed your call on behalf of the white man, and must not advance the claim for reparations. The white man, presumably, will become very unhappy? (iii) We do not advance our case on the basis of racist argument, and do not equate a legitimate claim for reparations, as any justification for your turn of phrase, “ So let the Jew bang his head against that wall in Israel a few more hundred years until he figures it out.”. We consider this, your own form of “race baiting”. We do not endorse or support such an approach. Much as you may express your reasoned arguments as you deem sensible, we do not see any need for a turn of phrase such as this. There is a considerable difference between saying, that humanity shares genetic commonality, and that some may be mistaken in their assumed place on the totem pole of humanity – and the type of graphically racist expression that you used. Let the group that has suffered make its claim as may be just. As a somewhat poetic conclusion to this discourse, may we share the words of the African American poet, Paul Lawrence Dunbar:- The debt THIS is the debt I pay Just for one riotous day, Years of regret and grief, Sorrow without relief. Pay it I will to the end -- Until the grave, my friend, Gives me a true release -- Gives me the clasp of peace. Slight was the thing I bought, Small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best -- God! but the interest! Or, as Langston Hughes, another African American poet, has said:- Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today. O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again! The African Reparations Committee has read your letter, and has approved this response for public use on the internet. Thank you for taking time to consider this important issue of African reparations. Yours respectfully, AR- Africare:- at www.Ar-Arficare.com