EVERY nation, every culture, every society is built on myths. The idea, currently fashionable on the Left, that we can only "rescue" the United States by exposing all its myths for such is, itself, such a myth. The Left isn't so much about exposing myths as it is substituting new ones. Unfortunately, the Left's myths are that the U.S. is no different from totalitarian regimes, and that freedom is wholly illusory. This, of course, plays into the hands of actual totalitarians (see Beijing) - which does not bode well for our international influence moving forward. The truth is that democracy - or, at least, representative governance - is in constant competition with the alternatives, and when those who should be most invested in the survival of freedom instead conspire to slander it, it becomes hard to convince folks in downtrodden areas of the world that we truly do offer something unique and positive.
Do you know why the American Rescue Act was weighted more heavily toward black farmers? Because black farmers were royally screwed by the Trump administration - Black farmers, left out of Trump's bailout, find relief in Biden stimulus bill (msn.com). So, this is not some sort of reparations for some distant wrong, this is to right a wrong that just happened and in the case of loans, still happening disproportionately to Black farmers. I also believe that you are incorrect in your statement that the payments are going out to ONLY Black Farmers. My reading of the article and the supporting links suggests that there is approximately $5 billion of aid to disadvantaged farmers, of which approximately $4 billion was targeted directly to Black Farmers. Please recall that under Trump’s Aid program, “Direct farm loans to Black farmers fell by more than half under the previous administration and just 00.09% of the $26 billion in direct payments to all farmers [under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program]”.
Maybe there is an element of overall reparations in the bill. Why would that be a bad thing? Poor white farmers already got theirs. Why are you pitting the two against each other? Why should both not receive help?
Additionally, should we not have any conversations about the real grievous injustices that have happened in the distant and not so distant past? Yes, we are not individually responsible for the actions of our ancestors, but must we just sweep everything under the rug and pretend that really bad stuff never happened? Only just today, there was a hearing about the Tulsa massacre. This event wasn’t even acknowledged before the last 10-15 years. Oughtn’t we have a discussion about whether the survivors are not owed anything for the loss of their land and families?
Yes, we are a great nation and we have come so very far, but we have a long way still to go. If we can not be self-reflective about our problems, or even acknowledge that they exist, then we are in real trouble as a country.
I have an alternate to your Obama Utopia theory. I think we were so proud to have finally elected a black man to be president that we thought, “Good job everyone! We finally solved racism! Now we don’t ever have to talk about it again.” Once it became apparent that we had not solved racism and discovered is was still intractable, we became resentful that we still had work to do.
On CRT, I am less worried about it being discussed, perhaps even taught in an appropriate form, as this is a debate worth having, than I am with states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, etc.) actually banning CRT and the 1619 Project from being taught at all. That is actual censorship.
EVERY nation, every culture, every society is built on myths. The idea, currently fashionable on the Left, that we can only "rescue" the United States by exposing all its myths for such is, itself, such a myth. The Left isn't so much about exposing myths as it is substituting new ones. Unfortunately, the Left's myths are that the U.S. is no different from totalitarian regimes, and that freedom is wholly illusory. This, of course, plays into the hands of actual totalitarians (see Beijing) - which does not bode well for our international influence moving forward. The truth is that democracy - or, at least, representative governance - is in constant competition with the alternatives, and when those who should be most invested in the survival of freedom instead conspire to slander it, it becomes hard to convince folks in downtrodden areas of the world that we truly do offer something unique and positive.
Hi Sasha –
Do you know why the American Rescue Act was weighted more heavily toward black farmers? Because black farmers were royally screwed by the Trump administration - Black farmers, left out of Trump's bailout, find relief in Biden stimulus bill (msn.com). So, this is not some sort of reparations for some distant wrong, this is to right a wrong that just happened and in the case of loans, still happening disproportionately to Black farmers. I also believe that you are incorrect in your statement that the payments are going out to ONLY Black Farmers. My reading of the article and the supporting links suggests that there is approximately $5 billion of aid to disadvantaged farmers, of which approximately $4 billion was targeted directly to Black Farmers. Please recall that under Trump’s Aid program, “Direct farm loans to Black farmers fell by more than half under the previous administration and just 00.09% of the $26 billion in direct payments to all farmers [under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program]”.
Maybe there is an element of overall reparations in the bill. Why would that be a bad thing? Poor white farmers already got theirs. Why are you pitting the two against each other? Why should both not receive help?
Additionally, should we not have any conversations about the real grievous injustices that have happened in the distant and not so distant past? Yes, we are not individually responsible for the actions of our ancestors, but must we just sweep everything under the rug and pretend that really bad stuff never happened? Only just today, there was a hearing about the Tulsa massacre. This event wasn’t even acknowledged before the last 10-15 years. Oughtn’t we have a discussion about whether the survivors are not owed anything for the loss of their land and families?
Yes, we are a great nation and we have come so very far, but we have a long way still to go. If we can not be self-reflective about our problems, or even acknowledge that they exist, then we are in real trouble as a country.
I have an alternate to your Obama Utopia theory. I think we were so proud to have finally elected a black man to be president that we thought, “Good job everyone! We finally solved racism! Now we don’t ever have to talk about it again.” Once it became apparent that we had not solved racism and discovered is was still intractable, we became resentful that we still had work to do.
On CRT, I am less worried about it being discussed, perhaps even taught in an appropriate form, as this is a debate worth having, than I am with states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, etc.) actually banning CRT and the 1619 Project from being taught at all. That is actual censorship.
Thanks!