Reparations for White Privilege - Vol 2 No 7

Invitation from the Philosophy Department

Mike received an invitation from the chair of the Philosophy department, strongly encouraging him to listen to a lecture via Zoom by Dr. John Torrey from SUNY (State University of New York) on the topic of "Reparations in Proportion to White Privilege."  How could he resist?

On schedule, dozens of faces began filling the gallery of the Zoom screen and Mike’s joined them.  Ordinarily he wouldn't notice, but the constant pressure to pay attention to skin tone provokes him to note that there was a majority of white faces with only a few black. The meeting started and the handsome dark-skinned author, Dr. John Torrey, began his hour and a half long presentation.  

Colonial America was racist

He began, "White people are against people of color."  He literally went on and on without pause about how America is a racist country and guilty, as a whole, of repressing and enslaving black people.  America is guilty of the slave trade. As a nation, white men brought slaves from Africa and repressed them here in America. (He failed to mention Africans enslaving other Africans, Indians enslaving other Indian tribes, Egyptians enslaving Israelites, and other examples of slavery.) American white men enslaving black men in colonial American was the only slavery in which he was interested. America was "built on the necks of the black man." His disdain for the Colonial fathers was palpable.  He talked about how the forefathers were white slave owners who wrote the Constitution in order to suppress the black man. One example was that the Constitution was written to suppress the vote of anyone other than white men.  He purported as fact that they intentionally designed a system and built prisons and created an unjust system to criminalize and convict black people so they would be unable to vote since the Constitution forbids felons to vote. He went on about blacks having never been allowed to have jobs at their ability levels, loans that were fair, housing that was adequate. That makes the colonial white man, "transgressors," responsible for and guilty of what he believes to be the current state of repression of the black race

So, you (if you are white) may be wondering, "What does that have to do with me?  I have never owned slaves."  Oh, but the "transgressors" are not just the white patriarchal males of the Colonial period. No, the guilt transfers to their ancestors.   He then went on to definitively declare that the guilt of the white man was properly placed on all white men by virtue of their being white. "The current transgressor is the child of the transgressor. By virtue of being white, all white people are transgressors." That’s a quote.

His solution - Distributive Rectifacatory Justice

So, what is his solution? What must the white race do to deal with the fact that they are all "transgressors?" His answer? There must be "Distributive Rectifacatory Justice!" According to his plan, anyone whose rights have been violated (which means all black people) should be given reparations. What does that look like? He has a suggested mandate.

There are four parts to the reparations.

1. Restoration of original dignity of the person of color

2. Compensation "That means writing a check!" he said.

3. Apology from the white man due because of the violation of the black man’s rights

4. Punishment of the transgressor by the transgressed. The white man must have his

privileges taken away for two hundred years, and the black man should rule such that the white man and his ancestors would learn what it like to be abused, be without justice, and to not be equal.

  Mike was shocked, not as much from what he had just heard, but from the sea of nodding white heads with eyebrows knitted in serious empathy.

Feeling affirmed, Dr. Torrey boldly went on. "This is not going to happen voluntarily. The white man will never agree. It is going to have to be done through lawsuits and the long arm of the law extracting a check."

A chat text came up on the screen, “How long do you think it will be before a check befitting the justice due you will be delivered?”

Whites must be made destitute

He answered that he hoped it would happen in his lifetime, but he is not betting on it.  However, he is devoting his life to this work.  He said the United States must create "non-systematic spaces" where the black race rules over the white man in these spaces.  He would unleash the black man on the white man even if this created chaos and revolution.  He said that if these reparations are not given, they will be taken. The compensation part must be at a level that makes the white man poor, and to the point of poverty and destitution. The only way this is to be repaired is for the white man to change places with the black man and live in an oppressed state for a period of about two hundred years

Already begun in California 

He was very encouraged about the fact that this has already begun in California. There are wealthy white men who have "repented" and organized the California Panel on Reparations.  Latoya Gardner is heading it up. (Read about it in this article from UPI and this article from CNN) He was also very excited about Kamala Harris' rise to power nationally since she is a strong proponent of this in California.

Can we apologize to you for a start?

The chat screen flashed, "What can we do to make amends?”  Then one of the guilt-ridden philosophy professors typed, "Can we apologize to you today as a start?" Unbelievable.

One race made in the image of God 

This lecture epitomizes the very definition of racism.  Granted, it is sad that the United States had a system of slavery as part of our history as a young nation.  Over the past hundred years, we had come such a long way in our understanding and practice of seeing beyond a person’s skin color and looking at all people as of equal value, made in the image of God.  When Joanne and I adopted our biracial son thirty-five years ago in the Deep South, there was still a culture of racism. We moved to Maryland where we lived for twenty-three years before moving back to the South.

Upon arriving back home ten years ago, things had almost completely changed for the better.  Biracial marriage, adoption and fellowship were normalized, and we were grateful for the change.  Sadly, in the past ten years because of the stirring up of racial hatred through the news media and politics, we have lost all of that ground.

The Bible teaches that there is one race and that all men are valuable by virtue of their being made in the image of God.  Such divisive racial attitudes as demonstrated in the lecture above must be countered with love and truth.  We MUST respond to these foolish racist views of reparations and white privilege, but not react with worldly hatred and further racism.  We must respond with confident, loving Truth and push back with a biblical worldview of history and man.  The world has been offered redemption through the life, death, resurrection and reign of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Gospel is embraced, hearts are changed, and people will recognize the dignity of man and show the respect that each man should enjoy, since we are all made in the image of God.

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