Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

All Episodes

Previous Next

March 11, 2021 - Epoch Times

17:05

Larry Elder Debunks Obama Justification for Reparations | Larry Elder

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	13 years after the election and re-election of the first black president of the United States, said first black president of the United States would call reparations justified.
	How do you hold the same country that sent man to the moon with being the same country of Jim Crow?
	You don't make peace with that, obviously, but how do you sort of hold that being the same America I think that it is partly because we never went through a true reckoning.
	And so we just buried one huge part of our experience and our citizenry in our minds.
	Buried part of our citizenry?
	I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounded good, didn't it?
	You mentioned that a reckoning hadn't taken place.
	So here we sit today where it feels like a reckoning is being called for.
	Is the country ready to deconstruct its founding myths, its mythic stories, its mythic history, or is it prepared to Consider reparations.
	Do you think we're at that place right now?
	Deconstruction.
	Wow.
	Well, it took the boss a while to get around to asking his question, but I think he asked former President Barack Obama if he's in favor of reparations.
	So if you ask me, theoretically, are reparations justified?
	The answer is yes.
	This may surprise you.
	Obama is right.
	Of course reparations are justified.
	To the slaves and to their legal heirs.
	Good luck finding either.
	When we paid reparations to the Japanese put in relocation camps, those monies were paid to the victims themselves or to their legal heirs.
	Good luck finding slaves today and their legal heirs.
	There's not much question, right, that The wealth of this country, the power of this country, was built in significant part, not exclusively, maybe not even the majority of it, but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves.
	Obama says that there's not much question that the wealth of America was built on the backs of slaves.
	Actually, there is question.
	Conservative writer Michael Medved.
	It's not true that the U.S. became a wealthy nation through the abuse of slave labor.
	The most prosperous states in the country were those that first freed their slaves.
	Pennsylvania passed an emancipation law in 1780.
	Connecticut, Rhode Island followed soon.
	New York approved emancipation in 1799.
	These states quickly emerged as robust centers of commerce and manufacturing, greatly enriching themselves while the slave-based economies in the South languished by comparison.
	What?
	Slavery didn't make America rich?
	Quote, at the time of the Constitution, Virginia constituted the most populous and wealthiest states in the Union.
	But by the time of the Civil War, Virginia had fallen far behind a half dozen northern states that had outlawed slavery two generations earlier.
	But, but, but, quote, all analyses of northern victory in the great sectional struggles highlights the vast advantages in terms of wealth and productivity in New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and the Midwest, Again, Virginia was once the most prosperous and wealthiest state in the Union.
	Slavery impoverished it compared to the relatively more prosperous states in the North that did not rely on slave labor.
	The notion that America based its wealth and development on slave labor hardly comports with the obvious reality that for 200 years since the founding of the Republic, by far the poorest and least developed section of the nation was precisely that region where slavery once prevailed." Today, thousands of Americans turn to physical precious metals.
	Now looking back historically, when the bottom falls out of everything else, gold acts as a hedge.
	The company I trust with precious metals?
	Birch Gold Group.
	And right now, thanks to a little-known IRS tax law, you can even move your IRA You can't beat that!
	Contact Birch Gold Group to request a free info kit on physical precious metals.
	See if diversifying into gold makes sense for you.
	This comprehensive 20-page kit reveals how gold and silver can protect your savings and how you can legally move your IRA or 401k out of risky stocks and bonds into a precious metals IRA. To get your no cost, no obligation kit, text LARRY 474747.
	That's text LARRY to 474747.
	And for a limited time, see how you can qualify for up to $10,000 in free precious metals on your purchase.
	Text Larry 474747.
	Text Larry 474747 because we've got a country to save.
	And when the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass escaped from the plantation he labored on in Maryland and fled to New Bedford, Massachusetts, here's what he wrote.
	Living in Massachusetts, he said, have finer houses and enjoy more of the comforts of life than the average of slave owners in Maryland.
	And he wrote about a black acquaintance who, quote, lives in a neater house, dines at a better table, takes and pays for and reads more newspapers, better understands the more moral, religious and political character of the nation than nine tenths of the slave owners in Talbot County, Maryland, end of quote.
	Former President Obama continued, What is also true is that even after the end of formal slavery and the continuation of Jim Crow, the systematic oppression and discrimination of black Americans resulted in black families not being able to build up wealth,
	not being able to compete And that has generational effects.
	So if you're thinking of what's just, you would look back and you would say, the descendants of those who suffered those kinds of terrible, cruel, often arbitrary injustices deserve some sort of redress, some sort of compensation, a recognition.
	A recognition?
	What do you call the war on poverty launched back in 1965 when President LBJ specifically said it would disproportionately benefit blacks?
	What do you call two generations of race-based preferences, affirmative action, so a black kid with a given SAT score versus a white kid with a given SAT score, the black kid has a greater chance of getting into a college or university of his or her choice than the white kid.
	No recognition?
	You know, Obama gave a very different answer four years ago when asked about reparations.
	Here's what he said.
	It is easy to make that theoretical argument, but as a practical matter, it is hard to think of any society in human history in which a majority of the population has said that as a consequence of historic wrongs, we are now going to take a big chunk of the nation's resources over a long period of time to make that right." Well, that was Obama being Obama.
	He used a bunch of words, but I think he said reparations would be a very bad idea.
	In this complicated nation, it would be very divisive.
	He was right then, and he's wrong now.
	Kamala Harris, by the way, also supports reparations, but has also talked about programs, social programs, that disproportionately benefit blacks.
	Isn't that a form of reparations?
	Do you support reparations for black people?
	Well, listen, again, we had over 200 years of slavery.
	We had Jim Crow for almost a century.
	We had legalized discrimination and segregation, and now we have segregation and discrimination that is not legal but still exists and is a barrier to progress.
	We have disparities around housing.
	We have disparities around education.
	We have disparities around income.
	And we have to recognize that everybody did not start out on an equal footing in this country.
	And in particular, black people have not.
	And so we have got to recognize that and do something about that and give folks a lift up.
	That's why, for example, I'm proposing the LIFT Act.
	Give people who are making $100,000 or less as a family a tax credit, which will benefit and uplift 60% of black families who are in poverty.
	So by default it affects black families, but there's not a particular policy for African Americans that you would explore.
	But no, if you look at the reality of who will benefit from certain policies, when you take into account that they're not starting at the same place and they're not starting on equal footing, it will directly benefit black children, black families, black homeowners.
	Again, war on poverty, great society program, affirmative action.
	Aren't these things an attempt to atone?
	Here's what President Johnson said.
	For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the great society.
	The great society rests on abundance and liberty for all.
	It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we're totally committed in our time.
	Now, Kamala Harris has routinely says things like, I eat no for breakfast.
	Let me just tell you, I eat no for breakfast.
	It's a line she frequently uses.
	And then I will go on to tell them, I eat no for breakfast.
	So Kamala Harris, who calls herself black, she's strong enough, she's confident enough, she's aggressive enough, she's assertive enough, she's determined enough to get the job done, but you, well, systemic racism is holding you back.
	Now, here's what Orlando Patterson, a black Harvard sociologist, left-wing, said back in 1991.
	The sociological truths are that America, while still flawed in its race relations and its stubborn refusal to institute a rational universal welfare system, is now the least racist white majority society in the world,
	has a better record of legal protection of minorities than any other society, white or black, offers more opportunities to a greater number of black persons than any other society, including all of those of Africa." Mr.
	Patterson continued, End of quote.
	Or as Muhammad Ali put it, when he came back from Zaire after beating George Foreman, reporters said, Champ, what did you think of Africa?
	To which Ali said, and I quote, Thank God my granddaddy got on the boat, end of quote.
	A similar sentiment was expressed by the great singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson.
	Your heritage is right here now, no matter what you call yourself or what you say.
	And a lot of people died to make it that way.
	And if you think America is the leader on inequality and suffering and grieving, how come there's so many people coming and so few leaving?
	Rather than all this fine thought what America s*** is promoting, if you want to change something, use your privilege.
	Get to the polls.
	Come, Mr. Voting.
	All the wonderful black Americans who served in the armed forces and gave their lives in all the wars, they didn't do that for Timbuktu or Cape Town or Kenya.
	They died for Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia and Louisiana, Texas and Virginia.
	Need I continue?
	And if you don't acknowledge that, if you don't claim that, then you're playing right into the hand of the white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan who claim that they own this land.
	We went through the Civil Rights Movement.
	Dr.
	Martin Luther King gave his life so that you could have equal status.
	We withstood the dogs, the fire hoses, the beatings, the bombings, the burnings, the maimings, the murders, and everything else they threw at us.
	God knows we've earned the right to be called American Americans.
	And to be free at last.
	Thank you.
	And rather than you moving forward with progress, you're dwelling in the past.
	We've struggled too long.
	We've come too far.
	Instead of focusing on who we were, let's be proud of who we are.
	Well, send your angry cards and letters to Smokey Robinson because Muhammad Ali is dead.
	Now, when I testified against reparations at the House hearing, the sponsor of this bill is Sheila Jackson Lee.
	Sheila Jackson Lee, Mr.
	President, Sheila Jackson Lee.
	He was getting on a plane, he told me, he came in to see me last event.
	And representatives, Shirley Jackson Lee, Al Green, Sylvia Garcia, Lizzie Pinelli, excuse me, Pinell, and what am I doing here?
	Could have been a lot worse.
	Joining me now to talk about this and the nation's real problem of joblessness, the Reverend Al Sharpton.
	What's your reaction to hearing someone say, you know, when it comes to income inequality, all's well.
	The rising tide floats all boats.
	I'm Reverend Jesse Jackson.
	Right.
	You know, I'm so sorry.
	The script in front of me said Reverend Al Sharpton.
	I'm looking at your face.
	I know who you are, Reverend Jackson.
	We all do.
	I'm sorry.
	Finally, oh, I know what you're thinking.
	Oh, great Eldersky, what is a t-shirt you're wearing?
	Thank you for asking.
	Wah!
	UncleTomShop.com.
	That's UncleTomShop.com.
	Now, as you know, we have been demonetized by YouTube.
	That's good news because it means we must be doing something right.
	To get me uncensored, on demand, just go to LarryTube.com.
	LarryTube.com because we've got a country to save.

▲