NIGGER: My Symbolic Reparation

PRESIDENT'S CORNER. By Norris McDonald

But what does it have to do with the environment you might ask? Well I believe support for reparations, transfer of certain public lands to African Americans as payment for slavery, is a conservative position. Moreover, land privatization is an American tradition. Privatization of land is an important part of the Republican agenda. Preferably such reparations land to pay for the U.S. government's support of slavery would include tens of millions of acres with valuable products and minerals, such as timber, oil, gas, uranium, coal and oil shale.

Now back to the heading. Whites cannot use this term in public. It is like screaming 'fire' in a theatre (1st Amendment rights do not apply). It is a small price to pay for the sins of their ancestors. Paradoxically, or ironically, it is a term of affection amongst most blacks in the African American community. And I don't blame today's whites for not feeling responsible for the actions of their ancestors. But although the symbolic reparation is personally gratifying, I prefer a substantive reparation: 40 acres and a mule.