By Ray Cardello for December 8, 2022 Season 14 / Post 49

My paternal ancestors migrated to America from Italy at the turn of the twentieth century. They came through Ellis Island in search of the promise of the American Dream and instead were labeled as WOPs. WOPs was an acronym for “Without Papers” meaning they had little or no documentation when appearing at the docks in New York. Immigration workers often assigned new surnames to the Italian peasants showing no regard for their history. The Italians were treated as second-class people. WOPs was one of the derogatory terms used by many to throw at Italians through the years. I heard it far too many times in my early years. Because of the treatment of my ancestors, I demand reparations for the emotional scars I have had to cover up for decades.

The history lesson is true. The demand for reparations is facetious. Of course, I would never expect monetary compensation for the actions of callous people. It happened. It’s done. Deal with it and move on. I will not attempt to equate a childhood subjected to name-calling with Blacks enduring slavery. But I believe considering reparations for any Black person whose ancestors were enslaved is equally unnecessary. But that is precisely what California, New York, and Rhode Island are proposing.

Gavin Newsom of California is considering a payout of over $200,000 to any Black resident with ancestors bonded in slavery. This action would amount to an expenditure of over $500 BILLION. Let’s look at why and the source of these funds.

First, the money. These funds are unspent COVID relief monies sitting in California banks, waiting for a cause to be appropriated. There is no better example of how foolish the COVID Relief Bills are costing the country trillions of dollars and sending billions to states with no specific purpose. Is there any question why we suffer from high inflation and impending recession with billions of unspent dollars being dumped into the economy?

In addition to the cost of these bills, we are all paying the price with inflation and recession dumping these funds into the economy has caused. So what is the purpose of these reparations? Why do they seem to be isolated to Democrat controlled states? The motivation is clear. The Democrats are losing the once-solid Black vote. The Black, and the Brown voters, too, are swinging to the Red side of the aisle. They realize that promises have been made to them to secure their votes. These promises were empty and made solely to garner votes. The game is up, and Black and Brown voters now realize that Republicans are doing more for them and the inner city plight. So Democrats are upping the ante and going to straight pay-offs. These reparations would be buying votes for today and years to come. It is bribery and election tampering.

This potential payout is evidence that there is nothing out of bounds for what Democrats will do to retain office and power. I am not calling for Republicans to get into the swamp with the Democrats and use these irresponsible tactics. The better course is to fight to stop actions like reparations or the current movement in Massachusetts to drop the voting age to 16.