Howard Law Professor Justin Hansford addressed the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent last week and called for the establishment of a United Nations Reparations Tribunal that could order the payment of reparations to African Americans.
Professor Hansford objected that white lawyers and politicians have been allowed to control this debate in the United States for too long:
But so far we have left it to the scholars of the past, the lawyers of the past, the white scholars, white lawyers, to determine the bounds of our legal imagination, to determine the narrow structures that we will use to determine what justice looks like for our own people.
So I come to you today with a novel proposal, that we begin to think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
It is not clear what Professor Hansford meant when he suggested that a United Nations program for reparations should not only be crafted but “implemented” by people of color.
Professor Hansford notes in his address that the United Nations previously recognized the need for reparations for victims of racism and cultural genocide.
The speech to the United Nations is part of growing calls for action on reparations after years of study and proposals. As task forces in states like California have issued recommendations for payments, the demands are presenting a challenge for Democratic politicians who have long campaigned on such payments as a moral imperative. That bill has now come due but politicians like California Gov. Gavin Newsom have sought to pivot away from demands from his own Reparations Task Force for massive payments.
It may be too late for this effort as activists demand actual payments, including up to $5 million for each eligible citizen in cities like San Francisco.
Now Professor Hansford is calling on the United Nations to order such payments by the United States. It is an interesting pitch to countries that were directly involved in the slave trade or enslaved other people in their own histories. Reparations would appear to apply to many of the same countries and might be looked at with some skepticism and concern in their own capitals.
Professor Hansford is a scholar who has written extensively on critical race theory. He has been an advocate for not only reparations but “police abolition”:
“Well, yes, when I think of police abolition, I think that it’s the right word. I think about the abolitionists that we saw in the 19th century — Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass — and their work, which was our destiny as a people, to be free. And I think that’s part of the same tradition. I think that it’s the same work. I think that the systems that we’re facing today are continuations of the systems that the abolitionists in the 19th century worked against. So, yes, I support that. I think that has to be the ultimate goal.”
I have serious objections to these views, but value the debate. Indeed, part of the effort to combat the intolerance for opposing viewpoints at schools like Howard University is to allow a more robust debate on these issues.
Reparations is a debate that we should have as a nation, including in Congress. Recently, Democrats introduced a bill demanding $14 trillion in reparations. I have major misgivings over the legal and policy basis for such payments, but welcome any forum for a free and civil debate. The United Nations did not offer an opposing view on this question, which is often the case on our campuses.
Professor Hansford called on the United Nations to stop “cultural genocide” and to end the “continuation of slavery” through means like “mass incarceration” in the United States.
The Biden Administration nominated Professor Hansford to work with the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) for the 2022-2024 term. Hansford is the only American representative.
Here are Professor Hansford’s remarks:
Will African nations complicit in the supply side of the slave trade also be compelled to contribute an equal amount to fund the repatriation’s account?
I say bring on the reparations….those who receive them will most surely make wise investments and vastly compound this “seed capital”…thereby having enormous funds which which to lift up the other impoverished minorities of the world. jw logan
Ah, yes, the good old, reliable Central Planning, Redistribution of Wealth and compulsory Social Engineering. You communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) thrive on your intellectual superiority, don’t you? Sure, why not? Thank you so much for imposing your “dictatorship of the proletariat,” comrade Aninny. Your intellectual superiority missed a minor detail. The long-suffering “beneficiaries” have been around conducting “business” for eons longer than Britons or Americans and they failed to win the battle of history given that distinct advantage. Of course, left to their own devices, the money of the “beneficiaries” will be right back in the hands of the people it was taken from in no time at all – what with gas, iPhone, beer, gaming, hard cider, cigarettes, Mickey D, tennis shoe sales and all – now you know why Warren Buffett just loves communist Central Planning and Redistribution of Wealth – Just “Revenue,” Baby! Back to square one. Back to the future. Money goes ’round and makes the world go ’round, ‘right?
Prof Hansford could use a bit of Clock Work Orange time around the people that now know what’s happened & happening to them right. But so many can’t/won’t shut up & listen/watch.
****
At the world premiere of The Great Awakening in Austin, Texas, Alex Jones delivered a powerful red carpet message to humanity.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/alex-jones-delivers-powerful-red-carpet-message-at-movie-premiere/
GREAT film! A must see….
Repeat: A MUST SEE FILM ….
NO REPARATIONS – TRYING TO UNPICK OUR HISTORY IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY FORWARD
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“British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refuses to apologise for UK slave trade or to pledge reparations”
PM says ‘trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward’ in response to Labour’s Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Rishi Sunak has refused to apologise for the UK’s role in the slave trade or to commit to paying reparations.
– The Guardian, 26 Apr 2023
African tribal chiefs created and perpetuated slavery by abducting, enslaving and dealing their fellow Africans.
African governments are responsible for addressing all specious demands for reparations, understanding that British slavery in America ended in 1789.
Arab slave traders, British shippers and British planters were induced by African slave dealers to market an African product which was created in Africa.
Similar to the victims of drug dealers as “unwitting users who risk death,” the avid British planters succumbed to the compelling advantages of the legal and legitimate offers originally made by African “slave dealers.”
_____________________
“It’s the [dealers], stupid!”
– James Carville
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“Federal Authorities Announce 11 Cases Charging Alleged Drug Dealers with Providing Opioids that Led to Fatal Overdoses”
Investigations by the DEA’s Overdose Justice Task Force Lead to Cases in which 12 People Died, Most from Acute Fentanyl Intoxication
LOS ANGELES – Federal authorities today announced 11 criminal cases against alleged drug dealers who sold or provided narcotics to users who suffered fatal overdoses from opioids such as fentanyl or fentanyl analogues.
As a result of the operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, each of the 12 defendants named in the 11 cases is charged with distribution of narcotics resulting in death. If convicted, each defendant would face at least a 20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence and a potential maximum sentence of life without parole in federal prison.
“These charges are the first steps in bringing justice to the families of victims who often died without knowing they were ingesting some of the world’s most powerful opioids,” said Acting United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “The conduct alleged in these cases demonstrates the grave threat people face now that fentanyl is widespread and is commonly hidden in a variety of illicit narcotics. The danger posed by opioids is real – both for unwitting users who risk death and for the dealers who face decades in prison for spreading deadly poison in our communities.”
– Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, May 13, 2021
Far more sensible is a Universal Basic Income.
Far more logical, rational and intuitive would be globally ubiquitous Freedom and Self-Reliance.
Imagine, self-replicating, self-perpetuating, self-reliant, autonomous biological entities.
Oh, yeah! That’s human freaking beings, huh?
Mandatory corporate profit sharing could go a long way towards ensuring a Universal Basic Income, imo. The Minimum Wage hasn’t changed much since Joe Biden was first elected in 1972. By coincidence.
*it could also help spread the risk of corporate losses.
Yes! If Congress can keep printing Billions to send to the money-laundering Ukraine war machine, then they can certainly print a measly $330 million to give to each and every citizen. Print some money, Congress. Make us all millionaires.
“Far more sensible is a Universal Basic Income.”
Sure — if you accept the premise that an individual is a means to another’s ends.
At least have the honesty to call it what it is. “Income” is a noble word. It implies effort, work — that one has *earned* the right to be paid. What you and the rest of the collectivists advocate is called *welfare*.
And what of, for example, the hundreds of THOUSANDS of Irish Slaves that were brought to America?
I’m ok.
*Thx for asking.
What about those among us whose ancestors were enslaved by the Romans?
You mean the Carthaginians?
Quite a few Celts and Salvs and Latinos have ancestors who were enslaved by the Romans.
Several years ago some jacka$$ from the U N wanted Americans to pay a tax out of their pay checks to the UN. I’ve made out paychecks and we pay something to social security and Medicare. They wanted a third deduction for the UN. International welfare. We should get out of the UN and throw them out of New York.
I agree the U.S. should only pay it’s ‘fair share’ toward the maintenance and upkeep of the UN. Obviously, fair means the largest economies in the world like the U.S. would pay much more than, say, Zimbabwe. And of course, since the UN headquarters is in NYC, the US has a special responsibility for ensuring fair and reasonable access to it.
*otherwise, they might as well move it to Bejing or Moscow. .. and cut out the middle man.
I agree, too. The UN is a dinosaur that exists in service of only the wealthiest on earth. It’s a joke. Pull the plug.
Totally agree. It’s a feckless, corrupt organization. Most of its member countries hate America, but are more than happy to take our money.
It seems that Turley’s site has become a sounding board for people to say negative things about other races? He must be so proud.
only about imbeciles in western pa
Bigotry is the treatment of other people as members of groups, not as individuals. One example of bigotry is holding negative attitudes and beliefs about a person because he is from another race. Another example of bigotry is holding negative attitudes and beliefs about a person because he grew up in or lives in another place. Turley provides a forum for both.
Hardly. Once again, just because someone opposes a imbecilic action by our feckless government does not make them a racist. Stop playing the race card.
“. . . for people to say negative things about other races?”
Reparations: White person — you’re guilty and must be forced to pay, because you are white.
And that’s saying a *positive* thing about other races?!
This would not be the first time in history that reparations were called for. In the past reparations were common as a payback by the losing nation in a war. Germany was required to make reparations after World War One. The German people were living in poverty because of the war and yet they were required to pay reparations. Naturally they were resentful. Hitler used this public sentiment as part of a platform that brought him into power. The world then came to a recognition of the dangers inherent in reparations and the practice was eliminated. Now the leaders in the U.N. want to bring reparations back to life. Like a zombie it rises from the grave to bring future death and destruction to the human race. It carries the smell of mass death in its wake.
But NOTHING from the UN about ending slavery in muslim countries?
Exactly. Or the slave labor in China.
The idea that people with no connection to slavery should pay “reparations” to people with only the tiniest connection to being enslaved is difficult at best. Rather, the people seeking to be compensated for the damages caused by their enslavement should bring lawsuits against those specific people who enslaved them in an appropriate court of law. They could demonstrate their actual damages through witness testimony and documentation and collect damages directly from the responsible people.
Don’t be silly. I believe these reparations are, by design, ‘extra-judicial’. i.e. something that is done, given, or effected outside the course of regular judicial proceedings or without the authorization of the judicial system
*that’s also why testimony derived by ‘torture’ is not, presently, allowed in courts of law .. .
Anon; “the people seeking to be compensated for the damages caused by their enslavement should bring lawsuits against those specific people who enslaved them in an appropriate court of ”
+++
They would have to sue the black African people and the Muslim slavers who originally captured them and put them on the market.
If slavery is really a problem why aren’t any of these big mouths doing something about slavery as it exists today in black and Muslim countries?
This is just another version of looting a department store. They go where the good stuff is.
It’s not judiciable precisely because the people who caused the harm, and the people who were directly harmed by slavery, are dead.
EVERYONE understands it’s just another in the LONG line of Democrat vote buying schemes to pay off a Democrat client. In this case Democrats require the near monopoly on the black vote for them to be competitive. So they come up with this scheme to appeal to the greed of black Americans.
Just as many of the most privileged in society – the college educated – vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. So Democrats come up with a way to appeal to the greed and buy their vote by promising to “forgive” their student loan debt.
Just as alternative energy companies who produce uneconomic energy can’t compete in a free market, so they donate heavily to Democrats who then use their power to mandate the use of their donors uneconomic fuel to enrich the donors and impoverish the average person.
When you vote Democrat you are voting for one corrupt scam after another – all of which are meant to enrich Democrat clients at the expense of the average person and preserve Democrat power.
The good thing about this debate is that even some of the white, wealthy, liberal ‘elites’ are getting sick of this insanity.
It’s about time.
American Indians held slaves. Black Americans held slaves. Should these actual facts of history be taken into account when considering reparations. The use of selective history has more money in it. The money will soon be grifted away by the race baiting cartels. I offer the Black Lives Matter scam as an example of things to come. Yogi Berra said it’s hard to tell the future because it hasn’t happened yet but in this instance telling the future is really not a hard thing to do. You can easily imagine the grifters hands rubbing together in anticipation of the coming payoff.
Where is the U.N. Commission on Reparations to be paid to the millions and millions of Covid vaccine injured and dead worldwide?
There are reasons why jihads struck the twin towers and not the UN.
Pathetic
It’s akin to when a bullying child can no longer get his way with the other children, he then goes crying to his mommy hoping she will punish the other kids for him.
The U.N. is one of the most corrupt institutions in the world. Enough said.
Now, how about Biden’s Open Border policies allowing the unchecked flow of illegals into our country?
Millions upon millions of illegals are getting free transportation, free housing, free meals, free medical care, free education, and even free college tuition like Minnesota now gives to “illegals.”
The “migrants” crossing the border illegally are not required or forced to take the Covid shots to remain in our country.
Up until last month, visitors coming into the U.S. legally, had to be “fully vaccinated” with Covid vax. Novak Djokovic was denied entry to play in major tennis tournaments due to his unvaxxed status.
But not the millions of illegals flowing over the open border….no covid vax needed.
Meanwhile, millions upon millions of Americans have been injured after being forced to accept these experimental shots against their will. Millions upon millions around the world have died from the covid shots — but that’s only a ‘conspiracy theory’ or ‘misinformation’…or so says the USG. How about paying some “reparations” to the covid vax injured and dead?
The globalist’s mission is to destroy America from within. Flood the country with illegals from all over the world. Make “whitey” pay for illegals getting everything for free. Make “whitey” pay reparations that will bankrupt our cities, states and the nation.
Don’t let them get away with it.
Meanwhile in CA where homelessness is at a boiling point, Newsom’s giving dough to illegal immigrants. I’m sure all the hardworking minorities who pay their social security and incomes taxes are thrilled about that. Not.
Isn’t it remarkable how the overschooled and undereducated minority, regardless of exterior pigment, manages to forge a death grip on media to smother sensible discussion? Not only did various African tribes do business with slave traders, often Muslim, but also in pre-War Between the States times, blacks owned plantations with black slave labor. Not many but not none. Reparations for whites who served in indentured servitude, a slightly lesser form of slavery? The list is lengthy of the injustices humans in all eras perpetrate on others. Even now.