How disappointing to learn state Assembly members Taylor Darling and colleague Michelle Solgaes, who chairs the New York Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, wants Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature to fund a commission to study reparations for ancestors of slaves. It would be similiar to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Reparation Task Force that has been studying past racism. They estimate that California decedents of slaves are owed $569 billion. This makes no sense. It comes to $223,200 per individual. Our nation faces a $31.4 trillion, long-term national debt. California and local municipalities have a long-term debt of $1.6 trillion.
Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the private sector, along with city, state and federal government at all levels, have spent trillions under various programs which benefited African-American citizens. This included minority quotas for both employment hiring and admission to college, awarding of contracts to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, minority business mentoring programs, work place mentoring programs for promotion to higher positions and others.
Every glass ceiling in both the workplace and government was broken years ago. There are African-American CEOs of multibillion-dollar corporations, billionaires and millionaires. We elected Barack Obama president 14 years ago in 2008. California Sen. Kamala Harris was elected vice president, Antonio Delgado was elected New York’s lieutenant governor, Andrea Stewart Cousins serves as state Senate majority leader, Carl Heastie serves as Assembly speaker, Letitia James was elected state attorney general, David Dinkins and Eric Adams were elected NYC mayor, Jumanne Williams was elected NYC public advocate and Adrienna Adams was elected NYC Council speaker.
It has been common for decades to find African-American citizens holding senior management positions in government and business. There are 1.7 African-American millionaires today. There is now a large, growing and prosperous African-American middle class.
My Jewish ancestors did not own any plantations and did not poison any slaves on Hebrew National Salami. They were too busy running away from the Cossacks and the pogroms.
Several African-American generations have benefited and grown since 1964. It is time to move on rather than go back over 157 years to relitigate the 1861-1865 Civil War. We have all grown to look beyond the color of a person’s skin, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or age and accept each person for who they are today.
The late Civil Rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Larry Penner
Great Neck