Half-Black Man Ordered To Pay Himself Reparations


Politics Jun 9, 2021

SAN JOSE, CA - Local half-white, half-black man Michael Preston has been ordered to pay himself reparations since half his ancestors were oppressed and half were oppressors.
"Wait -- what?" he said after he received a letter from Governor Gavin Newsom's office informing him he owed himself over $25,000.
"Uh.
.
.
OK? I guess?" He then went down to the bank and ordered a transfer to himself.
He was a little short of the total amount so he made it in installments, sending himself several payments totaling the $25,000 amount he owes himself for his ancestors oppressing his other ancestors.


"We'd like to thank Mr. Preston for atoning for the guilt of his ancestors," said Governor Newsom.
"Because of them, he has a unique place of privilege in life and has had a leg up on his fellow citizens, who are oppressed because of things that happened hundreds of years ago.
Today, he has made that right.
Well, until we ask for more reparations later.
Frankly, it's never going to stop.
" "We'd also like to congratulate Mr. Preston for receiving the reparations long overdue to his ancestors today," said Governor Newsom.
"Because of what happened to them, he is in a unique place of oppression in life and has never been able to get ahead of his fellow citizens, who are far more privileged than him because of things that happened hundreds of years ago.
Today, that wrong has been righted.
Well, until we send him more reparations later.
Frankly, it's never going to stop.
" Preston has said he'll pay whatever to himself going forward as long as the state just leaves him alone and lets him live his life.




"It's Time to Pay": Democratic Members and Activists Demand Fulfillment of Past Promises from Reparations to Sanctuary Cities


Below is my column on the conflict in Democratic states over the fulfillment of prior political pledges from reparations to sanctuary cities. Democratic states like California cannot blame the opposing party for a failure to fulfill the pledge for cash reparations. That leaves them in a bind. Small payments will belittle a commitment that was called a civic duty and moral imperative. After years of campaigning on the issue, expectations are high and tensions appear to be rising.

Here is the column:

"It's time to pay ." Those four words from Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) are being heard a lot by Democratic politicians across the country this month. For Bush, the debt amounts to $14 trillion for reparations for every black American.

In California, activists are demanding as much as $5 million per black resident and asking Gov. Gavin Newsom "where's the money ." One member of Newsom's Reparations Task Force demanded that the state pay its "sin bill."

In New York and Chicago, mayors are balking at towering costs of migrants being shipping from the border to their "sanctuary" cities.

In Tampa, after demanding $3 million per black resident, a witness said that he and others were putting "white people on notice that we want our reparations." Bills are coming due after years of political campaigning on these issues.

Reparations and sanctuary cities have long been the bread and butter of identity politics. For years, Democratic politicians have campaigned on these "moral imperatives" in passing sanctuary laws and setting up reparation task forces. It is the equivalent of a compounding interest on credit card debt. Each election Democrats used these issues for short-term political gains. Now those bills are coming due and Democratic leaders are balking.

President Joe Biden and Congress are in a potentially lethal game of chicken over the looming default over our debt. It would not seem an ideal time to demand an additional $14 trillion, but Bush declared "Black people in our country cannot wait any longer." She was joined by members like Reps. Barbara Lee, Jamaal Bowman and Rashida Tlaib.

It is a view being voiced across the country by black citizens who were told that these payments are an undeniable moral obligation. The years of politicking on the issue have created a sense of entitlement to large cash payments. As one well-known California activist declared : "It's a debt that's owed, we worked for free. We're not asking; we're telling you."

Gov. Newsom recently balked at the payment of the reparations recommended by his own task force, though he has indicated that some cash payments may still be made. Newsom attempted the long-expected pivot and said, rather plaintively, that dealing with the legacy of slavery "is about much more than cash payments." It may be too late for that spin. Recent polling shows 77 percent of Black Americans now support reparations---a stark increase in recent years.

Task Force member Rev. Amos Brown said that they will not accept any excuses and that the state has to commit to the full amount and, if needed, "pay it over installments."

Mario Cuomo famously said that politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose. However, the "prose" of many Democratic leaders is not winning any prizes.

While many have denounced the busing of migrants to sanctuary cities, most privately admit that there is an element of poetic justice. For years, these cities have told undocumented migrants that they are welcome to come to their cities where they would be protected. Then they showed up. It was a political version of "Look Whose Coming to Dinner," the movie about a liberal couple who are confronted with a visit of their daughter and her black fiancé.

The single most riveting moment came at Martha's Vineyard where residents came out to clap and wave to the migrants . . . as they were shipped to a military base off the island. New York City has been shipping migrants to other cities, which are going to court to stop the relocation . Many of these towns point out that, unlike New York City, they have never declared themselves a sanctuary for undocumented persons.

Even though these cities have been sent a fraction of the influx of states like Texas, mayors in sanctuary cities like Chicago have expressed outrage.

As with those expecting reparations, these migrants are understandably confused. They were told that Chicago was a "ciudad santuario." Chicago reaffirmed this status in 2022 when it extended protections and benefits. At the time, politicians scrambled for cameras to declare, as did Alderwoman Rossana Rodríguez, that Chicago must be "a welcoming city for immigrants" and reaffirmed that "our city is responsible for acting with solidarity towards the people that are the most marginalized and the most impacted by a system that oppresses them."

Then they showed up in greater numbers and the former Mayor Lori Lightfoot demanded that the migrants be sent elsewhere or kept in border towns overwhelmed by far greater numbers of migrants.

In some cases, there is no alternative but to try to quietly abandon prior campaigns that generated acclaim nationally and caused serious damage locally. For example, some of us criticized cities like San Francisco for declaring a boycott of states which did not adhere to their views on issues like transgender rights. I noted at the time that the boycott would cost the city dearly in cutting off 22 states by driving up costs. It did and the city quietly rescinded the boycott after losing millions. While the media paid far less attention to the rescission than the original decision, other reversals have come at a greater political cost on the left.

For example, cities that led efforts to defund the police arenow refunding the police after soaring crime rates and high-levels of police retirements and resignations. Activists in cities like Los Angeles called it a "slap in the face " given years of promises from Democratic politicians.

In the meantime, Newsom's task force has demanded an assortment of other changes, including eliminating cash bail, abandoning the prosecution of certain crimes , subsidizing home purchases for black residents, and guaranteeing a "right to return" by taking over development projects to guarantee black housing ownership. Some of those reforms can be finessed by politicians, but there is no spin that will obscure the absence of a cash payment.

These are the creditors of the Democratic Party and they now seem intent on collecting on compounded interest of years of identity politics.

This column previously appeared on Fox.com

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118 thoughts on ""It's Time to Pay": Democratic Members and Activists Demand Fulfillment of Past Promises from Reparations to Sanctuary Cities"

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1. *Johnathan Galt* says: May 26, 2023 at 10:03 AM

The Constitution expressly prohibits such payments. It's time to imprison every government official conspiring to violate our rights.

2. *Recognizing Truth* says: May 26, 2023 at 9:59 AM

BLM has already bilked people out of billions --- let them redistribute their cash to the "community" as "reparations". Oh. Wait. They can't. They stole it all for themselves, and they're now INSOLVENT. Too bad. That's all you were going to get.

3. *Vondago* says: May 26, 2023 at 9:29 AM

Reparations are NOT going to happen in this universe, now please BLM all the stinking Democratic run shit-hole cities. We dont care anymore!

4. *beau* says: May 26, 2023 at 9:28 AM

will we get back the $10+ Trillion spent on that demographic since '65? or, are reparations to include that figure plus much, much more demanded now?

forcing people who never owned slaves to pay people who never were slaves because slavery once existed can only be put forth in a nation such as this one where mental illness has been elevated to 'normal'.

5. *edward* says: May 26, 2023 at 9:26 AM

https://www.amazon.com/White-Cargo-Forgotten-History-Britains/dp/0814742963

White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America The forgotten story of the thousands of white Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain's American colonies In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London's streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years.

1. *End PC* says: May 27, 2023 at 3:38 PM

"though he has indicated that some cash payments may still be made."

Definitely No. The worse thing to do is provide any kind of reparations, partial or down-payment to mollify. That will be taken as definite affirmation that blacks are owed big time (false) and make these IMO reprehensible, unthinking blacks more angry & more likely violent. As it is, all the propaganda about blacks being owed only helps rationalization for much of disproportional black robberies & thefts.

It's shocking the 77% of blacks think they are owed reparation. Makes one believe there will never be an end to major racial animosities and harmful divisions. Even 18% of whites think it's justified, so there's a lot of ignorance about the history of slavery. The black slaves sold to the Americas were captured and sold by tribal-warring black Africans. The Muslim Arab slave trade in Africa was the largest and most cruel. Practically all nations practiced slavery in the past, millions are still enslaved in Africa today. But ending slavery is something only white people did. No other race tried. Reparations for slavery from American whites today is a scam. Blacks are lucky to be here, and the only reason whites are targeted for giving reparations is because everyone knows that only Whites are the only race chump enough to even consider it.



Merrick Garland, Chris Wray signed off on 'Arctic Frost' probe that targeted GOP groups, 'spied' on senators, documents show


Merrick Garland, Chris Wray signed off on 'Arctic Frost' probe that targeted GOP groups, 'spied' on senators, documents show By Josh Christenson Published Oct. 23, 2025, :53 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON - Top Biden administration officials personally signed off on an FBI investigation that would go on to target nearly 100 Republican-linked groups or entities - and may have even "spied" on members of Congress.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray's signatures all appear on an April , 2022, document authorizing the bureau's "Arctic Frost" probe that was released Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Garland signed off on the Arctic Frost probe in April of 2022. AP Grassley accused the Biden administration of having "unleashed unchecked govt power at the highest levels" in a bombshell X post on the disclosures before vowing: "My oversight will continue.
" The FBI's Washington Field Office requested the senior officials' authorization before looking into "an apparent effort to obstruct Congress' certification of the Electoral College" and "fraudulent certificates of electors' votes were submitted to the Archivist of the United States, purporting to represent the actual elector votes from the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin," the files show.
Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.


Material gathered from the probe would eventually be used to indict Trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
ZUMAPRESS.
com The FBI boss - who resigned one day before Trump returned to office as the 7th president - sent the missive to Garland, who signed it April 5, 2022.
"Merrick, I recommend you approve," Monaco scrawled beneath her boss's signature line.
Arctic Frost would eventually provide investigative material to special counsel Jack Smith for his indictment of Trump charging unlawful efforts to reverse Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory - but prominent donors, allies and even sitting senators were also swept up in the FBI's dragnet.
According to unclassified files also released by Grassley, the bureau quietly issued subpoenas for nine congressional Republicans' phone records as part of the probe, a move the 92-year-old senator called a "weaponization" of federal law enforcement that was "arguably worse than Watergate.
" Monaco recommended that Garland approve Arctic Frost.
AFP via Getty Images Sen.
Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has since accused Smith - whose case against Trump was dismissed before he assumed office - of having "spied on duly elected members of Congress" and called for the DOJ ex-special counsel's disbarment.
"As part of Jack Smith's weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January , 2021, to January 7, 2021," Blackburn wrote in a letter earlier this month co-signed by others whose phone metadata was accessed.
"We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records," added the letter, which was also signed by Sens.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Dan Sullivan of Alaska as well as Rep.
Mike Kelly (R-Pa.).
Sens.
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) also had their call logs seized during Arctic Frost. The so-called "toll analysis" of the phones could have shown who each member was calling or texting in the lead-up and immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Wray asked for the DOJ's approval "as soon as possible," in a April 2022 memo.
Additionally, 92 Republican or GOP-aligned groups or people - including Turning Point USA, co-founded by assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk - were investigated in a way that appeared to show "Arctic Frost was much broader than just an electoral matter," Grassley said in a September hearing when announcing the release of more unclassified bureau files.
"Arctic Frost wasn't just a case to politically investigate Trump," he added.
"It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.
" "They tried to force Charlie, and many other people and movements, out of business," Trump said of the probe.
"They Weaponized the Justice Department against Sleepy Joe Biden's Political Opponents, including ME!"