Congratulations, Gavin Newsom.
You’ve made race relations worse.
The California gov thought he was being oh-so-woke and empathetic when he empaneled a task force to study reparations for black Americans — in a state where slavery was never legal.
What followed was predictable:
- Black activists furiously testified they were due millions of dollars each, plus free housing, plus the elimination of all debts, plus whatever else they could think of.
- Descendants of Native Americans, Chinese railroad workers, the Japanese interned during World War II and Latinos who faced discrimination were angry they weren’t getting a check.
- White residents (many descended from immigrants, or who moved from elsewhere in the country) felt indignant for having to pay and apologize for something that wasn’t their responsibility.
Now, after everyone is nice and bitter, divided and set upon each other, Newsom admits what was clear from the start: California can’t afford to pay cash reparations.
His flacks will argue that what was important was to have the “conversation,” but that’s bull.
The conversation is what is tearing us apart.
Remember when Barack Obama made “hope” the centerpiece of his successful campaign to become America’s first black president?
Now the Democratic slogan is “resentment.”
America is bigoted and irredeemable, they say.
White supremacy is the biggest terrorist threat.
Your only hope is to vote for us.
But did you know that the unemployment rate for black Americans hit a record low in March of this year?
Were you aware that the foreign-born black population increased from 2.4 million in 2000 to 4.8 million in 2021, because people want to move to this supposedly inherently racist country?
No, because progressives would rather push the Marxist idea that things haven’t gotten better.
That the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Fourteenth Amendment, civil rights and affirmative action never happened.
They want to divide and conquer.
To play Americans off each other by race, by class, by gender.
And as Newsom just demonstrated, it’s all a farce — a cynical bid for power.
Republicans can take back the White House by rejecting these politics of resentment.
To highlight where we’ve succeeded, and how we improve.
It’s time for the conversation to be about how to make the nation better for all Americans.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
