Tuesday, February 25, 1997
REPARATIONS:
Education is needed to prevent history from repeatingBy Tae
Roh
While I was reading Mr. Palmer’s column, I realized that I was
suddenly transported back to my AP U.S. History class back in high
school. I started recalling Mr. Buttler, a guest lecturer, before
our infamous AP test. Mr. Buttler, the former mentor of my U.S.
History teacher, was considered to be an expert regarding the
subject of the Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s and ’70s.
Mr. Buttler was born and grew up in Mississippi. He claimed to
witness several accounts of the "entrenchment of the white
supremacy" and racial segregation. He had never seen African
Americans with his father. As he finished his autobiographical
introduction, he continued his lecture from the cause of the Civil
War to the current situations regarding African Americans. We had
gained new insights in the field of the Civil Rights Movement.
Coincidentally, the AP U.S. History test that year included the
theme of the Civil Rights Movement in the Document Based Questions
(DBQ: the part of the AP test that you have squeeze out everything
you know about the theme). Thanks to Mr. Buttler’s lecture, all of
us but a couple lazy fellows received the score of 4 or 5.
Having learned from these text books and testimonies, I will
have to agree with Mr. Palmer’s assertion of African slaves and
their descendants. However, when he led the matter in a
materialistic sense, I was literally disgusted.
I have seen many other ethnic groups asking for reparations for
what had happened in the past. Koreans ask for money for the things
the Japanese Empire has done; Japanese internees for their loss of
properties and damages during the Pacific War; Native Americans for
the same reason during the Western Expansion era. There are many
other examples out there, but I mention only three because they are
the ones I know more than the others.
But, when does the blaming stop? Why do we have to be kept
haunted by what had happened in the past? Why do we put
materialistic value on the lesson we all should learn anyway? It
seems that people prefer to have a quick fix for whatever wrongs
have happened. What we really need is to educate our future
generations to prevent the similar incidents from recurring. Paying
off with money can fix things only so much …
I can’t understand completely, because I wasn’t there. I can
only try to understand the frustration and anger passed from the
past to the present. The way I see it is that we can never match
the suffering and agony of the victims of our history with futile
money. We should focus on how we can avoid making the same mistake
rather than blaming on the past incident. Besides, another
profit-related incident will only create more tension between
groups.
Before I close, I’d like to thank Mr. Buttler, one of the few
liberal Democrats I admire and respect, for sharing his ideals of
ethnic and racial diversity and opening our eyes.
And here is my favorite anecdote:
According to Carl Sandburg, an elderly woman asked Abraham
Lincoln, "How can you speak kindly of your enemies when you should
rather destroy them?" "Madam," he said, "do I not destroy them when
I make them my friends."