Keyes has plan for reparations

[Walt Starr]

He would exempt blacks from taxes

By Allison Benedikt and David Mendell
Tribune staff reporters
Published August 17, 2004

One day after their first meeting, U.S. Senate hopefuls Barack Obama and Alan Keyes were back on the campaign trail again Monday.

Speaking at a news conference at the Hotel InterContinental in Chicago, Republican Keyes added to his now familiar talking points his stance on slavery reparations.

Prompted by a reporter's question, Keyes gave a brief tutorial on Roman history and said that in regard to reparations for slavery, the U.S. should do what the Romans did: "When a city had been devastated , for a certain length of time--a generation or two--they exempted the damaged city from taxation."

Keyes proposed that for a generation or two, African-Americans of slave heritage should be exempted from federal taxes--federal because slavery "was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment." In calling for the tax relief, Keyes appeared to be reaching out to capture the black vote, something that may prove difficult to do, particularly after his unwelcome reception at the Bud Billiken Day Parade Saturday.

The former ambassador said his plan would give African-Americans "a competitive edge in the labor market," because those exempted would be cheaper to hire than federal tax-paying employees and would "compensate for all those years when your labor was being exploited."

<snip>

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0408170208aug17,1,3966582.story

Now we know why the Republicans wanted to put Keyes in the race and how they were planning to go about dividing the African-American vote.

Comments?

[WI_DEM]

1. I say it is a blatant attempt to buy the AA vote

and will be seen by most people as such.

[Walt Starr]

2. Of course it's pandering

And many recipients of such a tax break would end up with little to nothing.

[Caution]

3. laughable

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. Who cares? He's polling at 28%.

He could be advocating just about anything and it wouldn't matter at this point. He's already toast.

[wndycty]

5. I knew this would happen. . .

. . .that with two Blck candidates the issue of reparations would come up. However I think its funny that Keyes backs them and Obama doesn't, however while I back Obama's plan I support reparations, political pragmatism keep's Obama from calling his plan reparations but in practice its the one I support.

[Terran]

7. And Keyes can say *anything* now

no matter the Republican Party would never support it in a million years. He knows he's going to lose, so why not throw pragmatism out the window?

What I wonder is, does Keyes really support reparations, or is this BS? Because I didn't think such a thing squared with his republican values of self-sufficiency, boot-strapping, etc. It's ironic, but I agree with him on this 100%. I've been saying this at DU for years, that tax exemption for African-Americans was the way to go, to accomplish reparations.

[wndycty]

9. I think he is introducing it to:

Bring up a wedge issue and put Obama to the left of him (pay Black people direct reparations) or to put him to the right of him (no reparations). Obama came out with the right answer. I agree with him, however I would call it reparations.

[Julien Sorel]

6. It's just talk, anyway.

Nothing will ever come from it, and if he were elected, Keyes would drop this plan in a Maryland minute. But as a descendant of slaves, I personally kind of like the idea.

It has another benefit, as well: people have to work to collect the reparations, so it wouldn't have the stigma of a government giveaway attached.

[LittleApple81]

8. Who gives a HOOT about KEYES'S plans? REPUGS will NEVER do it.n/t

[Rich Hunt]

10. from our friends...

Here is what one of our little friends on that other board had to say:

"I want to know where my reparations are for the slaves taken from my ancestors."

I swear to dog.

:wow:

[Inland]

11. Right Wing anti fed, anti tax wrapped up in reparations rhetoric

Keyes can't be this stupid. Notice that he only wants the fed government income taxes removed, and how well it fits with the conservative goals and is contrary to any reasonable goal of reparations:
1. Exemption from fed income taxes would benefit most the rich African Americans. This means that Keyes would reward blacks like himself that have already managed to overcome the burdens of the past and--not coincidentally--reward blacks that are most likely to go republican. And it fits nicely with the republican theme that the rich shouldn't be paying taxes in the first place.

2. Refusal to include FICA means that the largest tax on many lower income working blacks would remain in place. So if your family was really screwed by slavery and Jim crow, well, tough.

3. By making it a federal exemption, it simply makes more possible the radical notion of doing without the fed government by cutting taxes, while the true perps of slavery and jim crow in conservative southern statehouses go scot free. If anyone is to pay reparations, it shouldn't be the fed government or the fed taxpayers in states like Illinois, which actually sent people to die to free the slaves. It would be places like, oh, Maryland, where Keyes is from and which had slaves. Or the conservative south, from which Keyes is getting his financial support.

Note that Keyes---whose pretense to a higher morality is the part of himself he likes best---wrongly places moral blame in order to reach the entirely political goals of killing the fed government, getting more money to the rich, and getting himself elected. What a dick.

[Walt Starr]

12. Sounds like Obama supporters in Chicago are jumping ship on reparations

If you listen to WLS radio, that is.

[Julien Sorel]

13. You mean people are switching to Keyes

because of this one issue? Kind of hard to believe.

[Walt Starr]

14. That's what I thought too

Methinks some Reichwingnuts are calling in to try and get a bandwagon movement going.

It ain't gonna work.

[sandnsea]

15. Oh this is too funny

I don't think African-Americans are going to fall for this at all. And he's going to lose any white Republican vote he might have had a chance at. lol. If Keyes gets 20%, I'll be amazed.

[oasis]

16. Keyes, a staunch conservative, is now FOR reparations. Scummy whacko.

[JimT]

17. flip-flop

At least the Chicago Tribune article points out Keye's hypocrisy by quoting him from the past in which he has argued AGAINST reparations. What is that term the right wing a-holes love to use...? Oh yeah, FLIP FLOPPER!!!

[iwantmycountryback]

18. Sacrificial lamb

What a freaking joke this guy is. Why doesn't he just promise to have world peace and end hunger?

[Qutzupalotl]

19. Obama could say...

"That's a great plan, with some good points. I'd be willing to look at that. But if you were serious about it, why did you bring it up in an election you're sure to lose? Why haven't you been working to make this happen all along? I have this quote here from you, on your show, where you say, 'You want to tell me that what they suffered can actually be repaired with money? You're going to do the same thing those slaveholders did, put a money price on something that can't possibly be quantified in that way.' I think you're a little too loose with that 'slaveholder' charge."

[Walt Starr]

20. Read the link, Obama has already answered it

and did one hell of a good job at it, too, I might add.

[Qutzupalotl]

22. I did. He did well.

But if it's brought up in a debate, he should do a major smackdown. The flamboyant firebrand should go down in a spectacular, jaw-dropping, humiliating, televised defeat.

[Walt Starr]

21. New Headline: Keyes Jumps the Shark

Man, I thought he'd hold on for at least a month before he went overboard.

The shark has been offic8ally jumped. Expect this man to poll in the single digits come November 2nd.

[VOX]

23. Keyes and the GOP both know he can't win. He's there just to disrupt...

And to act as a guinea pig to see just how far the Illinois voters will swallow any or all of the right-wing bullshit.