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ASSOCIATED PRESS
A crowd listens to speakers at a reparations rally outside of City Hall in San Francisco on March 14.
Would it be wise to follow the lead of a San Francisco reparations committee as it pertains to Native Hawaiians (“San Francisco board open to reparations with $5M payouts,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, March 14)?
They proposed that eligible Blacks be given $5 million, absolved of all debts and taxes, given $97,000 each year for 250 years, and provided a home for $1, in order to atone for the legacy of slavery.
What reparations are “fair” for the descendants of Native Americans who were decimated and relocated, or for Mexican Americans whose ancestors lost their property by force?
Chinese were prohibited from immigrating to the U.S., and they and other citizens of Asian descent have been subjected to discrimination to this day. Should this be “resolved” by granting reparations to Asian Americans?
Jews have endured discrimination for thousands of years almost everywhere they have settled, including in the U.S. Are reparations appropriate to atone for their mistreatment?
Questions are easy to formulate. Wise responses are more illusory.
Robert Griffon
Makiki
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