California lawmakers just announced reparations bills, a first-in-nation attempt to give black Americans taxpayer money as supposed reparations for slavery. This is unconstitutional and nonsensical. What Americans should be doing and are not, on both the left and the right, is telling the truth about slavery and attempted racial genocide in the United States—and emphasize not just the villains, but the heroes.
Americans who actually experienced slavery, or whose parents experienced slavery, are long dead. Many black Americans now do not even have direct ancestors who were slaves. Likewise, many white Americans had ancestors who fought slavery (like mine), and even those who had ancestors who were slave owners—which includes black Americans too— should not be shelling out money. It is simply ridiculous to pretend that, 150+ years later, especially after so much civil rights progress, we should be held accountable for what our ancestors did long before we were born. America used to be the country where you were not defined by what your ancestors did.

On the other hand, very few Americans want to face up to the actual reality of what slavery and racial violence in America actually meant. Most politicians are especially dishonest on the subject (NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is one of the very few who previously demonstrated an accurate understanding of the Civil War). Whether it is painting all white Americans as racist or glorifying Confederate war criminals, Americans need to reject the lies they swallowed and face up to the real facts of history. Be honest about the Confederates’ mass enslavement of captive blacks and the Fort Pillow massacre, about the Confederates’ passionate devotion to slavery, about the Democrats’ centuries of racial violence and hatred. But also glorify America’s heroes, both black and white, who championed equal rights for all, from the Revolution up to our present day. You and I don’t know any former slaves, but we can speak truth, which is the only reparation we can now pay to the victims of slavery and racism in America’s past.