A young, intelligent, black student just about got booed out of a House meeting for expressing his very unpopular opinion on Wednesday.
Coleman Hughes, at a very young age, is already an accomplished columnist for Quillette as well as a current student at Columbia University.
His time in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, & Civil Liberties was not a pleasant one.
He was not only booed by people attending the hearing, but he was also somewhat undermined by Chairman Steve Cohen (D-TN) as well simply because he considers reparations to be an insult.
You Can’t Fall Out of Line
If there is one thing we have learned over the years about many liberals and Democrats, it is that if you don’t carry the party line, you are considered a turncoat.
In the case of Coleman Hughes, he is no doubt being called an Uncle Tom at breakfast tables around the country right now.
Hughes does not consider himself a victim, even though he had direct relatives that were enslaved.
He doesn’t want the government’s money but would rather the money be used to address issues we actually have in this country right now.
He made no excuses for slavery or racism; he was actually quite critical about that time in our history, and rightfully so.
However, he was more aggravated at how demeaning trying to buy off a full generation of voters is.
He stated, “Racism is a bloody stain on this country’s history and I consider our failure to pay reparations directly to freed slaves after the civil war to be one of the greatest injustices ever perpetrated by the U.S. Government.”
“Black people don’t need another apology. We need safer neighborhoods and better schools.
“We need a less punitive criminal justice system. We need affordable health care. And none of these things can be achieved through reparations for slavery.”
“If we were to pay reparations today, we would only divide the country further, making it harder to build the political coalitions required to solve the problems facing black people today.”
“We would insult black Americans by putting a price on the suffering of their ancestors, and we would turn the relationship between black Americans and white Americans from a coalition into a transaction, from a union between citizens, into a lawsuit between plaintiffs and defendants.”
To me, that was eloquent. To those attending the meeting, it was worthy of a round of catcalls and booing.
As Rep. Cohen tried to get the hearing back in order, he too added a bit of an insult by stating, “Chill, chill, chill, chill. He was presumptive, but he still has a right to speak.”
Cohen might as well have said, “You are done now boy, go away.”
This is quite possibly one of the prominent voices in the future of this country and he was shamed simply for putting together an intelligent argument and sound reasoning on why our politicians need to put this issue away and move on.
There may have been a time for reparations, but it surely is not now.
This is how Democrats stoke racism in this country and when someone with authority presents an alternative argument that actually makes sense and goes against their narrative, they shame them into submission and tell them to go on their way.
Those comments by Cohen at the end infuriated me when I heard them simply because of the tone used by Cohen when he delivered them.
I have no idea what Coleman Hughes’ political beliefs are and quite frankly, it is irrelevant. I do, however, know I personally respect the hell out of him for what he did and said.
Well done young man, and please, do not let those crowd members or people like Rep. Cohen prevent you from ever presenting your voice to the people of this country.
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