Should reparations payments be granted, how would you prefer to be paid? When considering your answer, the two biggest factors are, what best benefits you as an individual, and what best benefits our people on a collective basis. But, then, another matter lurks around the dark corner: Which method will best protect the money from all thieves and entities hostile to our race, and who possesses the most prominent means to enact malicious schemes to retrieve it from your hands? Understand, any awards granted by Power bear the potential to be "retrieved" by Power--especially when Power contains a legion of soldiers holding high resentment toward a minority group whom they deem "beneath them."

But, if you're a brave one, and one who prefers personal responsibility and freedom of individual choice regarding how and where you spend, or invest, your bucks, then direct payments is your way to go.

With the above being the case, here are essays on the pros &cons of the following methods of managing reparations payments:

COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT
INDIVIDUAL MANAGEMENT
HALF & HALF
You may also nominate your OWN METHOD.
Plus, see my preferences: VOTE KEITH'S WAY.

(Also see PREFERRED FORMS OF PAYMENT.)

COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT

May as well make it loud and clear: I'm an adamant supporter of Collective Management regarding reparations pay.

And, rather than compose a whole new dissertation regarding such, I'll simply repeat what's in the standard pamphlet I circulate. (Contact me if you want a printed copy.)

Time to Get the Ball Rolling on REPARATIONS…
by Electing an Official BLACK BOARD Now!

RepWeb.org is ready to lead the way to elect an official BOARD for BLACK REPARATIONS. We can accomplish nothing without leadership (effective leadership), without organizing, and without a plan to make it all come together. Action without planning is failure waiting in the wings...planning without leadership is a ship running in circles...and eventually aground. ALSO...plans and actions initiated without input from the population collective are not official...and do not legitimately represent the desires of the affected sector.

If you’re a living/breathing bro/sis, no way in Hell you ain’t heard cries of: “Pay us NOW!”...“Cut the check!” or any other such statements. But it all don’t mean s**t without a consensus—an official proclamation composed and rendered by popular vote by the Black descendants of slavery of this nation...as our cries also remain mute unless we list a clear set of demands agreed upon by our majority.

RepWeb will now repair this defect in our scheme by launching a campaign to find those men/women our people deem most capable to manage our “Reparations Distribution Network” (“RDN”)—our means of distributing our compensation in the most efficacious of manners, leading to our most rapid and beneficial rise as a people.

RepWeb therefore now puts the ball into your hands—the affected ebon sector of a nation so much in denial—to search the available field of potential candidates in order to find and nominate those whom you feel are of the most intellectually gifted and spiritually magnanimous...those possessing the greatest of abilities to plan the establishment of our RDN, appoint its personnel, and supervise its support branches in the areas of Agriculture/Sustenance, Financial Services/Investments, Housing, Education, Industrial Development, Land Acquisition/Development, Medical Facilities/Services, International Relations/Investments, Correctional/Supervisory Operations/Facilities, and so on.

And the only “Cut me a check!” done will be that of Financial Services/Investments giving you a loan or grant for your registered business, organization, and/or for some other significant/essential need or purpose. Never will there be “rain money” poured directly into your personal hands so you can go buy that luxury SUV or sparkly Bling Bling. The RDN rewards will go only toward Black Sustenance and Growth. All other, luxurious/nonessential, gains will be awarded as profit as a result of one’s industrial use of the benefits of the RDN. (As I’ve mentioned in the past, Dave Chappelle did a brilliant skit about mishandling reparations.) But...if you feel my way stinks, and you want that “GIMME MY MONEY” platform for reparations, then go start your own damn campaign. This one’s for those who know collective compensation is the absolute superior way our people can be compensated for the horrible wrongs we suffered. It is for those knowing there will be buzzards—greedy, racist, rapacious, resentful...whatever—waiting in the wings to employ all sorts of tactics to get it all back as quickly and ruthlessly as possible...leaving us right back where we started...and, thus, who understand that collective control and manage of the funds is the absolute best way to ensure that our official compensation will be protected from those vampires and will be invested in the most universally beneficial of ways for our people as a whole.

So...for my ebon allies of the cause, if you’re ready to make real progress in achieving governmentally mandated compensation for systematic historical/current atrocities, put your pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard, to compose your list of preferred candidates you want to see sitting on the Board for Black Reparations. *Use the Nomination Guide on the next page. (*Note: For this Web version, click HERE. Then return to this page and read below.)

In Closing:

No doubt, those of you on the opposite side of the fence—“individual compensation”—are saying, “Instead of this ‘bloated bureaucracy,’ sure would be a hell of a lot easier just to put a check in everyone’s hands...and let us have our right to spend it AS WE LIKE!” Well...that “AS WE LIKE” is the problem...because, more than likely, it’s not going to be AS WE NEED. And, if we don’t spend—invest—it as we NEED, that money’s going to end up going straight out of the Black Community...right back into the hands of those who have developed an industrial base that they control and we patronize. Then they could sit back...and laugh their ravenous white (or whatever hue) asses off: “Ignorant ni**ers. We gave them what they wanted, and look who’s got it now.”

Understand, the non-Black world looks at all of us through only one microscope—not as individual human beings with individual thought—no matter how successful some of us may be. They’re going to see how you (“we”) wasted the money given to you (“us”), that it’s all right back in their hands...where it originally was...and that we are indeed the mindless beasts they always thought we were...giving them an even more “justified” excuse to revive the White Superiority Movement more virulently than ever before!..because you’ve proven, without a shadow of a doubt, YOU (“WE”) ARE STUPID! And I, for one, don’t want to be lumped in with your ignorant mentality regarding this likely, and horrifically tragic, scenario...as you’re pushin’ that depreciating new Benz you just bought down the street to buy that 40 from that Korean liquor store.

But, if push comes to shove, and the adult Black Community can’t agree on collective compensation or individual payment, we could always offer another option: individual choice. Each qualified Black individual would sign up for either the collective option (BBR) or the individual-payment option. If reparations are granted, those signing up for BBR leadership would be eligible to take advantage of all its benefits. Those who don’t wouldn’t—but would receive their portion of the reparations in a cash payment. BBR members would receive a membership card and be on its records, whereby they and all their qualified certified-Black posterity would be eligible for BBR benefits in guaranteed perpetuity...whereas, the descendants of *cash recipients would be at the mercy of inheritances regarding any remaining funds bequeathed to them...that haven’t been mismanaged, recklessly spent, and/or rapaciously retrieved by non-Black predators. (*Of course, conditions would apply to various situations regarding juvenile posterity. For example, if two parents split their vote, their children would have the right to choose BBR benefits for themselves and their posterity upon reaching adulthood.)

But...rest assured...when the collective option does indeed prove its superiority—and I’m sure it would—I wouldn’t be without mercy. Those missing the deadline to sign up for the BBR would be allowed to come into the fray—for a price. They’d pay a continual fee for its services…“Black Taxes”...and all their affected posterity would as well.

Still, there would be the question of, who determines who’s eligible for reparations? My way has already been identified: the BBR, who would examine each case on an individual basis. Those on the other side would have to trust the government or establish their own means.

I pray you’ll wake up and see the light that is collective strategic economic action...and the lonely train wreck that is individual precarious expenditure. Dave Chappelle GOT IT RIGHT!

PROS:

Our entire reparations payment will be protected by an elected entity possessing the strongest legal and official power to vet all potential threats conspiring to ruthlessly appropriate our funds.

Our funds will be invested to the benefit of our entire race via elected individuals possessing premium knowledge and high achievement in their individual fields of expertise, with said investment being designed to lead to our people's socioeconomic independence (racial autonomy).

Our leaders can compose an entire plan for collective Black Rise specifically beneficial to our people as well as the health of the planet--with massive capital at hand to make said plan successful in the minimal amount of time.

Our supply of funds will be perpetual because all investments/payments/grants will be engineered to recirculate our money back to us and/or will economically benefit us in such a matter as to increase our wealth by lowering our cost of living--therefore greatly decreasing our vulnerability to financial debt.

We will become more united and purposeful as a race because a socioeconomic infrastructure will be constructed around us allowing us to increasingly depend on our own people and enact projects beneficial to ourselves and the world in general.

CONS:

Dissension regarding preferred leadership, the reparations amount, method of receiving reparations, and methods of application regarding payments.

Limitations of individual receipt and control of funds.

Potential time-frame (delays) regarding dispersal of funds.

ALLOW ME TO ALSO ADD...

...under Collective Management, you could still get that car or house; you just wouldn't receive a "grant" for it. Rather, you would receive a no-interest/no-inflation loan--that you would pay back at an affordable rate. Thus, instead of paying, maybe, $737/mo for 60 months for a $40,000 car and facing $4,220 in interest, pay, maybe, $500 (or whatever you could reasonably afford) per month for 80 (or more, or less) months and pay back only the principal. Same process with the house...as well as with a business loan for opening a commercial enterprise.

However, if you plan on building or acquiring a charitable health clinic in an underserved Black-dominated community, or opening a pro-bono legal firm there helping fight injustice in the criminal "just-us" system, grants all the way for such things as those.

The above process saves the individual brotha/sista BIG BUCKS--making his/her life so much easier and less stressful while also circulating the money right back into the hands of our people and/or providing us with beneficial institutions that we alone control, making our lives better--*no leaks in the pipes. (*Understand, the Board for Black Reparations would also be making profitable investments to increase our collective wealth; thus, any interest not received would be compensated for in dividends earned.)

INDIVIDUAL MANAGEMENT...

...or Direct Payment, if you wish, puts the capital, and the risks, right in your hands. No waiting for any "slow-ass leadership" to get off their behinds and "give the people their damn money!"

Beside normal expenditure, and the settling of existing debt, there are many Black entrepreneurs seeking capital for lots of potentially lucrative projects.

Then we have the future of the posterity. Besides college tuition, parents/guardians can leave monetary inheritances to their children, giving each of them an individual chance to get ahead, and hopefully stay ahead, all the days of their lives.

We would have more with which to generally enjoy life more--make it more appealing and less stressful. And, what we don't plan on spending, we could always save--most ideally in Black-owned banks and financial institutions. As well, we could individually invest in Black businesses and other beneficial endeavors.

Many with sufficient funds store up could even retire completely--escaping the burdensome rigors of "working for the man."

Also, individual Black entities could come together to launch the projects for Black Advancement they deem most critical to our people's needs, thereby allowing a more diverse supply of minds and talent to set the overall course for Black Progress.

And, as each individual has their own choice of setting goals to succeed in life, so do others have a right to expend their resources in any legal way they choose. So what if some of us fail in the economic game and become prey for the economic vultures and buzzards waiting to feast on their fiscal irresponsibility and stupidity? Plenty of us will possess at least some economic and professional savvy allowing us to make progress in our livelihoods. Let the cream rise to the top; let the rest fall to the bottom. After all, "The poor will always be with you." Hasn't this always been the case?

PROS:

Individual receipt of funds.

A quicker receipt of one's whole share of the funds.

Individual control of expenditure/investment of funds--allowing for increased expenditures/investments as well as quicker payoffs of any accumulated debts.

A potentially large amount of capital to bequeath unto your loved ones and/or preferred heirs.

CONS:

Vulnerability to treacherous/predatory schemes--mainly by malicious non-Black forces--to retrieve or confiscate individual funds via such enactments as targeted price-fixing, frivolous law suits, financial and economic manipulation, improper business dealings, legal persecution, etc.

Not having the advantage of the full force of the collective power of the reparations payment to enact projects possessing the most massive potential to benefit the Black race as a whole.

The potential tragedy of excessive reckless and frivolous spending by the Black Community leading to non-Black forces regaining control of the funds and then having the "ultimate justification" to declare our people as "habitually irresponsible" and "mentally/spiritually inferior" as a race--because they paid us, and we gave it right back to them.

And I personally would like to add: Positive proof that Individual Management would indeed yield irresponsible or non-constructive spending can be seen in the billions of bucks paid to Black athletes and entertainers who do not invest it back into the Black Community, but, instead, increase the Bling Bling they show off (bought from non-Black merchants) and, sadly, the adoration they receive from the ignorant and vain of our society who worship their every move and yearn for their own marble mansions in the midst of no healthy grocery stores being located in their neighborhood.

HALF & HALF

"So, gimme half of what I'm owed straight up, and let our smart boys & girls invest the other half for all of us."

OK. This does have its merits. You can't deny it would make both sides happy, or at least content enough to be generally satisfied. The Collectivists would still have, and be able to protect, enough funds to enact plans for massive Black Progress, and the Individualists would immediately have enough to make their lives much more comfortable and potentially prosperous.

The PROS and CONS would simply be said general satisfaction by each side but the decrease in amount of funding available for each side--plus the applicable remaining PROS/CONS listed above for each side.

PREFERRED FORMS OF PAYMENT

I must also add, there are several ways for our people to be compensated other than just cash--land, resources, housing, industrial facilities and equipment, free education, tax relief, finished products, etc., etc. Then we could also have special privileges as well as laws to specifically protect us and/or advance our prosperity and autonomy. There will be a space on the form where you can voice your opinions on this when you vote.

SO, THE CHOICE IS YOURS:

Is your preference to get the whole might of the reparations award applied to your people's progress and stability as a whole--building the "Better Black World"? Is it to put your portion of that economic power solely into your own hands and use it as you wish o enhance and/or advance your personal life and the lives of those close to you? Or do you have split interests that compel you to dip a toe into both arenas? (Then again, maybe you have an entirely different take on payment methods. If so, you may want to list them in OPINIONS.)

Whatever the case, we all will need to elect leadership regarding the struggle for reparations. We need official representatives to negotiate our consensual demands in order to obtain sanctionable results. Without elected representatives, no settlement can be claimed as the "legitimate" one agreed upon, and/or recognized, by those considered qualified to receive reparations payments and/or by those empowered to give them.

Once we have our elected leadership and preferred policies in place, we then put our reparations demands into an official proclamation and present it to Congress. We also publicize it nationwide for support. Our next step would be to aim our consumer and political support toward those in favor of the cause and away from those antagonistic toward this economic justice...and, along the way, we make intermediate deals with our acquired base of allies so that we can make economic gains no matter the governmental outcome.

So...VOTE NOW on the methods above (or nominate your own methods) and let's get the OFFICIAL Ball Rolling!!!