Wes Moore Realizes Slavery Reparations Is Yesterday’s Fad

Eying higher office, the Maryland Governor vetoes a bill that would create a study commission

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

"more than 50 years of preference policies have failed to address racial disparities—in poverty reduction, income gains, homeownership rates, educational attainment and other measures—that were narrowing at a faster pace in the decades before affirmative action. Reparations would amount to another massive wealth-redistribution scheme, and there is no reason to believe it would be more successful than previous efforts.

Following passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, black leaders became increasingly convinced that political power was the key to upward mobility. Beginning in the late 1960s, black mayors were elected in big cities with large black populations—Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington—yet political integration didn’t improve outcomes for the black poor.

Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark, N.J., who died on May 11, was a typical beneficiary of this strategy. James was first elected in 1986, and when he left office in 2006 after a record five terms, heavily black Newark’s unemployment rate was twice the national average, while the median household income was half of the statewide figure.

The three largest cities in the country—New York, Los Angeles and Chicago—have black mayors. If the black underclass has uniquely benefited from this arrangement, it isn’t obvious. Black people in all three cities continue to lag academically and economically and remain the primary victims of violent crime. Racial disparities have persisted under white politicians as well, so the takeaway isn’t that black people should steer clear of politics. This history, however, does highlight the pitfalls of electing black officials who are committed to racial favoritism, which is divisive and counterproductive."

"Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson bragged about the number of black city employees he had hired."

"how has padding the city payroll with black employees abetted overall black progress? Chicago continues to be one of the most violent big cities in the country, and most of its public-school students lack proficiency in math and reading."