In "Don't Waste Your Breath," Jack E. White argues that although monetary reparations for the enslavement of African-Americans are, in his opinion, the morally just action to take, it is impractical to expect that the United States government will ever actually pay such reparations. The essay is a response to action taken by "right_wing commentator" David Horowitz, who placed advertisements in college newspapers across the United States listing 10 reasons why reparations were "a bad idea for blacks" (White 573). While White disagreed with Horowitz that reparations would pose problems for Black Americans, he nonetheless appreciated the publicity that Horowitz's actions brought to the issue and apparently attempted to use some of that publicity to make his own voice heard on the subject. The essay was first published in Time magazine in March 2001.
Throughout the essay, White argues that expecting slavery reparations in the United States is impractical for several reasons. First, he notes that most White Americans today are descended from people who immigrated to the United States after the Civil War (White 573). Therefore, he suggests implicitly that these descendants will not feel that they are responsible for the actions of people who owned slaves in the United States up to and during the Civil War. As a result, they will be unlikely to support government monies being spent to pay reparations.
In addition, slave reparations would be such a huge expense û White places the figure at $24 trillion û that such a payment would have to be approved also by the Congress and the President. White argues that such approval is highly unlikely. For example, White notes that even a President as friendly to African_American causes as was Bill Clinton would not apologize for slavery. Thus, he believes that it is even more unlikely to expect that President George Bush and the United States Congress today would be receptive to approving...