There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
— Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth,” 1966
I’ve been meaning to write something on reparation. A rich, complex, necessary subject. And likely I still will.
Jesus says that only a foolish man builds his house on sand. And relatedly that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
Or like I’ve been telling my friends….if what you’ve built rests on flawed corrupt piers (land theft, genocide, slavery, white-imposed economic inequality), then it isn’t an act of largesse or even penance to repair them.