Women deserve reparations for continuing injustices

By ADDIE ABELSONStaff Writer

The other day, I saw a kid in my class wearing a fraternity T-shirt. On the back, there… The other day, I saw a kid in my class wearing a fraternity T-shirt. On the back, there was a drawing of two hands shaking, and it read, “We’re tighter than your younger sister.”

If that shirt had said, “We’re tighter than the kinks in a black person’s Afro” or “We’re tighter than your younger brother,” it would have conveyed the same meaning. But it would have been unfunny and the wearer would have been shot down or severely beaten the first time he wore it outside.

So, my question is, why do women tolerate this type of crap?

Of all the groups of people who deserve compensation for the injustices put upon them, I think women rank numero uno.

Before I continue, let me add that I understand why some blacks feel they deserve reparations. There is at least a minimum degree of teaching in schools about the evils of slavery and the reasons why blacks are justifiably angry. But I feel there is a certain level of tip-toeing and respect that blacks get that women don’t. The T-shirt is only one example.

I’m not saying that blacks shouldn’t get money or compensation. Slavery was bad, money is good, and if the $17 in my pocket will help someone heal, then I can’t say reparations are a bad thing. This is why I think women should get reparations, too.

That said, there is the issue of 40 acres and a mule, the resources promised to ex-slaves during Reconstruction. In our modern world, this could be translated to the stock equivalent.

As far as I know, no woman ever took the time to write down what she should receive in compensation for centuries of not being allowed to work outside the home, getting fired instead of getting maternity leave, receiving unequal wages for equal work and enduring beatings and rapes, which still continue. I know I’d take the stock equivalent of 40 acres and a mule, too.

It’s only fair