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𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝟐 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 Thomas Sowell was asked about Ta-Nehisi Coates’ famous argument that “𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵” and that reparations would lead to “spiritual renewal.” Sowell’s response? “𝘐𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴.” Then he dropped the history lesson 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡: Slavery was a 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 across every civilization on earth. In 1776, Adam Smith observed that Western Europe was 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 where there was no slavery — even though Europeans had slaves in the Western Hemisphere. Here’s the fact that obliterates the reparations argument: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.” “𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.” 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭.