A Few Sane Words From Chris Rock

Chris Rock understands a lot about our race problem. It's not black America's race problem, it's a problem white people have, even if they don't know it. White people have had a problem for centuries.

Should we feel guilty about what our ancestors did? Chris Rock puts it very neatly: "Yeah, it’s unfair that you can get judged by something you didn’t do, but it’s also unfair that you can inherit money that you didn’t work for."

If you understand anything you’ll realize that most of American wealth was stolen. Either land stolen from the Indians or labor stolen from black slaves brought here by violence and kept violently for hundreds of years. Every inheritance in America is laundered money. Inheritance is money laundering.

Maybe Chris Rock is right. Maybe in order to get that inheritance you have to be taught and fully understand the violent crimes your ancestors committed to get that wealth you are inheriting. Maybe you should have to hang that photo on your wall that shows your grandfather smiling at a lynching.

Most of the crime in our ancestry was done by remote control: they got the land after the cavalry had stolen it or they owned shares in King Cotton while living hundreds of miles away from where the slaves were whipped into picking it, which means they’re as innocent as Michael Corleone.