Letter to the editor: Who will get reparations?

Many politicians on the left, including Beto O’Rourke, have stated that they support reparations for African-Americans.

I would like to know how they would determine who is a descendent of slavery. Is a person’s color going to be the determinant, or does a person have to have documentation in order to be paid? What about the Irish, Italians, Polish and others forced to America as indentured servants?

I would like to know, since my ancestors were forced to work in coal mines, live in company houses and buy at company stores, and received little or no pay. For most of their lives they were de facto slaves to a coal company.

How will the leftists and Democratic Party justify reparations for blacks and not the rest of us with ancestors who were used as slaves? My ancestors worked their way out of the situation they were in.

It is time the black community realizes the Democrats are trying to use them in order to take over the government. This is 2019, not 1819; slavery has been abolished for almost 200 years. You have never been anyone’s slave. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. You can go as far as your talent can take you. The only person who can stop you is you.

John T. Watson

North Huntingdon