Rantz: After Washington reparations law, Democrats vow more racist programs

Washington Democrats passed what’s believed to be the first statewide reparations bill in the United States. It offers an unearned advantage to first-time homebuyers based on race, in order to apologize for a racist history beneficiaries of the bill never experienced. But Democrats say they won’t stop here; they want more race-exclusionary programs.

Prior to 1968, minorities in Washington suffered racial covenants that restricted certain housing in neighborhoods to white people. Among the groups impacted were black Washingtonians. As a way to apologize for the historical racism, Governor Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1474 into law. It levies an additional $100 fee on all home purchases to fund a home loan program for first-time home buyers. This impacts people of all races, making homeownership even more expensive than it is.

But in order to qualify, in addition to purchasing your first home, you must either have been a resident of Washington before 1968 or be a descendant of someone who lived here before 1968. You must also be a member of a group that was impacted by racial covenants.

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Washington’s reparations law benefits people who aren’t victims

Though other groups, such as Jews, were impacted, this reparations home loan program has been specifically pitched as a way to apologize to the black community.

There is little likelihood that someone who was directly impacted by racial covenants prior to 1968 will be a first-time home buyer able to benefit from these home loans. What this effectively means is that a 20-something, distant relative of someone who lived in Washington prior to 1968 would benefit from access to a home loan on the basis of skin color, even though they never experienced the kind of bigotry that kept them out of certain neighborhoods or from purchasing a home.

Democrats argue that these younger first-time home buyers are due special access to loans because they lost out on generational wealth from family members who could not purchase homes. But they also claim that discrimination against black home buyers continues in Washington today, though they did not mention which home loan provider is discriminating against black residents. They also don’t explain why Attorney General Bob Ferguson hasn’t pursued legal action against them.

Instead, Democrats lean on the tired “disproportionality” argument implying racism is behind why black homeownership lags behind white home ownership. 

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Democrats argue race must be a factor — so long as you’re not white

The bill takes the obscene position that “race-neutral approaches are insufficient to remedy” housing discrimination defined merely as there not being as many black homeowners as white ones. Democrats argue that “race-conscious programs… are necessary to remedy the past discrimination in which the state was complicit and to remove the structural barriers that persist.” In other words, Washington Democrats argue that they won’t stop with a one-time reparations home loan program. They want to explicitly violate non-discrimination laws to give certain races access to benefits paid for by tax payers over white people. 

Democrats could choose to help low-income Washingtonians who have the same struggle to home ownership. A low-income white couple will struggle the same as a low-income black couple. But Democrats only care about one couple’s struggle because the point is to punish white people for historical racism they are not responsible for.

Democrats believe our society and institutions are entrenched in white supremacy and that white people benefit from unearned privilege, regardless of their socio-economic situation.

As revenge, as if motivated by some kind of racist blood lust, Democrats will presume all black people are victims and offer them their own unearned privilege. Washington Democrats fail to acknowledge the irony of countering historical racism with present-day racism, especially when it is advocated by black lawmakers who have remarkably risen to positions of power and influence in a society and institution that they portray as a tool of white supremacy.

And proponents, like Inslee, do not hide that this is a racist response based on a historically racist practice.

“We’re going to use the same system that enabled prejudice and bias in home ownership to do some good and help people obtain houses,” Inslee said at a bill signing event.

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The new equity movement

Motivated by revenge for a racist past, Washington Democrats — and their activist allies nationwide — are redefining equity again. 

Equity used to mean having equal access. That regardless of race, we should have equal access to the same resources and services, such as a home loan. But that system doesn’t punish white people the way black people were punished when racism was inherent in our society. Washington Democrats, with reparations and other initiatives, have redefined equity to mean equal outcomes. And if black people had to suffer racism, so too should white people. 

While forwarding their radical and hateful views, they’re creating the very division that tears communities apart. They’re creating resentment, which keeps groups at odds. And who could blame a low-income white couple for feeling resentment? They’re being kept from a home loan program that they could benefit from because of their skin color. It would be one thing if that white couple were responsible for racist policies making home ownership unobtainable, but their only sin is being white in a state run by radical Democrats.

The societal dream was to treat everyone equally, regardless of race. Like most Americans — except the racist ones — I liked that idea. But then radical Democrats took power. Now the dream is to punish white people who did nothing wrong and assume all black people are victims. Then, the Democrats responsible gloat about it. 

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