The Latest Humbug from Carson City

The Nevada Legislature, in its infinite wisdom and boundless energy for busywork, has taken up the noble cause of solving problems that expired when the state itself was much more than a dusty waypoint for weary prospectors.

Assemblyman Reuben D’Silva, a gentleman untroubled by the practical affairs of governance, has taken it upon himself to draft a bill establishing a commission to study the impacts of slavery and racial discrimination in Nevada and consider the notion of reparations. Now, one might forgive the casual observer for wondering what precisely slavery had to do with a state that waltzed into the Union under the banner of Free Soil.

But Professor Tyler Parry of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, assures us that slavery, much like a stubborn rattlesnake, left its venom in every corner of the land, free state or otherwise.

“I think when people see the word slavery they wonder what that has to do with Nevada,” he muses, before not explaining its legacy in the Silver State.

D’Silva, for his part, seems undeterred by political tides, declaring with great confidence that now—precisely the moment when public sentiment runs in the opposite direction—is the perfect time to introduce this measure. One can only admire the man’s commitment to charging headlong into the teeth of political improbability.

The idea follows California’s grand experiment in reparations, which has thus far produced reams of reports, a great deal of chatter, and precious little else. If the proposed Nevada commission follows suit, the outcome is likely to be the same: a great deal of study, a respectable quantity of paper, and no small amount of moral preening—followed, at length, by the realization that the treasury is not so much a bottomless pit as a very finite one.

D’Silva anticipates the bill will be drafted in the coming weeks, at which point the people of Nevada may rest easy knowing that, while the roads remain pockmarked and the schools underfunded, their elected officials are, at the very least, diligently engaged in the serious work of historical contemplation.