Nothing highlights the pathetic state of the American left more clearly than the current movement for slavery reparations – and nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of that reparations movement like the mass march on Washington called for Saturday, Aug. 17.

This ambitious protest bears the title "Millions for Reparations" – a deliberate reference both to the number of participants it hopes to attract, and the number of dollars it means to extort from the federal government.

The sponsoring organization uses an appropriately poisonous acronym – "N'COBRA," which stands for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. In the press release announcing the August "March, Protest and Demonstration," N'COBRA addresses an urgent invitation to "all African people in America." It also proudly proclaims that "a National Steering Committee has been established from representatives from more than 30 key cities in America with large concentrations of African people."

The idea behind the march is allegedly "picking up steam in the African community throughout America. Thousands of African people in America are beginning to get prepared to participate." According to Baba Hannibal Afrik, former co-chair of N'COBRA, the march is crucial because "everywhere Africans in America live, there are constant reminders that institutional racism is a thriving, growth industry."

Of course, the language from this wing of the reparations movement can only nourish and sustain such racism, with its deliberate insistence that people of color in this country must be described as "Africans" rather than "Americans" – or even "African-Americans." The reference to people whose ancestors came to this continent more than some 300 years ago as "African people in America" is, quite frankly, racist – insisting that skin color represents a more important identity than citizenship. Of course, black nationalists might argue that slavery and discrimination have denied African-Americans the full benefits of that citizenship for most of the long centuries of their residence here.

Yet, it is still ironic that at precisely the moment when the overwhelming majority of whites unhesitatingly accept their black neighbors as their fellow Americans, some leaders of the African-American community choose to spurn the title. They elect to discard the American identity that past generations so painfully earned through hard work and heroic battlefield service in all of the nation's wars since the Revolution.

The "Millions for Reparations" march will almost certainly fall far short of its goals in attracting a mass crowd – as did previous left-wing rallies such as Louis Farrakhan's "Million Man March" or Rosie O'Donnell's anti-gun "Million Mom March." Nonetheless, the organizers will grotesquely exaggerate the number of participants and the establishment press will dutifully report these distortions.

They may not acknowledge, however, that the date of the march was selected "because it marks the 115th anniversary of the birth of one of our great ancestors and leaders, the Honorable Marcus Garvey." This celebrated Jamaican crackpot and visionary helped to launch modern black nationalism, and even proclaimed himself "Provisional President of the United States of Africa" – though he never bothered to visit Africa even once before his death in 1940. Garvey's career finally collapsed in a series of criminal fraud charges, and his much-publicized "Back to Africa" movement proved to be a tragic detour and dead end for many African-Americans.

The reparations movement will, of course, suffer the same fate – mobilizing hopes and energy in a pointless exercise that serves the interests only of its shameless exploiters. The official slogan of the "Millions for Reparations" march – "THEY OWE US!" – serves to ensure that most Americans will react angrily and impatiently to the demands of the protestors. Why, for one thing, should "THEY" acknowledge any debt at all to a group describing itself as "Africans living in America" – thereby denying a shared national identity with the rest of the country?

The lunacy behind this self-image serves to obscure the fundamental truth about African-Americans: They are vastly more American than African. They share far more in common (in terms of culture, language, history, economic status, religious identity and destiny) with their white and Latino and Asian-American neighbors than with any current residents of the African continent.

All citizens of this country – whether their ancestors arrived from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa … or Mars – should feel grateful to the nation that provides them with unprecedented freedom and opportunity. Such gratitude is not only appropriate but, ultimately, empowering.

By contrast, the whining refrain "They owe us!" sustains the sense of sour entitlement that keeps too much of the black community paralyzed in a state of resentment and helplessness. To echo sentiments that John Kennedy made famous more than 40 years ago, we help ourselves by focusing not on what America owes to us, but by concentrating on what each of us owes to America. Whatever our personal or collective disappointments, that debt cannot easily be repaid.