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I'm sure at least one of those black slaves was gay. So whenever that was.
I say he's entitled just as much. Maybe more.
Think the problem many African Americans/Blacks have with gays attaching themselves to their struggles is that they simply do not see sexual preference/choice as equal to race. A person is born "black" and that is that, there isn't anything that can be done thus they must get busy living or get busy dying.
Homosexuals long ago succeeded in North American and much of Western Europe in having themselves first removed from being considered mentally ill then gradually moving being gay to a choice or preference. Opting to do something versus being created that way by God or whom/whatever is to many blacks a whole different kettle of fish.
Then there is the often natural social conservatism in the American black communities. Far as many there are concerned homosexuality no matter how it is dressed up and presented is a sin and unnatural. Thus linking race (theirs) to something like that is just out and out wrong.
Being as all this may it is rather telling that the only thus far "out" gay major league athletes are African-Americans. Everyone knows there are those of that preference who are white/European but despite all the fanfare last summer about the NFL all we got was that draft pick last week. His husband is white so suppose that is something but don't think it is the same thing.
It is equally telling that despite historical cultural bias IIRC a study done last year post Windsor-DOMA found more AA gays are "out" both in their social and professional lives.
I agree. He writes, in exacting detail, about the factors that have continued to adversely affect African Americans in this day. If you actually read the article from beginning to end, you would understand so much more about why black America is in the state it is in.
The article states that West Germany paid $7 billion in today's money to Israel to make up for the Holocaust.
I support the idea of reparations. There is much institutional racism/wealth that whites enjoy. It would be amazing to see how many greedy whites would come out claiming to be 1/16 black in the way that the white "American Indians" claim to have Indian heritage.
So many rabid neocons and even some white nationalists would probably be lining up to get their cut. But they'd only get 1/16th the amount that real black people would receive.
A large portion of the article focused on discriminatory housing practices during the 1930s through the 1960s - in other words, the century after slavery that we tend to forget was also pretty brutal.
I must admit that I had brushed a lot of this stuff off... but the information about "contract buying" in Chicago - essentially predatory rent to own, coupled with out and out refusal of traditional banks to lend to blacks - was eye opening. These folks were in conditions under which average people of any background would fail.
The older I get, the more that I begin to see that judging the 80% by standards that only the top 10% can achieve- AKA those who were sharp as a tack AND proverbially bootstrapped AND didn't run into the worst variants of bigotry - is just never going to work.
I'm from Chicago, and now you can see how and why the city's Black neighborhoods are in such dire straits - and how and why Black folks have had to be resourceful and tough to even survive.
I would say being born in America and citizenship
here makes up for a lot. Their ancestors had to endure many hardships and their
lives are better because of it. Sounds like a very common American story.
What does being born in this country and being a citizen compensate for? The overwhelming majority of African Americans who were here before 1965 had no rights to speak of and were not able to enjoy the benefits of citizenship in this country.
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How about reparations for the Irish immigrants who got off the boat, were given
a rifle and a Union uniform and sent out to die in the Civil War battlefields?
How about their reparations?
The Irish came here voluntarily and were instantly elevated into the upper class - white - no matter their circumstance.
They whole problem is continuing to use the term "reparations." We should be studying how to fix the problem, and changing the environments of little kids.
I would be wholeheartedly in favor of spending money that could be proven to change the way things are. At this point, arguing over how much blame falls to which group is totally counterproductive. What can actually fix it?
Writing checks to people who have proven they cannot manage money or resources would do nothing. You aren't going to reprogram a 40 year old whose beliefs prevent them from truly integrating. Better to remove all obstacles in front of those young who show even a hint of academic or artistic promise - no paperwork labyrinths, pull them out of the urban wastelands, teach manual skills also. I'll cheerfully pay if social scientists can demonstrate ANY path that would actually make a difference.
So many rabid neocons and even some white nationalists would probably be lining up to get their cut. But they'd only get 1/16th the amount that real black people would receive.
Show me a live slave from back then and I will pay him reparations.
Otherwise this is a guilt trip scheme to get "free" money for something that never happened to the average person. You want to expand this to racism? That's what this paper is about. They want money because of racism.
No black person thinks that they will ever really get reparations.
Most black people are not asking for reparations.
Do you know how stupid you sound when You call welfare reparations. You do know welfare is available to anybody that is poor and fits the criteria, regardless of race. Welfare is not race based. Jesus.
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