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Yes, blacks should find their ancestors or other agents of slavery in Africa who captured them and sold them into servitude.
Jim Crow moved on some time ago, just ask Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice or Damon Wayans.. Nobody living in the U.S. owes reparations to anybody for anything. There are no living victims of the slave era. And probably none of their children.
Im of the firm belief that we still owe the Native Americans for destroying their way of life and stealing their land through broken treaties. What we did to the Native Americans is the biggest stain on America and it's still there today.
A lot say that Jews deserve reparations, but why don't blacks deserve them? I mean blacks were slaves under a brutal slavery system for 400 years. Look at how Jim Crow prevented blacks in the south from uplifting themselves to move up the social ladder. The psychological damage that was caused by oppression generations years ago still affect blacks today.
I'm black and this is simple. We have not done the things we need to do to secure enough power to demand reparations. The Jewish community has done those things. Ive said it many times,you cant ask a bully to stop beating you up. You must become as Strong or stronger than the bully then he will stop. Our graduation rate from high school let alone college is so **** poor compared to the Jewish community that it is an embarrassment to think we are in the same position of power to demand the same reparations that they can. Black men especially need to man up in a big way. Way to many(and this is personal knowledge)chasing women and flashy rides instead of establishing secure home environments for their kids to spring strongly from into the world. When we fix that problem,all other problems will either disappear or improve significantly.
Originally Posted by tofurkey Yes, blacks should find their ancestors or other agents of slavery in Africa who captured them and sold them into servitude.
Jim Crow moved on some time ago, just ask Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice or Damon Wayans.. Nobody living in the U.S. owes reparations to anybody for anything. There are no living victims of the slave era. And probably none of their children.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatDJohns
Im of the firm belief that we still owe the Native Americans for destroying their way of life and stealing their land through broken treaties. What we did to the Native Americans is the biggest stain on America and it's still there today.
Yes, U.S. actions against the native Americans - tribal Indians - is a stain on the history of the U.S. But there are no reparations that will remove that stain. Germany will never live down Hitler; Arabs will never live down Saladin; the U.S. will never live down its treatment of native Americans. But none of those abusers is alive today, only a small number of Germany's victims.
Honor the American Indians for their historical courage and cultural depth, admit the faults of U.S. history. There are benefits in place that recognize the errors of the past. Allow the America Indian the opportunity to take advantage of those benefits. Move on.
I always find it interesting when a non-Black person can start a thread about "what Black people should do" then the usual chorus of Black-bashers will chime in to denigrate Black people for the suggestion made by the original non-Black poster.
Reparations are simply not on the radar of most Black Americans.
Wrong. The current poverty and living conditions of both Blacks and Indians are the direct result of federal government policy. The greatest economic gains made by blacks occurred between the end of WWII and the mid-60's. And then Johnson's War on Poverty trapped generations in a cycle of poverty and dependency.
As for American Indians, they have similarly been made wards of the federal government and we see the result of that. Federal "charity" destroys people. What makes you think throwing more money at them in the form of "reparations" would make a significant difference in their lives?
I knew a boy of French-Indian lineage in 1985 who chose his own college to attend to play football without any help from the college although he had several offers of scholarships. The reason he hand picked his school was that the Federal Government would pay his entire cost of a college education because he exceeded the 1/8 Indian blood that was needed to get the funds. That sounded like a form of reparations to me.
I'm black and this is simple. We have not done the things we need to do to secure enough power to demand reparations. The Jewish community has done those things. Ive said it many times,you cant ask a bully to stop beating you up. You must become as Strong or stronger than the bully then he will stop. Our graduation rate from high school let alone college is so **** poor compared to the Jewish community that it is an embarrassment to think we are in the same position of power to demand the same reparations that they can. Black men especially need to man up in a big way. Way to many(and this is personal knowledge)chasing women and flashy rides instead of establishing secure home environments for their kids to spring strongly from into the world. When we fix that problem,all other problems will either disappear or improve significantly.
What would the financial reparations be for?
Who would get them?
Who would pay for them?
So having a black president isn't enough to secure reparations? Tell him. Know what he'd say? Tough cookies. It's 2011. You don't deserve reparations because you weren't enslaved.
[quote=residinghere2007;19133487]Personally I don't believe that reparations should be paid in the form of a check, but I do feel like another poster suggested, that school funding should be equalized across the board as a source of "reparations." I also feel that anyone who can prove they are at least 1/4 black should be able to get a free college education at any state school in order to account for the discrimination that was faced by black people not only 400 or 200 but 40 and 50 years ago. My own parents and grandparents did endure this discrimination that was written into laws and endorsed by federal, state, and local governments.
Like another poster stated, Jews do and did receive payments from Germany. The Japanese did and do receive payments from the US federal government for their imprisonment, which only lasted a fragment of the time that black people were denied equal access under the laws of this country. Some Native Americans (especially native Hawaiians if you can prove your descent) receive payments from the US government as well.
But like I said above, I am not for actual payments but for education and really I would like to see healthcare added into the picture as well, especially for the mental health aspect that some posters have spoken of. Quite a few of black Americans are in need of therapy to get rid of the slave/inferiority complex that they have, it does still exist.
But did want to address these:
Your ancestors would never have come here if not for the opportunities that this country offered because of the free labor of slaves. They and you directly benefitted from that labor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Backspace
The US government didn't own slaves, private individuals did. quote]
The US founding fathers wrote slavery in the constitution, relegated black people to 3/5ths of a person so that white people could get more representation even though they did not consider slaves as people. The government turned a blind eye to Jim Crow laws in the south and systematic discrimination in the North and West for years. The government benefitted from slavery as did the country as a whole.
On this wanted to add, I am black and I do live in our society as an equal. Though I do feel education should be equalized across the board, I do not feel that black people are not equal in society with white, hispanic, asian or anyone else. I do feel worldwide that the titles of "black" and "African" are seen in a negative light, which is why so many black people deny their African-ness across the diaspora. But in this country we have great opportunities to succeed and we have succeeded to a great degree. I am middle class, I work a good job, so does my husband, my kids go to great schools. I have it better than a lot of my old white friends who grew up poorer or just as poor as I did.
Being black does not mean you are not equal in society unless you feel that it does. And being the descendents of slaves does not mean that you feel you are worthless. Contrary to that belief, I and many black people I know feel that shows we are the offsprings of some of the strongest people this country has produced. The fact that we are here and thriving (as the majority of black people DO NOT live in poverty as some would like to believe) is evidence of that.
I think that you may have been misled about the 3/5 Compromise in the writing of the Constitution. Actually what happened was that those from the free states didn't want to count slaves for representation in the House of Representatives and the slave states obviously wanted to count all of them although they didn't consider them people. The number gave them less representatives than counting all of the slaves would have but it was more than they would have had if none of the slaves were counted.
That calling them only 3/5 of a person isn't the real truth. They just counted 3/5 of the slaves and not all of them. I get my information from James Madison's notes that he wrote every evening during the convention.
I'm black and this is simple. We have not done the things we need to do to secure enough power to demand reparations. The Jewish community has done those things. Ive said it many times,you cant ask a bully to stop beating you up. You must become as Strong or stronger than the bully then he will stop. Our graduation rate from high school let alone college is so **** poor compared to the Jewish community that it is an embarrassment to think we are in the same position of power to demand the same reparations that they can. Black men especially need to man up in a big way. Way to many(and this is personal knowledge)chasing women and flashy rides instead of establishing secure home environments for their kids to spring strongly from into the world. When we fix that problem,all other problems will either disappear or improve significantly.
Why should YOU get reparations? What did people in current society ever do to you? What have you done to deserve any reparations?
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