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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.
I agree and talk of them at this point just gives fire power to racist. We have allot more to things to worry about.
One of my ancestors was such an "indentured servant." She bore her "master" some seven children. As I understand it she never left his "employ." This despite his being married during this time.
This sounds quite a lot like the slave of Thomas Jefferson's that progressives like to talk about. Many of the indentures did that same kind of thing and many of them were paid money for working so they could buy themselves freedom before their period of indenture was up.
Of course, indentures could escape and blend in with the rest of the population much easier than black slaves could, also, if they could get far enough from home to not be known.
Too many people really don't know about the indentured slaves, at all.
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.
Surely allowing various tribes to run casinos is a good form of repayment. Most of them are guaranteed no competition by the states they are in so that should help quite a bit.
Have you ever heard about the rich oil strikes on Cherokee reservation land in Oklahoma? One of those men, a very large football player at Oklahoma State U said that he was afraid to even drive a stick in the ground for fear of hitting another pool of oil. Well, of course, that was meant as a joke but he had some dollars.
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.
We are paying them back.
Just look at the number of scholarships that people can get if they have even a quarter Native ancestry.
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.
Back in the days Jews were slaves too so you are saying they deserve double?
Entitlement programs - foodstamps, student loans and pell grants, welfare, medicaid, etc.... all can essentially and arguably be considered "reparations" for people of any color or ethnicity whose circumstances are such that they cannot "make it" in society, or whose ancestors may have been wronged in the past to leave them in an less advantageous position today.
BUT, it sort of is impossible to ascertain where your status in life would have been if not for the fact that X happened to your ancestor by so-and-so. In the case of black slaves, it's not as if the population moved here voluntarily and then were summarily enslaved, property confiscated and assets ceded to the government.
Just because your great grandfather was rich does not mean your grandfather wouldn't have blown the fortune on booze and women, leaving future generations in dirt poverty. Similarly, it is impossible to make a case that "but for slavery (or anything else), my family would be middle class now." This is especially true since the vast majority of blacks in America wouldn't have been here to have opportunity to accumulate wealth to begin with.
Instead, and most constructively, we should favor the continuance of "advancement" opportunities and programs for ALL poor and disadvantaged people in America. Indeed, plenty of programs already exist to help out TRULY disadvantaged people.
If someone wants to structure outreach programs to black neighborhoods to let them KNOW about their options for advancement and education in society as "reparations," then fine, but the issue of cash payment reparations, or free healthcare for blacks only, etc..... pretty much a "non-starter" legally.
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.
Period.
See what I mean. This guy is why we have to do better. Angry just at the thought of me get something for the many years of suffering of slavery. He will never be convinced. You can only put yourself in a position to make his opinion mean nothing. There are still families that have slave wealth. They shouldn't benefit from that without sharing it with the people that made it possible. Anyway I never think about reparations but don't try and just blow slavery and the wealth it generated for some off as if it has no bearing on today.
Why should YOU get reparations? What did people in current society ever do to you? What have you done to deserve any reparations?
Forget it. I dont care. We have bigger problems. Let them keep the slave wealth hopefully all slave owners came back as crack addicted babies in the ghetto. That would be justice.
See what I mean. This guy is why we have to do better. Angry just at the thought of me get something for the many years of suffering of slavery. He will never be convinced. You can only put yourself in a position to make his opinion mean nothing. There are still families that have slave wealth. They shouldn't benefit from that without sharing it with the people that made it possible. Anyway I never think about reparations but don't try and just blow slavery and the wealth it generated for some off as if it has no bearing on today.
Under what legal framework would "slave wealth" be redistributed?
There was no law against having slaves at the time. Do we retroactively go after everyone who (through our modern lens) benefited from what is now perceived as a wrong?
Just as countless others in the early 1900s made immense fortunes paying 8 year old kids and young girls slave WAGES for 18 hours a day..... it wasn't illegal to do so at the time. Are you saying that the US has the right to identify those people who have "exploited labor wealth" and redistribute it to those who are the ancestors of those exploited women and children?
Similarly, will the descendants of illegal immigrants being exploited in the fields today have a case for "reparations" against all Americans in 150 years from now when attitudes change? We all are complicit in the exploitation of illegals in construction, maintenance and agriculture. We all wear shoes sewn together in foreign lands by 10 year old girls in sweat factories. How much are you willing to pay to them for your part in redressing your ill-gotten gains and increased material wealth?
Under what legal framework would "slave wealth" be redistributed?
There was no law against having slaves at the time. Do we retroactively go after everyone who (through our modern lens) benefited from what is now perceived as a wrong?
Just as countless others in the early 1900s made immense fortunes paying 8 year old kids and young girls slave WAGES for 18 hours a day..... it wasn't illegal to do so at the time. Are you saying that the US has the right to identify those people who have "exploited labor wealth" and redistribute it to those who are the ancestors of those exploited women and children?
Similarly, will the descendants of illegal immigrants being exploited in the fields today have a case for "reparations" against all Americans in 150 years from now when attitudes change? We all are complicit in the exploitation of illegals in construction, maintenance and agriculture. We all wear shoes sewn together in foreign lands by 10 year old girls in sweat factories. How much are you willing to pay to them for your part in redressing your ill-gotten gains and increased material wealth?
Im through with this thread.
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