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As far as slavery reparations go, no. However, I'd love to see reparations for the families of people who've been unjustly executed or assaulted by the police without punishment, and preferably via the bank accounts of said police officers.
But my ancestors are not asking/pushing for reparations either..
Nor were their descendants handed everything on a silver platter, laws and regulations were not adjusted because they could not pass exams...
All the generations after my ancestors worked hard to establish themselves and didn't fall back on or use the excuse of their ethnicity and didn't breed themselves into poverty..
My ancestors didn't wear their ethnicity as a chip on their shoulder.....
They took pride in their "hood" and didn't take pride in how they could rip off government handouts...
They were embarrassed to ask for outside of the family assistance or welfare..
They didn't use their ethnicity as an excuse when things didn't go their way..
I am thrilled that my ancestors left Russia, Poland, Germany, Ireland, etc. and came to America.
My great-great-grandparents entered a late 19th and early 20th century America that was not entirely anxious to see them.
My great grandparents became shop owners and truck drivers. Women did not work back then, for the most part.
My grandparents were truck drivers and secretaries.
My father was a business owner. My mother a stay at home mom.
My ancestors were not big believers in education, we are the first generation of high school graduates and our children are the 1st generation to have college degrees.
We tend to keep moving upward.
The black community, not so much.
I'm certainly glad that there was no "social safety net" when my ancestors arrived.
Struggle makes people better.
Nice story....and i'd tell you that your story is special, except 300 million other Americans have the EXACT same story.
But since you want to feel special, i won't rain on your parade.
Moving upward? Yea. You're a working stiff just like everyone else on this board. No different from your ancestors.
Besides, my great grandfather fought in WW1, and my grandfather fought in WW2. My dad went to college, unlike yours...so did my mom. I went to college, and so did my son. So sorry, i don't find your story to be so admirable.
And yea....there was a social safety net back in the old days. It was called "being white." Not the best safety net of course, but it was sure better than the net my grandparents and greatgrandparents had.
I believe that Congress needs to address the issue before the courts do. Even if it is only a one-shot tax credit of $1000, it can be put to rest. Toughest part: determining who is actually descended from slaves.
Here we are 150 years after the days of slavery. Black Americans are still living substandard lives. Dennis Kucinich supported reparations for black Americans.
For those who don't know what reparations are, here is the Webster Dictionary definition:
reparations
1. The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.
So, Kucinich believes that federal tax dollars should be distributed to black Americans, to relieve them of the disadvantaged position that they continue to live in today, compared to the averae American.
Do you support reparations?
As long as they are willing to pay for the lives of my relatives lost in securing their freedom. I would say that in the balance, they owe me more than I owe them. Without my ancestors, and the rest of the Union Army, they would still be slaves. I would offer that those same ancestors, with the knowledge that the relatives of former slaves would be seeking "reparations" from the US, would fight equally as hard to put them back into slavery. The mere suggestion of reparations is an abomination and an insult to every soldier who died for a noble cause. "Reparations" is a perversion of that cause and is simply an effort to secure a massive "benefit" which is undeserved and not earned.
Pay up.
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