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Do you believe that America should pay reparations to African Americans?

Should we pay reparations to the African American community?

  • We should pay reparations to the African American communtiy

    Votes: 15 10.6%

  • We should not pay reparations to the African American community

    Votes: 126 89.4%
  • Total voters
    141
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mpg said:
only if they're descended from American slaves

No one should get money just because of the color of their skin.
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But people have to pay because of the color their skin?
 
TurtleDude said:
well that is all countered by all the crime perpetrated by blacks and the cost to us taxpayers

its a silly idea and does nothing valuable for society as a whole.
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Whites commit more crime than blacks do...but blacks get harsher sentences for committing the same crime. I think the prisons are proof enough of that. It probably costs helluva a lot more to warehouse young men in the prime of their productive years than it is to give them an education so they can get a job and provide for themselves and their families.
 
MildSteel said:
I would say that you have benefited from the slave labor that built this country.
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So has every black person living in the country today.
 
MildSteel said:
There is no group in the United States that was enslaved on a scale anywhere near Africans. Not only that, but after slavery right up to very recent US history, blacks suffered from institutionalized, structural, systemic, government racism that was designed to "keep n*gg*rs" in their place, to make them feel inferior, to psychologically cripple them so that they would not be a threat. That is the difference.
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Where did that happen exactly?

Was that in every city and state in the union or was that in a small area of the country comparatively?
 
Moot said:
Whites commit more crime than blacks do...but blacks get harsher sentences for committing the same crime. I think the prisons are proof enough of that. It probably costs helluva a lot more to warehouse young men in the prime of their productive years than it is to give them an education so they can get a job and provide for themselves and their families.
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black males commit more murders than the rest of the nation combined. the war on drugs-which is based on the FDR expansion of the commerce clause is the main reason for so many black males being in prison and then essentially unemployable. I am fully in support of giving up the idiotic war on drugs
 
Mason66 said:
So has every black person living in the country today.
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the guy you are replying to has been banned about two weeks ago and will not reply (at least not as MildSteel)
 
Mason66 said:
So has every black person living in the country today.
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Really, how have they benefitted from slavery when the conditions they faced as slaves didn't change until 60 years ago with the Civil Rights Act?
 
MildSteel said:
I'm talking about systemic government racism that existed in the US that was designed to psychologically cripple blacks. I saw it in my grandfather. He was afraid of white people. That is the truth. He did not like Martin Luther King at all, thought he was very dangerous and was a trouble maker. You should have heard some of the stories he told me. Stories about blacks being tortured and killed right on the main street of town in broad daylight.
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The you go after the state governments that did that.

The federal government never did that so why would federal taxpayers have to pay anything?
 
MildSteel said:
My grandfather told me that his grandfather had his land taken by a white man after he labored years cultivating it and turning it into something beautiful. He said his grandfather went to the police and they told him there was nothing they could do because it was a white man who took the land. He said it totally destroyed his grandfather. That's what he told me. My grandfather was very afraid of white people.
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We you sure have convinced me now.

What was the outcome of the court case he filed?
 
Moot said:
Really, how have they benefitted from slavery when the conditions they faced as slaves didn't change until 60 years ago with the Civil Rights Act?
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He said the benefit was in the forming of the country and the building of it.

Surely you can't think that blacks have not benefited from being in this country.
 
TurtleDude said:
the guy you are replying to has been banned about two weeks ago and will not reply (at least not as MildSteel)
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Sorry, I did not see that. Thanks
 
TurtleDude said:
black males commit more murders than the rest of the nation combined. the war on drugs-which is based on the FDR expansion of the commerce clause is the main reason for so many black males being in prison and then essentially unemployable. I am fully in support of giving up the idiotic war on drugs
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According to FBI stats..in 2013:

Whites committed 3,005 total murders
Blacks committed 2,491 total murders

read...https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/u...f_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls

FDR's New Deal policies largely excluded blacks so they didn't have the same opportunities as whites..IE the GI bill, affordable housing, access to quality education, healthcare, home and business loans, job opportunities, etc. In short, while the white middle class were building their wealth with government help.. blacks were largely excluded and left behind.


“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” - MLKjr.
 
Mason66 said:
He said the benefit was in the forming of the country and the building of it.

Surely you can't think that blacks have not benefited from being in this country.
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If aliens from outer space kidnapped and enslaved 12 million white Americans do you think they'd be better off today? The enslavement of 12 million blacks out of Africa changed the entire demographics of the world...so it would be difficult to say if they're better off.

Do you think the US would be better off today if it never had slavery?
 
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Solidarity with African People by Wendy Craig - GoFundMe

I believe that every US citizen that believes in reparations should RUN not walk to the reaparations Go Fund Me account and make donations. Sell your house...you didnt build that. Sell your car...you dont need that. Sell your TV and stereo...you dont deserve that. Seel off everything to level the playing field for the slaves that built this country 200 years ago.

Dont delay...go there NOW. Put some of your own muscle behind that hustle and not just more of the same tired weak ass "the GOVERNMENT should pay". No...**** that. YOU should pay. Take your silly 'white privilege' and your pathetic 'white guilt' and sell off everything. Do it now.
 
No. I've committed no immoral acts against black people, so I don't feel I owe them any money.
 
Moot said:
According to FBI stats..in 2013:

Whites committed 3,005 total murders
Blacks committed 2,491 total murders

read...https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/u...f_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls
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D'oh!
iLOL
Ha, ha, ha!

No Moot. Those are the number of victims.

And even if those numbers were accurate reflections of the racial numbers in regards to who is actually murdering (which they are not), you are ignoring the differences in respective populations between the races which show that blacks disproportionately commit more murder, as well as crime in-general, than the other races.
 
Shadowless said:
If they did, we should.
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and
Shadowless said:
No, but if Germany paid reparations shouldn't we?
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These are lame arguments and is comparing apples to tire irons.

The US was engaged in legal commerce, Germany was not.


Shadowless said:
But not paying it at the time was downright evil, so I'd rather be able to say our government officially paid reparations to ancestors of slaves.
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Another lame argument.
What was wrong was the Government not paying the owners reparations for depriving them of their property.

Slavery was legal.
Giving slaves freedom was reparations.
 
Moot said:
The fact is, you're just repeating a failed "lost cause" justification for slavery.....
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No Moot. It isn't a failed argument at all.

And a blog post spinning reality is irrelevant.


Moot said:
It uses what I call the Arab Trader argument: it excuses an evil of one’s own past by finding the same sort of evil done by others. Whites sold slaves, but Africans and Arab traders did too! Which, morally speaking, is at the same level as an eight-year-old saying, “He did it too!” when caught doing something bad. We do not accept this argument from eight-year-olds, nor from bank robbers or wife beaters. “Africans did it too!” is no better..."
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That argument fails miserably and is not the comparison being made.
You and folks like you are trying to blame the US for engaging in legal commerce by saying you (the country) allowed enslavement of black folks while not placing blame on the first mover who is far more responsible than those who engaged in the legal commerce which came after their enslavement. If reparation are to be sought, that is who they should be sought from, not those who freed them.


Moot said:
but blacks get harsher sentences for committing the same crime.
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No Moot. The same criminal violation does not mean the same crime. Each crime is different and the length of the sentence is based on a presentence investigation which includes the surrounding circumstances of the crime and previous criminal history.
It is those surroundings circumstances and criminal history which affect sentence length and why blacks have lengthier sentences.
Those are the reasons, so don't pretend it is simply because they are black.


Moot said:
I think the prisons are proof enough of that.
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iLOL
Prison are proof of who were convicted of committing crime.


Moot said:
It probably costs helluva a lot more to warehouse young men in the prime of their productive years than it is to give them an education so they can get a job and provide for themselves and their families.
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Yeah, because education worked so well during their primary and secondary education years. D'oh!
The only thing that can change that is their community establishing education as a desired goal.
 
Excon said:
D'oh!
iLOL
Ha, ha, ha!

No Moot. Those are the number of victims.

And even if those numbers were accurate reflections of the racial numbers in regards to who is actually murdering (which they are not), you are ignoring the differences in respective populations between the races which show that blacks disproportionately commit more murder, as well as crime in-general, than the other races.
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Go back and read TD's post ...and then get back with me.
 
We have been paying for years and will continue to "pay" until we learn to tolerate and respect others .. This may take many more decades , even millennia ! Depending on how long it takes for conservatives to develop and grow .
 
A couple things. The whole "I didn't keep slaves so why should I have to pay?" seems inconsistent. Every time the government pays a financial penalty for doing something wrong people who didn't do the wrong are paying. If a cop comes into your house by mistake and shoots you in the leg who do you think pays the court settlement? Your neighbor's tax dollars will go to you for their screw up even though your neighbor didn't do anything wrong. Be consistent.

That said, I am not in favor of paying out money for reparations. Yes, slavery was evil and yes, blacks still suffer the consequences of it. The government should focus on eliminating institutional racism and use its resources to make the country a better place for all. In the long run I think that will best serve the black community, and Native Americans, and every other historically oppressed group.
 
BrewerBob said:
A couple things. The whole "I didn't keep slaves so why should I have to pay?" seems inconsistent. Every time the government pays a financial penalty for doing something wrong people who didn't do the wrong are paying. If a cop comes into your house by mistake and shoots you in the leg who do you think pays the court settlement? Your neighbor's tax dollars will go to you for their screw up even though your neighbor didn't do anything wrong. Be consistent.

That said, I am not in favor of paying out money for reparations. Yes, slavery was evil and yes, blacks still suffer the consequences of it. The government should focus on eliminating institutional racism and use its resources to make the country a better place for all. In the long run I think that will best serve the black community, and Native Americans, and every other historically oppressed group.
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How do they suffer from slavery ?

How does something that happened generations in the past affect the choices they make today ?
 
This question and subject is unavailing, anyway.

As I see it, Americans have already paid billions to African-American communities, through the asymmetric welfare state. The reparations have already been doled out and will continue to be doled out indefinitely by the looks of it.

Reparations aren't only Versailles-esque briefcases with gold and silver coins.
 
Fenton said:
How do they suffer from slavery ?

How does something that happened generations in the past affect the choices they make today ?
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It affects society. Do you truly not believe that things of great magnitude, like slavery, holocausts, world wars, genocides, depressions, pandemics, and such affect societies for generations thereafter? Or do you believe once something like that is over all of its ramifications are wiped out instantly?
 
Moot said:
Whites commit more crime than blacks do...but blacks get harsher sentences for committing the same crime. I think the prisons are proof enough of that. It probably costs helluva a lot more to warehouse young men in the prime of their productive years than it is to give them an education so they can get a job and provide for themselves and their families.
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Raw numbers of crimes overall, or as a percentage of their respective racial/ethnic communities?
 
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