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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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Glen Contrarian said:
So how does this apply to the debate on reparations? What we have done to African Americans was and continues to be a shame. If we pay reparations, those problems won't go away - in fact, it's possible they might worsen from the backlash from those who oppose reparations for whatever reason. But the problem is still there, and needs fixing...even with such a bubble-gum-and-bailing-wire solution as reparations. We can't allow the possibility that things won't improve or might even worsen stop us from doing what we can to make things better.
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What have "we" done to African/Black Americans today that would be receiving these reparations?
 
Glen Contrarian said:
We might not be responsible as individuals, but we ARE responsible as a nation. Try reading the article I referenced in the OP.
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Cool. MY people had their property seized. I want reparations too.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
We might not be responsible as individuals, but we ARE responsible as a nation. Try reading the article I referenced in the OP.
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Perhaps an argument could be made Mississippi or some Southern States owe reparations or that country club owe them but why in the hell should my tax dollars go to anything like that? The idea is ridiculous. My family had nothing to do with slavery or gaining anything from black labor.
 
Bodhisattva said:
What have "we" done to African/Black Americans today that would be receiving these reparations?
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You do realize that there are African American people who were live before 1964? Yes? Tell us how great black people had it then. Hell, Reagan began paying reparations to the Japanese in 1988 and their swing through the oppressive playground lasted what? 4 years? Lol, in white America, only a select few get reparations. Native Americans got their casinos and reserves, the Japanese got money, black people got... what? Welfare checks and accusations of affirmative action?
 
The only good thing about reparations threads is they clearly identify all the politically and culturally irrational people on the forum.



In one foul swoop you get to find out who has the political and emotional fortitude of a nine year old.


That can't be a bad thing no matter how you cut it. :2razz:
 
Bodhisattva said:
Perhaps an argument could be made Mississippi or some Southern States owe reparations or that country club owe them but why in the hell should my tax dollars go to anything like that? The idea is ridiculous. My family had nothing to do with slavery or gaining anything from black labor.
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Part of my family owned slaves. We worked hard, improved ourselves across the generations, and then had everything taken from us - tossed into poverty. If black people want reparations from me, I want the cost of transportation, feeding and clothing, and then loss of property reparated to me from the north.

While we're at it, I think we should also give reparations to American Indians, good for roughly 100% of the value of the non-reservation land in the United States. But then they should turn and give it to the tribes they took it from, and if no descendents can be found, they should dig up the graves and bury it. Also we should probably give reparations to the British Empire for the value of the 13 colones. France owes Reparations to Germany for Alsace-Lorraine, who owes Reparations to France for Alsace-Lorraine. About 1/3 of the world owes reparations to the British Empire, who owes it to the now-defunct empires it took them from, who owe reparations to the Mongols.



All ridiculing of a foolish idea aside, there is probably one group of people who legitimately do deserve them - Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII. I would say of all the groups clamoring, they are the one that actually deserve it.
 
Hatuey said:
You do realize that there are African American people who were live before 1964? Yes? Tell us how great black people had it then. Hell, Reagan began paying reparations to the Japanese in 1988 and their swing through the oppressive playground lasted what? 4 years? Lol, in white America, only a select few get reparations. Native Americans got their casinos and reserves, the Japanese got money, black people got... what? Welfare checks and accusations of affirmative action?
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Indians should not have gotten casinos and black people that have a specific case should take it to court. To make blanket reparations is not the way to do it. I don't know what happened with the Japanese but I think that only those that lost a job or a business should have gotten money... not just all of them.
 
cpwill said:
Part of my family owned slaves. We worked hard, improved ourselves across the generations, and then had everything taken from us - tossed into poverty. If black people want reparations from me, I want the cost of transportation, feeding and clothing, and then loss of property reparated to me from the north.

While we're at it, I think we should also give reparations to American Indians, good for roughly 100% of the value of the non-reservation land in the United States. But then they should turn and give it to the tribes they took it from, and if no descendents can be found, they should dig up the graves and bury it. Also we should probably give reparations to the British Empire for the value of the 13 colones. France owes Reparations to Germany for Alsace-Lorraine, who owes Reparations to France for Alsace-Lorraine. About 1/3 of the world owes reparations to the British Empire, who owes it to the now-defunct empires it took them from, who owe reparations to the Mongols.



All ridiculing of a foolish idea aside, there is probably one group of people who legitimately do deserve them - Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII. I would say of all the groups clamoring, they are the one that actually deserve it.
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Exactly... where does it end? My Scottish clan lost land from the British. I deserve 600 years of interest.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Indians should not have gotten casinos and black people that have a specific case should take it to court.
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A specific case? Every black person could be legally discriminated against prior to 1964. What exactly are they going to argue against? The same states rights defended by Southern states today? Haha, yeah, good luck.

To make blanket reparations is not the way to do it. I don't know what happened with the Japanese but I think that only those that lost a job or a business should have gotten money... not just all of them.
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Yeah, it's too late to argue what we think should have happened and shouldn't. The precedent was set by Republicans and that's why black people don't vote for them. They'll give reparations to the Japanese but black people who'd been oppressed for 200 years can go **** themselves? Lol. Yeah, kk.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Exactly... where does it end? My Scottish clan lost land from the British. I deserve 600 years of interest.
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Oh wait, we're getting interest? Oh man. Those Neanderthals are going to make out like bandits.
 
Hatuey said:
A specific case? Every black person could be legally discriminated against prior to 1964. What exactly are they going to argue against? The same states rights defended by Southern states today? Haha, yeah, good luck.



Yeah, it's too late to argue what we think should have happened and shouldn't. The precedent was set by Republicans and that's why black people don't vote for them. They'll give reparations to the Japanese but black people who'd been oppressed for 200 years can go **** themselves? Lol. Yeah, kk.
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Lets just say that I would rather give money to black people with gripes than to use it on another billion dollar bomber...
 
cpwill said:
Cool. MY people had their property seized. I want reparations too.
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And were they sold into slavery with the understanding that they and their children and all their descendants until the end of time would also be slaves? And did they face a century of Jim Crow afterwards?

One of the least wise things a white man can do is suggest that his ancestors had it as bad...because they didn't. Period.
 
cpwill said:
Oh wait, we're getting interest? Oh man. Those Neanderthals are going to make out like bandits.
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I just checked my DNA... I am part Neanderthal and I have the opinion of several past dates to confirm that too!
 
Glen Contrarian said:
And were they sold into slavery with the understanding that they and their children and all their descendants until the end of time would also be slaves? And did they face a century of Jim Crow afterwards?

One of the least wise things a white man can do is suggest that his ancestors had it as bad...because they didn't. Period.
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White people's/groups haven't been enslaved, raped, murdered or had their land and property stolen... or been slaves? Really?

Up to one-half of all the arrivals in the American colonies were Whites slaves and they were America's first slaves. These Whites were slaves for life, long before Blacks ever were. This slavery was even hereditary. White children born to White slaves were enslaved too.

Whites were auctioned on the block with children sold and separated from their parents and wives sold and separated from their husbands. Free Black property owners strutted the streets of northern and southern American cities while White slaves were worked to death in the sugar mills of Barbados and Jamaica and the plantations of Virginia.


http://www.revisionisthistory.org/forgottenslaves.html
 
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Glen Contrarian said:
And were they sold into slavery with the understanding that they and their children and all their descendants until the end of time would also be slaves? And did they face a century of Jim Crow afterwards?

One of the least wise things a white man can do is suggest that his ancestors had it as bad...because they didn't. Period.
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Everyone was enslaved and abused at one point in history or another. The reparations game is a fools' one.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Perhaps an argument could be made Mississippi or some Southern States owe reparations or that country club owe them but why in the hell should my tax dollars go to anything like that? The idea is ridiculous. My family had nothing to do with slavery or gaining anything from black labor.
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And your family likely had nothing to do with the Japanese internment...but IIRC we paid reparations to them. Your family also likely had nothing to do with the decision to illegally invade Iraq on false pretenses...but that's what we as a nation did.

You see, while we may not personally be responsible, we Americans as a whole ARE in a very real way responsible for what our nation does.
 
Bodhisattva said:
White people's/groups haven't been enslaved, raped, murdered or had their land and property stolen... or been slaves? Really?
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I would like to say that I am embarrassed to be a homo sapiens. I feel personally guilty for the fact that we wiped out the Neanderthals, your people. And I cannot begin to imagine how many microaggressions you must suffer every day in our Sapiens-Normative culture. :(
 
Bodhisattva said:
White people's/groups haven't been enslaved, raped, murdered or had their land and property stolen... or been slaves? Really?
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Were white people as a whole group enslaved by America? "You're white, therefore you're a slave"?

No. While some whites may have been enslaved/raped/murdered/had land stolen, these were very much the EXCEPTIONS to the rule...whereas for blacks it WAS the rule.

We had it nowhere near as bad...and anyone who thinks otherwise is simply speaking out of ignorance.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
And your family likely had nothing to do with the Japanese internment...but IIRC we paid reparations to them. Your family also likely had nothing to do with the decision to illegally invade Iraq on false pretenses...but that's what we as a nation did.

You see, while we may not personally be responsible, we Americans as a whole ARE in a very real way responsible for what our nation does.
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Sure. And if any who were enslaved are still around, I'm fine with them receiving some form of benefit.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
And your family likely had nothing to do with the Japanese internment...but IIRC we paid reparations to them. Your family also likely had nothing to do with the decision to illegally invade Iraq on false pretenses...but that's what we as a nation did.

You see, while we may not personally be responsible, we Americans as a whole ARE in a very real way responsible for what our nation does.
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No "we" are not. The American government is the one that is responsible. If the US government wants to pay reparations then they need to get some high interest long term bonds, invest and then pay it themselves. The family descendants of the politicians of that time and slave owners are the ones responsible... take the money from some rich little snot's trust fund living on land stolen from blacks or used as a plantation and leave my money alone.
 
cpwill said:
I would like to say that I am embarrassed to be a homo sapiens. I feel personally guilty for the fact that we wiped out the Neanderthals, your people. And I cannot begin to imagine how many microaggressions you must suffer every day in our Sapiens-Normative culture. :(
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My under-developed frontal lobe prohibits my understanding of your point. But we are sad and I am tired of manual labour.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
And were they sold into slavery with the understanding that they and their children and all their descendants until the end of time would also be slaves? And did they face a century of Jim Crow afterwards?

One of the least wise things a white man can do is suggest that his ancestors had it as bad...because they didn't. Period.
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You are aware that prior to black slaves in this country...there were white slaves and our historians can't seem to call it for what it was, but instead used the term "Indentured Servants". These folks were treated just as black slaves were. Many died during the course of their servitude.

In fact, today slavery is at an all time high around the world. And yes, even in America slavery still exists.

The U.S. ranks 134th out of 162 countries for slavery prevalence.

21-30 MILLION PEOPLE ARE TRAPPED IN SLAVERY AROUND THE WORLD TODAY.

55% of slavery victims today are women and girls.

Slavery generates $150 billion for traffickers each year.

26% of slaves today are children under age 18.

45% of slavery victims today are men and boys.

SLAVERY is not legal anywhere but happens EVERYWHERE. 22% of slavery victims today are in sex slavery.

78% of slavery victims today are in labor slavery.

https://www.freetheslaves.net/document.doc?id=34
 
cpwill said:
Everyone was enslaved and abused at one point in history or another. The reparations game is a fools' one.
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You mean America enslaved and abused everyone at one point in history or another?

Oh, wait, you mean ALL THE WORLD, and not America...by which you mean that we shouldn't be responsible for anything America has ever done since other people did it too....
 
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