Reparations for slavery...... yay or nay?

[TitoFan]

Well, I am part black African and I have no personal angst about slavery (not saying it's not evil, but nobody in my family history was ever a slave). In fact, I suspect that some of my ancestors sold subjugated and weaker people to be slaves via Zanzibar.

Understandably, Caribbean people or black people in other countries whose ancestors were enslaved get angry about it. There isn't really a burning sense of injustice amongst Africans from Africa.

Reparations is difficult, there isn't a right answer. People have been impoverished and given little chance of success for generations, and it's not completely their fault. However, white people - and Arabs and Africans - around nowadays arent the ones who enslaved anybody.

Where would the money come from, who would pay it, and who would get it? Would you have to prove your ancestors were slaves? What if it was only one great great grandparent? Would they only get a percentage? What if one ancestor was a slave and one was the owner (which happened a lot)? Would you have to pay yourself?

Thanks for weighing in and thanks for your honest vote.

Yes, it would be a logistical nightmare.... which is why I believe in putting SOOOO much more weight into efforts to fix whatever inequalities exist today. That is so much easier to manage and put your hands around than going back to 200 years ago and attempt to right a wrong which in the end will probably polarize the races even more. Resentment is sure to bubble up on both sides of the racial divide.

Thanks again for putting your opinion out there on a serious, real, and current issue.

[Spicoli]

Not sure of the practicality or realistic chance of this not ending in a gigantic clusterfeck. Honestly I don't know a single adult man or woman who doesn't know this is primarily a topic geared towards politics rather than some rising wave to seek 'justice' in any way. We as a whole would do better to use such a push to educate what humanity is capable of at it's worst but I believe we're moving more towards half thought out quick fixes..reparations..and are denying that our past..toppling historical statues and monuments into dark warehouses..made us what we are, in fact made us better today. No on reparations for me, though I have to say also that 1865 is really not that long ago. We can all trace our roots over generations be it a slave who was held on a Plantation that still stands today or some chucklehead on a boxing forum whos distant relatives fought both for the Confederacy and the Union army. We don't get do overs. Learn from history, respect and own it in all of it's pros and cons, and move forward.

[Kirkland Laing]

Not sure of the practicality or realistic chance of this not ending in a gigantic clusterfeck. Honestly I don't know a single adult man or woman who doesn't know this is primarily a topic geared towards politics rather than some rising wave to seek 'justice' in any way. We as a whole would do better to use such a push to educate what humanity is capable of at it's worst but I believe we're moving more towards half thought out quick fixes..reparations..and are denying that our past..toppling historical statues and monuments into dark warehouses..made us what we are, in fact made us better today. No on reparations for me, though I have to say also that 1865 is really not that long ago. We can all trace our roots over generations be it a slave who was held on a Plantation that still stands today or some chucklehead on a boxing forum whos distant relatives fought both for the Confederacy and the Union army. We don't get do overs. Learn from history, respect and own it in all of it's pros and cons, and move forward.

1865 really isn't that long ago. I've been around now for fifty years and i can tell you people who haven't that fifty years feels about as long as the blink of an eye. And while the world seems to be constantly changing I can tell you that the beliefs and motivations of your fellow humans don't change very much over half a century so the difference between how for instance pre civil war Confederates and their progeny today feel about these kinds of issues isn't significantly different in a lot of cases. It's basicallt three blinks of an eye.

As far as the reparations issue goes, this is unfortunately more than some people read in a year but some of you will welcome the perspective. This is one of America's top black journalists who wrote the article that has kicked off the whole reparations issue. It's five years old now but has been resonating more and more over the years. I challenge you all to read it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ations/361631/

[p4pking]

Can you just tell us whether he wants reparations or not? Then we know whether to read it or not

[Kirkland Laing]

Can you just tell us whether he wants reparations or not? Then we know whether to read it or not

It's a little bit of the history of the whole issue. Doesn't matter what the guy who wrote it thinks although he testified to congress recently I'm sure I remember seeing. The history is educational though regardless of the reparations issue.

[Beanz]

"The popular mocking of reparations as a harebrained scheme authored by wild-eyed lefties and intellectually unserious black nationalists is fear masquerading as laughter. Black nationalists have always perceived something unmentionable about America that integrationists dare not acknowledge—that white supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it."

It is brilliantly insightful. Thanks Kirkland. People do not like difficult questions and would rather dismiss them, so I expect it would be beyond many to even contemplate the value of another perspective, let alone try and reexamine long held beliefs thru another lens. It is worth the effort, but it is an effort nonetheless, and so it is easier to just mock, roll the eyes and pretend that confronting difficult questions us in itself a vapid and stupid exercise.

Fuck that kind of entrenched privileged cowardice.

[El Kabong]

This is one of America's top black journalists

Posts Ta-Nehisi Coates article HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[walrus]

"The popular mocking of reparations as a harebrained scheme authored by wild-eyed lefties and intellectually unserious black nationalists is fear masquerading as laughter. Black nationalists have always perceived something unmentionable about America that integrationists dare not acknowledge—that white supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it."

It is brilliantly insightful. Thanks Kirkland. People do not like difficult questions and would rather dismiss them, so I expect it would be beyond many to even contemplate the value of another perspective, let alone try and reexamine long held beliefs thru another lens. It is worth the effort, but it is an effort nonetheless, and so it is easier to just mock, roll the eyes and pretend that confronting difficult questions us in itself a vapid and stupid exercise.

Fuck that kind of entrenched privileged cowardice.

Let me know when you guys are done sucking each other off

[TitoFan]

"The popular mocking of reparations as a harebrained scheme authored by wild-eyed lefties and intellectually unserious black nationalists is fear masquerading as laughter. Black nationalists have always perceived something unmentionable about America that integrationists dare not acknowledge—that white supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it."

It is brilliantly insightful. Thanks Kirkland. People do not like difficult questions and would rather dismiss them, so I expect it would be beyond many to even contemplate the value of another perspective, let alone try and reexamine long held beliefs thru another lens. It is worth the effort, but it is an effort nonetheless, and so it is easier to just mock, roll the eyes and pretend that confronting difficult questions us in itself a vapid and stupid exercise.

Fuck that kind of entrenched privileged cowardice.

Wow. The kind of quote Denilson would undoubtedly approve of.

So....... anyone who feels reparations are a bad idea is secretly harboring a deep fear that white supremacy will be found out as a real, deeply-ingrained issue rather than "the work of hotheaded demagogues"? Damn..... that's deep.


Well that's totally disappointing. Here I was thinking I was just emphasizing the importance of looking forward, instead of wallowing in the past and stirring up the shit so it will smell up the room all that much more.

Here I was thinking that such an idea would be next to impossible to implement..... and would only leave tattered emotions and serve to separate people even more..... as reparations distributions would surely be uneven and unjust in many cases.

Here I was thinking that paying black people today for the sins of yesterday would never change people's minds on either side of the equation. (In other words..... resentful blacks (see Denilson) will ALWAYS be resentful blacks..... and white supremacist will now be resentful white supremacists).



No. Anyone against this idea is really a closet white supremacist that believes white supremacy is an invention of hysterical leftists.

Precious.