Slavery Reparations?

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

I look at it like this. No one in this day and age was ever a slave, so why give reparations? I inslaved no one why should i have to give my money to someone that wasnt enslaved because their ancestors were enslaved by someone elses ancestors which were not mine? My fathers side didnt come to the US till the 20s and my mothers side is from new england and did not own slaves. I think if a black person feel they would of been better off in africa move the **** over there and we will see your *** in a commercial with sally struthers.

You hit on a good arguement against it, the fact is that most of america is descended from immigrants coming here AFTER slavery. One thing alot of you are missing is the proliferation of slavery for a century AFTER the civil war... sharecropping (basically slavery), jim crow laws and the like. Also, money isnt the only solution to reparations, in fact, most serious discussion about it ISNT about money handouts, its setting up institutions and programs to further help blacks. Its the old teach a man to fish instead of giving a man a fish saying.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i agree with ruckus. if you think it is so bad in the US then go back to africa. also don't forget, the blacks were slaves in africa by blacks. the europeans came and took the slaves and brought them to the US. if blacks get reperations, how come the jews don't? do you hear the jews *****ing and moaning about world war II and the holocaust?

 

[937DYTBOI 5,000+ posts]

no its reality. that whole back to africa crap is bogus. We have it good here why act like life is so hard. No one here in this forum would last a month in africa. I feel the same way about the cubans always *****ing, send them back to cuba and see how they like the changes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Some parts of Africa is actually decent not what we see on TV all the time. But i dont think we would be able to survive, actually im part jamican and african american, i would rather go to the islands truthfully, the US is powerful but looks bad to the rest of the country

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

I believe in the state that we are in as a country right now we couldnt even afford to give out any reperations, we r to busy in a war , and bush to worried about fattin up his pockets, money is needed in many parts of the US but they havent recieved what makes anyone think us black people will get some type of reperations.

But notice this is a very vague thread, it doesnt mention WHO would be paying these reparations. A whole lot of private companies (aswell as families) can trace their EMMENCE wealth directly back to slavery, they could bear a huge brunt of the reparations if further lawsuits are brought forth, keep in mind this doesnt mean cutting checks to blacks, its more for funding programs and the like.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

Some parts of Africa is actually decent not what we see on TV all the time. But i dont think we would be able to survive, actually im part jamican and african american, i would rather go to the islands truthfully, the US is powerful but looks bad to the rest of the country

the only part of africa that is even remotely close to the us, is south africa which is mostly white

 

[nVRuckus 5,000+ posts]

I beleive in this day to say you cant make it because your black is a copout. Anyone can make it if they work hard enough. Will some black be descriminated against because of their color and not get a job? Hell yes but whites, latins, asians, indians all have the same descrimination at jobs. Who is more likly to get a job at hooters? A black chick with big tittie or a white chick that is fat? Another form of descrimination. Only difference its more widely tollerated. Shit I know alot of places wont even call me for an interview because of my name they figure I dont speak english.

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

do you hear the jews *****ing and moaning about world war II and the holocaust?

they did get reparations //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

but then again, they themselves had the most injustices done directly to them, while in the US, the injustices blacks have faces are slowly trickling down, there are no bonified slaves living today, though there are blacks who were basically slaves still living.

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

I beleive in this day to say you cant make it because your black is a copout. Anyone can make it if they work hard enough.

Yes, but its still important to realize, as a black person, you must work MUCH harder in most cases than a white person. Chris Rock has a part to one of his acts where he talks about asking a white person to trade places with him, the guys says no even though Chris Rock is rich as hell.

 

[nVRuckus 5,000+ posts]

Some parts of Africa is actually decent not what we see on TV all the time. But i dont think we would be able to survive, actually im part jamican and african american, i would rather go to the islands truthfully, the US is powerful but looks bad to the rest of the country

sorry but you or I would not being living in sun city or other upper class places in africa. Thats like saying yeah wel we can live in beverly hills, CA. realisticly econically we would end up in a middle class area of south africa and some in even worse areas.

 

[Phrozt 10+ year member]

these people nowadays dont give a shit about their great great grandparents who lived 200 years ago whom they have never met. they are just looking for a handout cuz they are too lazy to make their own money.

+ what nV said.

You've got to look at how things are now. We cannot pay for mistakes made by completely different people in a completely different time, under completely different pretenses.

Paying reparations would do nothing but ensure the preservation of discrimination. Follow me here:

None of us enslaved anyone, and no one currently living was a slave (in the scope of America).

- therefore, we're dealing with things in the past, and no one has any direct rights to claim reparations

ALL races were enslaved at some point or another in the past (biblical times.. egypt anyone? Rome? all ancient civilizations enslaved people of all races).

- slavery existed among all races

Would whites get reparations?? No. Mexicans?? No. Any other race? Possibly indians, but we did steal their entire culture's land, so every living native american DOES have a direct tie to the American government's actions. In the case of blacks, some are ancestors of slaves, some are people who migrated from other countries. Slavery was done by private enterprises/individuals, NOT the government. Two huge distinctions from our situation w/the native americans.

- reparations being paid only to blacks

Put these three points together and what do you get?

- There's no reason for any of us, much less the government to directly pay any money to any races that were slaves.

- Any money that would be paid would be specifically paid to blacks SIMPLY BASED ON RACE

The social and cultural rammifications of this idea would be astronomical and probably set us back a good 60-70 years.

 

[937DYTBOI 5,000+ posts]

we are all slaves to our jobs

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

blacks aren't even the largest minority in the country but they cause the most uproar...

 

[nVRuckus 5,000+ posts]

Yes, but its still important to realize, as a black person, you must work MUCH harder in most cases than a white person. Chris Rock has a part to one of his acts where he talks about asking a white person to trade places with him, the guys says no even though Chris Rock is rich as hell.

I disagree, I see alot of people get jobs for the fact they are black not because of qualifications because there is a need for a quota to be able to get federal funding. Hell in some cases it pays to be hispanic or black. I catch myself (I consider my self american as can be born in CT and growing up with an irish mother) checking hispanic on applications because of preferential treatment and tell my wife to select black and hispanic on certain things.

 

[DIPayton 10+ year member]

this thread doesn't mention who should recieve and who should pay.

Overall, nobody really should be paying, maybe some government funds or something should be given to them, and then given to them in ways that it can be monitored on how it's spent, for example, give them college funds or things like that.

Also, who gets the money? I think Native Americans would deserve something before blacks, but blacks that can prove they had ancestors that were slaves should recieve something.

Also, about someone saying nobody could live a month in Africa? what are you talkin about? I lived there 4 months and travelled to several different spots of Africa, only 1 place was a place in poverty, every other place was good living and in some ways better than living in the US. Do you think all Blacks can afford to go back to these nicer African places and live there? maybe have a fund to allow them to go back?

and for people saying they never owned a slave, or the blacks have never been slaves that would recieve money.... think about this, if your ancestors did (and I know not all ancestors owned slaves) then think of your family's wealth, it was built on slaves labor. So if your ancestors got rich and owned slaves and used that as an advantage to get ahead, then remember the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.... these slaves families were let free as poor people and had to start from there.... and are more than likely still poor now.

But it can be looked at in many ways, I wouldn't want to pay or recieve reperations (I am part white and part blacks, what happens to guys like me? haha), but I am saying, put some money to help anyone poor out (blacks, whites, asians, Natives) and it will improve the world we live in... So things like college funds would be nice.

But I would say HELL NO to ever giving these people cash. By the way, we had to study this stuff pretty seriously in college for a class I was in, you will be surprised about many facts that we missed or were misinformed about through school...

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

Slavery was done by private enterprises/individuals, NOT the government. Two huge distinctions from our situation w/the native americans.

Not so much, what about the 14th and 5th amendments? The government directly failed to enact legislation to sufficiently end the injustices, but in some cases passed laws that perpetuated them!

Due-process lawsuit easily.