Should Reparations Be Given To Relatives of Slaves? (page 4)

blondie

I wonder how many people would qualify? It has been a long time and when I see family trees, I see how many people when we reach back to that time.

Congress seems to be having a problem with giving money to the first responders and other survivors of 9-11.

The Japanese-Americans did not get back anything close to what they lost.

"In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government and authorized a payment of $20,000 (equivalent to $42,000 in 2018) to each camp survivor."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans

minimus

Blondie, let Congress take care of 911 first responders before they all die off from their service.

LoveUniHateExams

From my understanding, the USA is statistically in last place for bringing in slaves from Africa - I don't know if that's the case or not.

But I have read that, re the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the majority of slaves went to Brazil.

Simon

The slaves that ended up in the US had the best experience of any.

Many more were taken to, and fewer survived, other destinations (South America and the Middle East).

The abolitionist movement started almost as soon as white, western nations first became involved in the slave trade and they became the first and only culture to outlaw it, at great cost.

Yet we're "the worst and must pay"

Lesson for future generations: kill everyone, then you're free of demands for reparations or blame.

Simon

If your grandfather cheated people out of their homes and savings and you were one of the beneficiaries of his unethical behaviour would the grandchildren of his victims have a claim against you or not?

There is an assumption that wealth is static, that rich families are always rich and poor are always poor.

The reality is that we notice the outliers, the families who's names are synonymous with wealth but for most the wealth is squandered within a generation or two. The top percentage of wealthy has churn - new people join all the time.

The argument that black people are poor because of what happened 200 years ago is convenient BS. Most people today are poor because they are a combination of unlucky / lazy / stupid / criminal (and combinations of those). There are factors that feed these conditions and it would be better to focus on those to improve people's condition. You'd do more for black communities by addressing the union-led ruin of black schools than giving someone a payoff. But those who want to learn and get ahead and can escape and ignore their communities suicidal urge to keep everyone in the gutter can do so.

But time keeps moving on and my Dad's generation want to pass this baton on to my generation. Should I fight for a loss that wasn't directly mine? Should I benefit if these properties are restored to their original owners?

Exactly, there are and have been such injustices throughout history. There's simply no way to make reparations in a fair manner without adding the significant legal ruling that children are guilty of their parents and grand-parents crimes. That means many people will be able to make all manner of claims for all manner of things.

road to nowhere

Interesting. They do not want to get back what they lost in Africa but to get ahead here. Remember the slavers were black Africans working for arabs with names like Obama. The slaves were taken from poorer tribes in war/raids

undercover

Blondie mentioned the Japanese-Americans. What about the Native Americans or the American Indians, if you prefer? There's a group that was treated pretty bad. Took their land, their culture, tried to force white man ways and religion on them, and when that didn't work, tried to exterminate them.

Of all the things done in the name of progress, God, and America in this county, if we started paying reparations for everyone wronged, well... there is no way to do it. Learn from the past, apologize when necessary, fix what you can as it happens, change wrong practices, change attitudes, and move forward while not forgetting that our past has not always been glorious.

minimus

Hi undercover!!!

You as usual are correct in everything you said!

sparky1

I think I am the great-great-great grandson of this child millworker in Lowell Massachusetts. She worked for pennies a day and worked 12 to 14 hours, 7 days a week in the late 1800's. I know she is Caucasian but that shouldn't matter. I want my money and I want it now!

minimus

Hey that’s my relative!

Should Reparations Be Given To Relatives of Slaves?

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