Should Reparations Be Given To Relatives of Slaves?

by minimus 69 Replies latest jw friends

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  I believe in overlapping

  Simon, I always like to read your view of things. They always cut through the bull and puts things on the table as they really are. It's helping me as a young person to reason on things that I encounter in life. I don't take older person's opinions as fact anymore. Instead I think about what they say, I reason on it, I will do some research on both sides, and then try to come up with my own conclusion. If people did that more often, there would be fewer times that we would be duped.

  Instead of blaming everyone for everything, I like that way you put this idea which really applied to all humanity.

  The rest was brutal savagery - regularly butchering each other, raping, and taking slaves. This "noble savage" that was hard done to by the white man is a myth. In terms of culture, they built nothing and added pretty much nothing to humanity.
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  slimboyfat

  I have a question. Has anyone with any real access to power (such as a Democrat with a good chance of achieving high office) actually promoted the idea of reparations as described in this thread? It seems to me a pretty a unworkable idea as described, and it really makes me wonder if it’s a serious policy option or, more likely, a fringe idea that some on the left have suggested, and that people on the right have decided to shout about as loudly as they can, as if it’s mainstream democrat policy, and milk it for all its worth.
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  slimboyfat

  Plus it seems odd to me that anyone on the left would prioritise injustices from centuries ago when there are many racial injustices in the present that need fixing first.

  Such as the preponderance of black people in prisons being compelled to perform free labour for commercial companies. Is it the case that, while white people are more likely to use drugs, back people are far more likely to be convicted of using drugs?

  We have a similar situation in the UK where poorer black people in London who use cocaine can spend many years in jail, whereas wealthy while people who use cocaine are considered good candidates for prime minister.
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  redvip2000

  Plus it seems odd to me that anyone on the left would prioritize injustices from centuries ago when there are many racial injustices in the present that need fixing first.

  Don't you see the Democrats want to ensure that Trump wins another term? The LEFT has lost the plot completely. As if the fact that Trump got the vote from all the people who are tired of the racial blaming and oppression olympics wasn't enough, the Left yet again is primed to shoot itself on the foot, by aligning itself with any view that is designed to self flagellate mainstream society.

  This is one of the major failures of the Left at this point -- as Jordan Peterson correctly points out even though I dont' always agree with him -- the fact that the Left is not able to draw the line between centrist Left and the extreme Left, nothing is too much on left side of the spectrum to be called crazy by Democrats.
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  redvip2000

  the majority of slaves went to Brazil.

  Yup, i think the Portuguese took endless amounts of blacks to work their plantations in Brazil.
  
  
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  sparky1

  "According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America. And how many of these 10.7 million Africans were shipped directly to North America. Only about 388,000. That's right: a tiny percentage." - Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Director of the Hutchins Center for African American Studies and Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University.

  

  No matter what color a man's skin is, slavery is heinous and evil. However, in my opinion it would be just as heinous and evil to single out one race of individuals over and above any other race and reward them financially for wrongs done to their unknown ancestors. This is modern America where everyone has a chance to better themselves and make something of their lives. How long should innocent people be held financially responsible for the 'sins' of their forefathers?
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  We have a similar situation in the UK where poorer black people in London who use cocaine can spend many years in jail, whereas wealthy while people who use cocaine are considered good candidates for prime minister - that's because the wealthy white people tend to be fairly discreet about their drug use and are otherwise mostly law-abiding, whereas the poor black people are stabbing and shooting each other in the street. (It always helps when context is added.)
  
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  blondie

  I was listening to a NPR program on reparations and the guest pointed out one difference between the situation of slaves in the US and Native Americans.

  Native Americans were not slaves as a group when Europeans arrived, but had been in North America for thousands of years, and that status made them legal owners. Europeans came in and designated them not worthy or not legal owners of the land, partly due to the Native American customs not agreeing with theirs, especially in regard to religion. My husband always calls that Manifest Destiny, correct or not, to me it means that Africans, Native Americans, etc., were not ordained by the true god of the European definition, do Europeans had the god-given right to the land and resources.

  In the end, these groups were disenfranchised for many years and still are. Will reparations give back everything these people lost? Is there even a price that can be determined? Is it better to give each individual a small amount of money or perhaps pool that money under supervision by people of their own group selected by that group?

  What have other countries done regarding reparations, such as South Africa? How successful have these been?

  There are no easy fixes, and our personal opinions do not matter much in the big picture, unless people with like opinions, get together and work together to make those options known to those making those decisions and put some useful pressure on them.

  I belong to one group, Native Americans, I am 1/8 going back to my great-grandmother. Do I qualify for reparations if that ended up occurring? I don't know but I don't need the money. But, I would like a public apology in writing in the official history of the United States government official statements not just for me but for all those who came before me and will come after me. I feel the same way about any group, including slaves brought over to the US and elsewhere.

  I was reading in the paper today, that my state legislature is going to give back taxes to the ordinary taxpayer, amounting to $167 a year, about $13 a month. I imagined what I could buy with that sum. A meal at McDonalds, 3 movies at senior rates. Wow! But this legislature has given millions of dollars of tax breaks to corporations who have not lived up to the promises they gave in order to receive that money. Well, just a thought.
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  minimus

  Great thread
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  LoveUniHateExams

  Native Americans were not slaves as a group when Europeans arrived, but had been in North America for thousands of years, and that status made them legal owners - based on your logic, Europeans (i.e. white people) own Europe. If any people of colour own their own house in a European country, well, sorry, you gotta give it to me because I'm European and you're not.
  

  I belong to one group, Native Americans, I am 1/8 going back to my great-grandmother. Do I qualify for reparations if that ended up occurring? I don't know but I don't need the money. But, I would like a public apology in writing in the official history of the United States government official statements - hang on a sec, why should the US government apologise to you?

  You're 1/8 Native American, so what ... you don't speak an Indian language, you don't live under the culture of your great-grandmother. Your religion is not the same as your great-grandmother's tribe.

  I can see that there may be a solid case to be made for an apology by the US gov to full-blooded Indians (especially full-blooded Indians of the past, e.g. your great-grandmother) ... but to you?