Under legal servitude. LOTS of people get oppressed. When do I get my reparations from the Romans and the Brits? We're 8 generations away from slavery. I started out with nothing and made a very nice life for myself and my coming retirement. Why can't African-Americans do the same, we do know there are very successful African-Americans in this country, it can be done. But to demand a hand out based on something 160 years ago............no I don't think so.
And? You want to compare the percent of the African-American population which rely on government agencies to whites?
So you think there are all these white criminals out on the loose? All these unsolved crimes, whites are getting murdered on their streets in white drive by shootings we just don't hear about it? Feel free to try and convince me that is true.
Can't you folks come up with some new material? You all repeat the same tired talking points. I know them by heart: 1) "My ancestors were slaves too. Where are my reparations?" 2)"Why can't Blacks pull themselves up by their bootstraps like I did?" 3) "I've never owned any slaves and I've never met a slave. I don't feel responsible for slavery". 4)"We did Blacks a favor bringing them over here and putting them in slavery. They're better off here than in Africa". Every single one of the above statements is nothing but a deflection---a way to shut down any talk of reparations. I guess you think if you can make us shut up we'll forget about our history. Just shut up and go away. Jewish people haven't forgotten about the Holocaust. Armenian people haven't forgotten about their genocide. African-Americans are not going to forget about SLAVERY.
Drive-by shootings not so much. Seems they like to shoot up schools, theatres, churches and concerts.
My Grand Parents immigrated to the US in 1900 and had to work in the sweat shops of Hell's Kitchen. Do they get reparations too? If not why not?
Good for them. Being the bitch of white wealthy politicians, getting yanked around by the dick for their vote, must make one feel proud.
So genrations have come and gone. How is this done? Percentage? Blacks never had ancestors in slavery get nothing. I have not one ancestor that owned slaves yet my grat grandfather lost the use of an arm fighting for their freedom. Do I get reparations?
You hit the key issue. I don't see how reparations could possibly be taxed or distributed fairly. Most people during the days of slavery were not slave owners. It doesn't seem right to tax the entire country through federal government reparations when most citizens today immigrated well after 1865. Next, most descendants of slavery are "mixed". America is a melting pot, and so hardly anyone's ancestry is 100% ADOS bloodline. The lineage would get thinned out, like most Americans are not purely from any lineage, with some ending up like Warren's 1/1024th pseudo-Indian lineage. Does everyone who has one drop of ADOS blood get the same reparation? Where is the cutoff? Some people may have records to prove lineage and some may not have any proof. As much as we should all be able to empathize with the wrongs of slavery, I don't see any way to put together a reparations plan which is equitable to all.
That's my point. Nobody in America has ever been or owned a slave. My ancestors have been both. Do I give myself reparations? My great grandfather lost an arm in a cotton gin.
I don't have a dick. Using profanity in a debate is a sign that you've lost the debate. Have a nice day.
The military should have compensated your great grandfather for the loss of his arm. That was tragic. But, just think how much worse it was for the enslaved people who lost their entire lives thru chattel slavery.
Yes, you can give yourself reparations. Sounds reasonable. I don't think that's what Tom Steyer has in mind though.
This is all very nice, I'm sure, but Steyer and nobody else has any idea how to do it. Whatever "it" is. It seems to me that 650,000 deaths would be a pretty good downpayment. Then again, perhaps we could set up African - American reservations in -- you name the state/Provence. Let's be honest here, this idea is nuts. Maybe we could just turn the whole mess over to Al Sharpton. The guy seems to have an opinion on damn near everything. Maybe he and Trump could get together and figure something out.
Since enslaved Africans created the foundation of this country's great wealth, I don't think "the idea is nuts". Two questions for you: 1) Why did 650,000 men have to die in a Civil War to free the slaves? Other countries were able to end slavery without a war. 2) Why do some people like to use Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan or Jessie Jackson as boogeyman?
I don't think that time will come. The government has given people preferential benefits based on skin color and sex, but there is no precedent for further whittling benefits' handouts down to lineage or ancestry. It's impossible to calculate who gets what without some groups screaming that they didn't get their piece of the pie, or that others got too much more than they deserve. Even the ADOS and FBA groups have had rifts and fallouts within the reparations movement. The key drivers of the activism groups can't agree on what's fair.
and many were slaves in Africa, sold into slavery in America......where does it end. We can stew in self imposed guilt or get a life and work the best with what we have been given. It is a political agenda that wants us to live in shame and entitlement.