Birth Right and Race Reparations for Slavery

I was listening to a debate about reparations for slavery today. There were many good points made by both sides. One that struck me was this:

1. People in the past were horribly abused and had their freedom stolen from them. They are entitled to compensation.

2. Descendants of those people, regardless of their current situation, regardless of whether they currently face barriers due to racism etc, and regardless of their socioeconomic status deserve what was owed to their ancestors by birth right.

Do you agree with this argument? It does have precendent, in that we do allow for the passing down of wealth via wills from dead rich people to their children who did nothing to earn that money. Note that this would only apply to those who can trace their ancestry to those who were slaves, and would not be based on race.

 

The real question is about generational wealth. You can see this phenomena in countries that have not been invaded versus countries that have seen war. Things and money are passed from generation to generation accumulating within the family

 

I would figure native Americans perhaps should be first in line.Then what of other groups that have suffered general discrimination? Where does it end?
I suspect the concept of reparations will not pass constitutional review.
Let’s call the Idea what it is, a rationalization of extortion based on skin color.

 

The argument in the OP is not based on skin colour. It would apply to anyone with ancestors who were severely abused or enslaved as allowed pursuant to laws by the nation's government. And yes, it would thereby include most native americans. It would not apply to all black people. It would also apply to some Chinese and Japanese.

 

Came across this article which was written by a black man.

My personal opinion on reparations is that taxpayer money will be used to pay them, that’s money taken from people who are innocent of all things slavery. In this country we don’t punish innocent people.
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Collectively, the black community is a net liability on American society.

Whether it’s the outrageously disproportionate levels of violent crime perpetrated by black males year after year (that the media and Left refuse to acknowledge), the destruction of once-great cities like Baltimore, Detroit, or Chicago), the overrepresentation of low income blacks as generational recipients of welfare, SNAP, WIC, and other social programs — the black community, and black culture as a whole is and continues to be a shortcoming.

I know it’s controversial to express these views because it’s become socially unacceptable as of late to ever criticize black culture or question the Leftist-approved “black oppression” narrative, even if you yourself are black, which I am.

To acknowledge reality and to seek to remediate this hard truth should not be controversial at all. The reparations movement is dangerous as it absolves the collective black community and all of its degenerative tendencies of responsibility, while maintaining that white people, “white supremacy”, and racism are the only reasons why black Americans continue to overwhelmingly to occupy the lowest rungs of society.

Reparations will not redress or remediate the endemic pathologies that plague the black community. If anything, reparations will only make them worse, and in turn create a new generation of entitled, unproductive “victims”, who will continue to be a strain on the system, incessantly demanding of handouts. It is absurd that we are having this conversation in 2023. No living person today was a victim of slavery.

Black people today benefit from numerous privileges and advantages not bestowed on any other race. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, for example, actively seek out and promote black candidates (even if they’re less qualified), and have become mainstream in higher education and the in workplace. Bottom line, reparations are a farce. And for high-achieving black people like myself who work hard at disproving negative stereotypes (which are often completely legitimate), the mere notion of reparations are patronizing, offensive, and laughable.

 

If the government wrongs somebody, we DO award them damages from the government, which is paid by taxes, which is taken from innocent people who didn't command the government's action.

A question would be should this be passable to future generations, and if so, how many generations.

 

Not for slavery but for things like this.

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

 

Slaves were given reparations after the war. Should we give Native Americans reparations? Should Native Americans give white Amercians Reparations? Should Mexico pay Native Amercians reparations? France? England? Should England pay white Americans reparations?

It's a stupid idea.

 

My ancestors lost 367 years of generational wealth due to the Roman invasion of Brittania. Our culture was scrubbed out and now only isolated pockets of Celtic culture exist. I fully expect to be compensated by today's Italians for this. I also expect Welcome to Country ceremonies to be given at all sporting, corporate, and government events, and Morris dancing to be mandatory at all such events.

 

An argument could be made slavery wasn’t illegal at the time and was utilized worldwide. Another argument could be made that the ancestors of slaves wouldn’t currently be benefiting from the opportunities this country offers were it not for slavery, or they might not even have been born at all.

I’m 25% Irish and 25% Italian. Should I get paid for the discrimination both of those groups suffered, which was permissible at the time, even though it happened to people I can name and have photos of?

Something I heard that you might find interesting is that secretly many democrats don’t want to pay reparations because it puts an end to an issue they perpetually use to their advantage.

 

I’m 25% Armenian, where’s my check? This reparations stuff can go on for eternity.

 

For many, many years, whenever someone mentions hopes of winning the lottery, my mom would immediately jump in and saying winning it would be a curse. She said people would stop working and become irresponsible and all sorts of other stuff. I imagine that handing out money will not always end up in the hands of people who won’t drink or overdose themselves to death.

 

That it was legal at the time would be the argument against the government, negating the argument that you never held slaves so you shouldn't have to pay. The idea would then not to target you for paying, but the government, which did allow the abuse, etc.

That's a good point and one I've seen elsewhere. Idea being that current descendents of American slaves actually benefit from the enslavement of their ancestors, since they are better off than people now living in Africa (those descended from those who were not taken as slaves to America). But that's a serpate argument and doesn't have anything to do with the birth right argument.

That you are Irish and Italian would be irrelevant to this argument. That your traceable ancestor was abused would be relevant. The question would of course be how much abuse would have to happen to qualify for a benefit inheritable by birthright. Would it have to be to the extent of slavery, or would lesser abuses qualify.

Yes. That can be said for many political issues. I think many republicans were displeased by your recent Surpreme Court overturning the old abortion standard, since undoing abortion was a political winning issue for them. Same can be said for many issues on both sides.

 

Again the argument in the OP wouldn't be based on your being Armenian. It would apply to if your government was complicit in the genocide of your ancestors. Your actual ancestors would have to be involved and not just other Armenians, and your government would have to be enabling the genocide.

 

Via Fouci the US funded gain of function research and therefore shares responsibility for the COVID Pandemic. Will there be reparations for the millions killed.My mother died just after Christmas from COVID contracted in her nursing home; will I be compensated for her death?

 

If it can be proved that the vaccine killed them, the government knew it very likely would, and that the vaccine was forced upon them, then yes, under this it would. Can both of those be proved?

 

Not only do they refuse to acknowledge it, by simply bringing it up, they make you into the racist grand wizard kkk bad guy. Even though it's facts, and people are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

My opinion is that reparations should not and will not ever happen, at least not the kind under discussion in this thread. It would be punishing people who did nothing, and rewarding people who had nothing done to them. We don't do that. I haven't a clue if Jeffrey Dahmer has any kids running around out there, if so, the acts of their father are not their responsibility. Though they likely would have to change their names, if it was Dahmer, in fact I expect that name will cease to exist, even for those who carry it but have no relation to the mass murderer.

And then, what about guys like me... I've done extensive genealogical research, and I can prove that I have at least one ancestor, a woman who is my ggggg-grandmother or thereabouts (one of several hundred if not more), who was documented in the census after the Civil War to have been a slave. Do I get reparations? Do I still have to pay just because I'm as white as Casper? Or do those cancel out, and I neither get nor have to give.

And this ridiculousness in San Fran, where in a city that never had slavery, that's part of a State that never had slavery (although, with their tax burden, you could argue they do now), they're going to give them $5,000,000, plus a house for $1, and a $97,000/year job (probably a no-show job) for 250 years.

I want in on that, and I can document my slave ancestor.

 

While I don't necessarily agree with reparations, your characterization of it is entirely biased and partisan. One point to consider is that even after slavery was abolished in this country, black people save for some select incidents were not really able to avail themselves of the legal system at the time to sue for the compensation they were due. It would take a hundred years or more before that became a widespread possibility due to legal and social roadblocks.

 

How do you feel about inherited wealth and legacy admissions to schools? Those are also cases of inhereted benefits to people who didn't earn them and had nothing done to them to compensate for as well.

I'm not sure what the threshold would be. Too many generations ago? Not enough ancestors who were slaves? Its a good question if they ever tried to implement something like this.

You don't have to pay under this. The state does. You could argue that you pay via taxes, but everybody would evenly, even those receiving some of the benefits.

 

I don't think many if anyone today would argue that the actual slaves were severely screwed over and not given any chance to sue for compensation, etc. The question is more point 2: Benefit by birth right of their descendents.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...wners-family-apologise-reparations-trevelyans

It has started to happen a little bit elsewhere.

 

I think there's enough legal precedent for that sort of thing in general, even if not related to slavery. Perpetual entities like governments and corporations can be sued for things that happened to dead people. If reperations do go forward, I would hope one of the requirements is that you must prove your ancestor(s) were slaves in the United States. It should not go to every black person just because they're black.

And since it's been brought up in this thread, I've got no problem with people who have Irish or Chinese ancestors who were brought here and used for forced labor to attempt to do the same.

 

Yes, thats the basis of this argument. But by who and through how many generations?

I'm a crazy leftist and oppose this while consistently opposing inhereted wealth entirely. I believe there should be a 100% death tax. I think everyone should have equal opportunity as much as possible. I find the concept of a birth right troubling in all aspects.

 

Ironically I just finished watching this...I'll let you decide...

 

Tell me, how many rich people today have a rich ancestor that had slaves?