Slavery Reparations

[Maggz]

Funny how you guys keep saying "its the past, its the past"..when the PAST is the cause for the poverty that many African Americans are experiencing today. It was THEIR ancestors who leveled the land in America, the east would be all forest if it wasn't for their labor. They were beaten, starved, abused, neglected, and forced to work until they basically collapsed of heat exaustion, or getting beaten to death. Such brutallity can't be ignored, doesnt matter if your ancestors were the ones who did that shit..it was THEIR ancestors who suffered it. They were FORECEFULLY brought to this country and FORECEFULLY put to work with NO pay , they were treated like animals if not worse. And now we're going to ignore it? Now we have the "THEY'RE HERE SO THEY'RE HERE" attitude..when it was THEM who had to live in the ghettos because of discrimination and being ostricized over the years..and we're going to just ignore it? Just because it was the PAST? They deserve reperations without a question.

[jamstigator]

Who deserves reparations without a question? Oh, you mean the dead guys who were mistreated? Well, whether they deserve it or not, they're a little too horizontal to SPEND it, sooo...I think there are better uses for taxpayer money than throwing truckloads of hundred dollar bills on some graves.

Children are starving, education is in decline, the space program is doing poorly, soldiers and their families must be taken care of, a new highway system is needed, we need funding for Social Security, and so on. I'm sure throwing piles of money on the graves of the abused is on the list somewhere, but hey, it's gonna take a while to work our way down the list to the extent that we're ready to start giving dead people money. But have faith. I'm sure we'll get there eventually.

How about a compromise? If the dead people get up and start moaning "brains... brains...", then we'll give 'em some brains! I'm sure they'd appreciate that more than money anyhow, being zombies and all.

[SpiritLevel]

What a man believes, upon grossly insufficient evidence, is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious of.

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

[Breukelen advocaat]

Funny how you guys keep saying "its the past, its the past"..when the PAST is the cause for the poverty that many African Americans are experiencing today. It was THEIR ancestors who leveled the land in America, the east would be all forest if it wasn't for their labor.
My ancestors cleared their own land, without any help - in New England, and upstate New York, during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. This is a fact (I have proof), and they didn't own slaves.

They were beaten, starved, abused, neglected, and forced to work until they basically collapsed of heat exaustion, or getting beaten to death.
Slave owners were more likely to do this to white indentured servants - because after the period of slavery, they would be let free. The black slaves were treated better, because they were (usually) held for life. Does it make sense to destroy a valuable asset? It probably happened, but not as frequently as books like "Roots" would have you believe.

Such brutallity can't be ignored, doesnt matter if your ancestors were the ones who did that shit..it was THEIR ancestors who suffered it. They were FORECEFULLY brought to this country and FORECEFULLY put to work with NO pay , they were treated like animals if not worse.
The slaves' own people sold them into slavery - shouldn't they be held responsible as well?

And now we're going to ignore it? Now we have the "THEY'RE HERE SO THEY'RE HERE" attitude..when it was THEM who had to live in the ghettos because of discrimination and being ostricized over the years..and we're going to just ignore it? Just because it was the PAST? They deserve reperations without a question.

It was not "THEM", as in people that are alive today -- it was some of their ancestors.

What about people of mixed races? What do you propose we do for them, make them pay reparations to themselves?

[SpiritLevel]

Why are most people taking a 2 dimensional view on the issue? Are there no 3 dimensional thinkers amongst us?

[sanguinekane]

Funny how you guys keep saying "its the past, its the past"..when the PAST is the cause for the poverty that many African Americans are experiencing today. It was THEIR ancestors who leveled the land in America, the east would be all forest if it wasn't for their labor. They were beaten, starved, abused, neglected, and forced to work until they basically collapsed of heat exaustion, or getting beaten to death. Such brutallity can't be ignored, doesnt matter if your ancestors were the ones who did that shit..it was THEIR ancestors who suffered it.

Not quite sure where you got the idea that we're saying we should ignore slavery, I'm sure I've never said that, nor have I seen people say it in this thread. But the thing is, it does matter if my ancestors didn't do it. I ask again, why should I pay for someone else's ancestors?

I'm not saying that we should just abandon social programs, or that it's all good for black people in the US. Believe you me, I grew up in Oakland, I've seen what people of all ethnicities have to suffer through every day. All I'm saying is that reparations aren't the solution. They'd just to cause further discontent, and we'd still have prejudice and racism. Throwing money at a problem doesn't solve it. Instead, investing more in our urban areas, investing more in transportation networks, schools, hospitals, universities, urban renewal, and violence-prevention programs, we'd be doing infinitely more good than just handing out $1,000* in cash to every black person in the country.

*$1,000 just an example, I don't even think supporters of reparations know how much they'd want.

[DonnieDarko]

Decendants of slaves have already gotten reparations: It's called Affirmative Action and it's a pretty sweet deal.

Decendants of native american indians have gotten their reparations: Casinos.

There is one group victimized longer than any other .... WOMEN .... denied the right to vote ..... currently get paid 75 percent of equally skilled women, killed in Salem, solely responsible for original sin !!! I could go on .....

Women should be at the top of the list for reparations !!! End of argument.

[SpiritLevel]

...Women should be at the top of the list for reparations !!! End of argument.

start a thread

[zero2104]

no reparations for slavery, it like giving reperations for jews and irish for being persecuted

but reparations for native americans are fine with me because they owned this land, they were raped and killed on their land, and they were driven away from their homeland plus i am 1/6!!! :thumbsup:

[SpiritLevel]

Jews have had reparations.. havent they? wasn't the day off from 9/11 enough?
You are one selfish 1/6th.. If you are not full blooded (5/6ths or more) you shouldn't get noin. You still got same opinion?