Let's talk about reparations

With the Democrat party getting wound up for the 2020 election already, there is talk from some of the hopefuls about reparations. Maybe they are just pandering and never intend to do anything, but what if they do? What does that mean.

The theory behind reparations is that due to slavery blacks are owned something. If it's for slavery though, why are there not talks about reparations for Asians or Irish. Both of those groups where effectively slaves at one time in this country. Whether you were called a slave or an indentured servant is really a grey area.

No mater what group the Democrats are talking about, how with they determine who gets reparations?

Will it be based upon the color of a persons skin? I personally know a woman who's father is half black, but you couldn't tell from looking at her.....except maybe the really curly hair. If reparations are based upon the hardship that slavery put on a community and the lasting effect it had on the community, shouldn't she be owed something?

If it is based upon skin color, should the darker the skin equal more money? How will it be determined they have the right skin color. There are many Hispanics that are just as dark skinned as some blacks. There are of course people that are of both ethnicity.

If she is owed money....how will you know who is owed and who isn't......will a 23&me test be required to prove racial background? If this is the case, will there be a percentage requirement of ancestry to be met before you qualify for money? Will there be a varying degree of money based upon the test? If so that doesn't really deal with the lasting effect of slavery, just an arbitrary number.

Will you be required to trace you're ancestry back to a confirmed slave. If not a person that moved here after slavery was abolished would qualify.....and shouldn't.

How will it be determined who owes money. My family never owned slaves (according to family history) so why should anyone in my family owe any money to this cause? If it is determined that only people that owned slaves should pay....how will that be determined? If a person moved here after slavery was abolished, should they or their relatives have to pay?

That's all I'll throw out there for now. We hash through this, there is more.

 

The dems are just trying to whip up their base. They are making promises they will never keep.

 

The OP outlines the complexity of the problem. Fairness might, repeat might be, to trace everyone back to find out who owned slaves and trace the blacks back to find out if their ancestors were in fact slaves. Once narrowed down to the actual relatives, which might take years and years, then we would know the players. So how much are they owed? They have not suffered from slavery. And if my great-great-great grandfather owned slaves I don't feel I owe the slave's great-great-great granddaughter a penny. Besides the court would rule the descendants of slave owners were not responsible for the behavior of their ancestors. And many people would refuse to give DNA. If you think through the mechanics of the proposal there is no way to make it work. But it sounds good to blacks, and some liberal white loons, when the liberal candidates are courting the black vote. In truth Trump has done more in two years for the blacks and minorities than the past 10 president did in their full terms. When a politician promotes reparations the media should ask them how they would implement the plan.

 

I vote that all persons in the US who owned slaves liquidate their assets and pay reparations to everyone who was a slave of those persons.

Fixed.

 

All those who have claimed they are descendants of Washington,Jefferson and our other slave owning founding fathers can now pay to settle up the sins of their ancestors,keep me out of it I am a relative Johnny come lately.

 

Whites have been paying reparations since the advent of income tax. LBJ just put it in overdrive.

 

Reparations are evil because they are racist. To view an individual guilty because of skin color is to present yourself as an inhuman monster, unworthy of the title, Human Being.

It will led to rebellion, destruction, and death. It will create a race war. It’s is disheartening and sickening.
Shame on those for supporting this monsterity of an anti-idea.

If it is enacted, there will be blood, and it’s the good who will suffer the most; but it is the racists who will lose.

Ayn Rand: “Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man’s genetic lineage—the notion that a man’s intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.”— http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/racism.html

 

Yep, right out of Trumps playbook....

 

Although I'm sympathetic to the moral case for reparations, the OP points out why there will never be real reparations for slavery; determining eligibility is just too complex. However as a political issue, it's just delicious! Frankly, I'm surprised it took the Democrats this long to pull it out. Now it will be part of every Presidential election from now on, and then after the election, vanish until it's time to campaign again.

 

No, that's the Democrats....they know no shame...

 

To be fair.....every and I mean every political candidate for a high office makes promises they can't keep, or don't intend to keep.

 

I like the idea. I figure the descendants of slaves owe me for quite a bit. There's the devaluation of property I owned back in the 80s when they were running all over the place smoking crack. Let's not forget the cost of replacing my car's radio antenna (used to smoke crack with), and the fact that I couldn't keep anything of value in my yard. Hell, even my pit bull puppy was nicked out of the front yard!!! My stereo, a guitar, and let's not forget the lack of sleep when the ladies got their welfare checks. The all night parties raged long into the night and only ended when I got a knock on my door at 2am asking me if I would like to buy food stamps at half price.

Prisons aren't cheap and neither are cops. Oh, and the time I paid for a burger at some fast food place, and it was grabbed the great great grandson of a former slave right at the damn counter! What cheek!

Oh good grief, I almost forgot my stolen 69 dodge dart! Added all up and adjusted for inflation with a perfectly reasonable 5% interest, I figure maybe 100k might just about cover my losses.

Fred has an even more comprehensive list than mine, so I'm actually being quite generous.
https://fredoneverything.org/fred-plops-for-reparations-sells-out-to-race-hustlers/

 

I had an ancestors about 8 generations back that owned slaves. How do I calculate what I owe and who do I make the check out to?

 

Sons are not guilty of the sins of their fathers. The politicians will want the government to send out the checks so that hides who is paying. But that means all taxpayers are paying people who were given a great gift -- that of being born in the U.S because their ancestors were brought here against their will in slave ships. How lucky can you be. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Denouncing US citizenship should be a prerequisite for taking reparations. Nobody alive in America has ever been a slave and nobody alive in America has ever owned a slave.

I have slave owners and native Americans in my family tree. Can I just pay myself? Or maybe I should pay my mixed race granddaughter. I'll be spending lots of money on her anyway.

 

I don't think that's really necessary. All they have to do is file a class action lawsuit, and then try to get some sympathetic judge to decide in their favor. Since you are the descendant of slave owners, whatever you inherited from them could theoretically be used to pay for damages to anybody who can claim they used to be your great great great grandfather's slave, and that this has negatively affected their life.

I dunno, maybe we could say that their ancestor was valued at the price of $500 confederate dollars, so then after deducting for the price of maintenance (food, clothing, shelter, education), you could then be forced to pay for out of whatever you inherited from your uncle Ebenezer.

How many confederate dollars did you inherit?

 

How is this even an idea? Of all the stupid ideas the left has, this has got to be one of the stupidest. It’s been over 150 years since slavery was abolished. If you havnt got your act together by now, that’s on you. Your reparation is that you get to be a citizen of the greatest nation in the history of the world.

 

Ebeneezer was my great grandfather. Maybe he inherited something from his slave owning grandfather.

 

Maybe a few bucks named Toby, perchance?

 

I’ve never inherited anything.

 

I guess you haven't paid attention the last 2 years.

 

Then I guess grandpa Ebenezer really did take it with him.

I get the idea that there are some blacks out there that think all you have to do is sell Tara, and they'll be sitting pretty on all that reparation money.

 

True, but this guy says things that have NO CHANCE, NO CHANCE (Mexico will pay for the wall) of being true and 35% of voters bought it. And STILL believe what he says.

 

Where's my reparations for Mongolians raping and pillaging my village?

Where's Spain's reparations for Muslims constantly invading Iberia and North Africa enslaving millions?

I'm waiting.

 

He had 9 kids, and my grandfather was one of his youngest. I have some deadbeat relatives who saw that my parents didn't inherit anything when he and grandmother died.