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I wasn’t saying one thing or another, I was pointing out that if you address the broad topic of economic disparity, it’s not reparations. If you address the broader issue of racism, it’s not reparations. If you focus on reparations, it’s technically limited to just descendants of slaves. Raising an issue doesn’t mean I’m arguing a side. This is what discussion looks like, rather than debate; sometimes it’s hard for some to recognize the distinction.
The reality is that a disparity exists between whites and blacks.
Anti-black sentiments and structural racism are directly related to racism.
Then why do it? These are people’s lives we’re talking about here, not some intellectual exercise.
Discussions should not rest on counterfactuals or include bringing up points just for the fun of it.
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Mindysan, why are you doing this again? I’m VERY CLEAR in what I wrote that I’m talking about both past and present racist acts, and the need to stop the current thefts and oppressions too. Very clear. Why would you snip 5 words out of a long post and pretend that I was only talking about past evils?
No one - no one - can read what I wrote and honestly think that I’m saying that cops shooting young black men today is ok and doesn’t need to be stopped.
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My point was that it’s not past debts, it’s current debts.
But hey, whatever.
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I’m not bringing up points just “for the fun of it” I’m discussing viewpoints trying to arrive at a reasoned decision. Others may prefer to only take a side, push it hard and use ALL CAPS because they think they’re know they’re right, and find ways of pushing others into looking like they’re taking the wrong side, vilifying them as racists or worse. Others of us would prefer to have a conversation, because we’re trying to find real solutions, not just grandstand for the commentariat.
It’s both. Heavy past debts, and heavy current debts. As I said in my post.
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Yes. I do prefer to take a side. I’m sick of living in this racist world.
I guess I’m an asshole, then.
That has not historically been white people. Nor is it generally speaking today. You’re basically arguing here that we can’t do reparations because it’s too complex, and some whites might feel hurt or might riot. You might be right about the rioting part, but this is well past due. In this case, there is a right side. You’re either on it, or you’re not.
My apologies.
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Accepted, and thanks.
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Never said that. Quite the opposite. RTFC.
Oh and I’m not? Way to beat up a straw man.
To the extent that you continue to mischaracterize peoples comments, and try to “win” instead of thinking and discussing… well I’m not going to say you’re an asshole but your self-righteousness is boorish.
Sure. Whatever. Happy to carry that banner if you want to put it on me. Nothing new in my life, actually. Never been popular, never been treated kindly, never been accepted in the in crowd. Never been cool. Always been a fucking boorish asshole. Given the state of the in crowd, I’ll happily be a boor for the rest of my life, because I’d rather be that than mistake “discussion” for changing the world.
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This is the “other side” - virulent racists who believe that having skin that sunburns easily is proof of superiority.
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The US also owes repatriations to Haiti, for the money the US and France extorted, the additional money the US stole, and for constant fuckery.
White America is the Thanos of history: self-righteous mass murdering fuckwits.
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The truly boorish thing? None of these “discussions” are new. I grew up listening to the same whining about how it would never work, when it came to reparations for quite literally stolen land.
The slaves in America were stolen people. Upthread someone brought up the Irish. If I wanted to, I could trace my ancestry back generations to before they started writing things down. For all the cries of “Irish were slaves, too!” (Please. Not the same at all. Not even fucking close), we didn’t have our identities stripped from us. We didn’t lose our histories.
Some Black people in the US can’t go back more than two generations. That’s how much it’s really not in our past. Catholicism took root in America (because it’s not the Irish, but Catholicism that was being discriminated against… It just so happened that the bulk of the Irish underclass were Catholic). Show me where the religions of the slaves survived largely intact. Show me where they survived.
The only problem I have is there aren’t enough reparations. There is nothing we can do that can even begin to make up for the damage done.
The difference is, I don’t think that’s a reason to throw up our hands and say “welp, nothing we can do, so I guess we’ll do nothing, LOL.” What we can do is grow up and knock it off with that shit.
I don’t care if it doesn’t seem “fair” if we give free education, or housing breaks, or just cut people checks and say “here you go.” Sure, we didn’t personally own slaves or settle on land we literally stole from people, but we’ve been living off the proceeds. Time to do the right thing about that.
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Agreed. But in order to make a new future, we have to first acknowledge the past. And too many people have no interest in doing so. But as you note…
Well past, actually. But yeah. Spot on!
But what does a boor like me, know! 
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No do-overs, huh? 
Well I guess that means we take down all the statues and just use the entire ex-confederacy for that 40 acres thing, right? I mean, they lost a conquest so…
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As a resident of the south, I’m okay with that!
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Same. Get south carolina in on it and there’s a decent starting bloc 
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Serious, lasting effects.
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