and some other stuff and write checks to AA, NA and JA...


After raising the top tax bracket back to 75% where it belongs.

or Japanese Americans, or Mexican Americans who also had whole swathes of land taken from them (Texas, California. etc. anyone?) and the Chinese Americans who were treated brutally as they help build the railroads and the whole fu_king West.

Wait a minute, that just about includes all people of color, and we better include th indentured whites.

Hell we owe just about every fu_cking body.

I say cut the defense department budget in half for a year only and set up college funds, small business start-up funds, and pensions for the elderly that have went thru a lot of hell for life and that would just about do it.

There It Is.

I saw Billy Bragg do it in Golden Gate Park a few years back with altered lyrics about forgiving the debt of African nations as reperations for slavery. I liked the idea.

However, I think a free college education might be a good start. I suggest it because it would be more benefit to the recipient than the small amount of money that each person will receive. (I cannot see congress ever giving each person very much.)

I got this idea from an Irish family that lived near me - the family had a scholarship to a college in Ireland for any male in the family. So far their kids have not been able to take advantage of this. So the reparation would be generational for so many generations.

Don't know if this is a dumb or a good idea.

As to who pays. What a fight this is going to be. In reality it should be those who benefited from the work that the slaves did. But how do we determine who they are today. One think you are correct about is that it should not be the minimum wage worker because he/she have their own problems that cannot be easily fixed.

It would benefit not just the individuals, but the whole country.

We can manage to educate people through taxes up to high school. We could do so beyond too.

would benefit the whole country.

But we are talking reparations. Right?

I was going to take the post in bits and comment but, damn, in trying to do that, the same response kept coming for each part.

Deliberate ignorance and defense of the 'the poor white man' yet again.

I found the post to be quite nauseating in it's ignorance.

please education ... it is the cure to ignorance.

along with my cynicism as to the agenda of those who post things like the OP points out. I will take your sage advice and work toward responding with less frustration as educating is of more value for sure.

I found the post to be quite nauseating in it's ignorance.

So, because you are easily nauseated, the person that has posted an honest attempt at understanding and discussing a problem, is simply dismissed as ignorant?

I presented no defense of the "poor white man", nor will I. That was not my intent, yet your bigotry and need to denigrate anyone that, in your eyes, does not see things as you think they should came through loud and clear.

Do you ever wonder why someone, in your words is "ignorant"? Or have you, from your ivory tower, simply decreed that anything that does not fall into your preconceived notions, must spring from an ignorant mind?

(In your case, the word "ignorant" is clearly a pejorative, and I have no doubt that you meant it as such.)

And now, rather than reasonably discuss the topic at hand, I fully expect you to alert on me. That is why DU is falling so far behind.

I have been lurking for a long time around here. I am overjoyed at the fact that a forum has been presented that allows the progressive voice to be heard. Unfortunately, every time I try to present a reasonable view with the least little bit of opposition, I run into someone like you, who feels that every step should be a lockstep.

I wonder just who the bigot is, sometimes.

quite nauseating, yes I did. You talk about lockstep, could you provide an example of one of your posts and a response you consider demanding 'lockstep' as I am unsure of your point without further clarification.

Ignorant, when not done willfully, denotes a complete lack of knowledge which was how I used the term. Such lack of knowledge in this day and age is, imo, nauseating at times.

I don't alert on responses unless they are truly egregious which yours was not.

Knowing this country can afford what it wants to afford, I hold that current America is compelled to make reparations a viable top priority in spending.

We have the networks, monetary structure, land base and logistics to make reparations happen on the scale of the ACA. I can come up with a plan to qualify recipients, set up a range of reparations choices and fairly honor all those whose descendants were slaves, but for now, just count me in the FOR category.

Also, I don't consider the reparations question some litmus test for flushing out bigots and racists, either. I've gone over this issue with my high school students over the years and have been exposed to a number of arguments from within the black community. Reasonable people may disagree about compensation to descendants of slaves without being cast as harboring unconscious prejudice or low self esteem.

Govt paid college at Public Universities for all African American and Native American students. You could add some conditions (in-state only, must maintain a 2.0 GPA) and add some community service requirements, etc. It could be paid for by cuts to the military and modernizing the Foreign Service/Embassy System. It would act as a double stimulus to our economy. First it would increase the coffers of every public university across the nation. Secondly it would add millions of educated workers.


* Actually, I'd include every student regardless of race into this program. Of course, that takes it out of the realm of reparations.


BTW, there are more whites on welfare than all other races combined in the US.

... often blame those they perceive as "beneath them on the social ladder" when they ought to be blaming the rats at the top.

It's raw racism when they squeal about affirmative action and such rather than recognizing everyone in the lower income groups as brothers and sisters, and that the success of any one oppressed group (black, Native American, Hispanic, LGBT, etc.) is not at the expense of others except as those mostly white male old wealthy oligarchs connive to make it so.

The white person who claims "but really, I'm not a bigoted person" is, in fact, a bigoted person. They simply don't recognize it yet.

Really, how could eligibility be decided today? There has been modern immigration from Africa, inter-racial marriages are becoming more frequent; and even during slavery there were free blacks, some of whom were well-off. Imagine that the (very unlikely, I guess) event that the country was going to make reparations -- will the payees have to look black, or do genealogical research to establish that their AA ancestors were here during slavery, or provide DNA samples to establish percentage of African ancestry? Really, it seems quite difficult.

At the societal or institutional level, restitutions would make more sense. Isn't this part of the thought thought behind affirmative action?

the question.

Reparations aren't only cash payments, they can be acts to right wrongs, acts that change systemic discrimination.

All of society should be considered in the equation on how to right a wrong.

I don't feel 'the poor white man' to be unduly put upon at all as 'the poor white man' in the post has the widget job because, all too often, when a poor white man and a poor black man are vying for the same job, the poor white man gets it more often than the poor black man.

I now have some questions for the DUer who posted what is in your OP and they are:

Do you believe there was an injustice done historically?
Do you believe injustice continues to this day, and if so, to whom? If you believe injustice still occurs, what do you think should be done to address it? If you don't believe injustice still occurs, could you explain why you think that way?

Maybe this seems harsh but why should I care that you want a free hand out for past injustices?
Does racism exist? Certainly! Ask help to fix the problem. Every once in a while people talk about a guaranteed income as a solution we should implement. Why? I would like to see greater opportunity, We the people elected a Black Man to our highest office. A very minor start to fixing the problem. These threads reinforce the worst stereotypes that people just want a hand out. I would gladly pay more taxes to help our youth get a college education sans the crushing debt burden they now carry. Lets help the next generation have more opportunity than our generation had. This is all of the next generation Black, Native American, Latinos and Whites. Lets raise the minimum wage so there is actually a path out of crushing poverty for anybody willing to work. If you can't find work lets as a society employ you and make sure you have an opportunity for a decent life. Lets help those who have fallen get back on their feet. I am turned off by the give-me give-me narrative though.

Perhaps, I should keep my mouth shut and let those who have suffered much greater injustices than I ever will have their say.

as a concern troll, but that is just about as bad as what you had in your last thread. Just kinda worded differently imo.

Some things that stand out to me; "And, I use the terms black man and white man for no other reason than brevity. I intend no gender discrimination." - Why even tell other posters that? Who needs that disclaimer?

"Don't dismiss my words out of hand, until you have given them thought. No matter what you call it, where it comes from or who actually has it put in their hand, there will be a problem." - Yeah the problem is the poster would be pissed off about it.

"Someone will chime in here and say: "Well, just have the Bureau of Whoever is Responsible for Printing Money, just print up some money." Well, you and I both know that won't work, even if they have printed up bushels of money for unjust and uncalled for wars." - What the fuck is this gibberish OF COURSE IT WOULD WORK! It would make black people billionaires! How does the author account for it making Wall Street barons trillions and trillions? Simple Simon rubbish.

What say I? - A very bad attempt at essay writing and concern trolling imo.