Jump to content


Reparations, Racism & Building a better Society


Reparations  

23 members have voted

You do not have permission to vote in this poll, or see the poll results. Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

26 minutes ago, B.B. Hemingway said:

 

Only if they take the mule too....

Obviously people aren't going to use land and a mule to farm but realistically the culture is different now. At that time 40 acres and a mule outright would have done alot. Instead former slaves got a raw deal with sharecropping which was essentially a slavery loophole. Reperations make sense to me. Its messed up people are wealthy generations later off the backs of slaves and the same people who built that wealth have very little in comparison.

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

10 hours ago, teachercd said:

Anyone else think it is insulting to blame "everyone"...my parents didn't do a f#&%ing thing to keep anyone down...because they were in another country doing all they could to get here...

 

I am also guessing most of your ancestors never did a f#&%ing thing to hold anyone back.

 

The "you were never a slave, and I was never a slave owner" argument gets mocked, but it's also....true.

As disgusting as slavery was, it certainly wasn't unique to the United States, and certainly isn't the only genocidal-like event in human history. The idea of handing out large sums of money to descendents is laughable in my opinion.

  • Plus1 3
Link to comment

I'm with @B.B. Hemingway and @teachercd on this one.  Both sides of my family didn't move here until after 1890, but one could also argue they wanted to move to America for opportunities which were built on the backs of slaves... However,  it would be next to impossible to determine which current citizens have wealth based on slavery and which ones don't. And could even be very difficult to determine the degree to which families were negatively effected by slavery.

 

I would be against any form of "direct payment" to anyone, because the source of the money and the calculation of the payment couldn't realistically be made.  How easy is it for a person to trace their lineage back to slavery?  Maybe this could be something as simple as, "show me that an ancestor was a slave and we will give you a scholarship to a public school of some kind".  There could be other ideas like this, maybe a "interest free" home loan or something similar.

 

I know that seems like a piddly deal, but if a person is still "struggling" because of slavery, they should take it and take a "free" step in building a better life.  If they determine they don't want it, they must be doing okay.

  • Plus1 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
2 hours ago, funhusker said:

I'm with @B.B. Hemingway and @teachercd on this one.  Both sides of my family didn't move here until after 1890, but one could also argue they wanted to move to America for opportunities which were built on the backs of slaves... However,  it would be next to impossible to determine which current citizens have wealth based on slavery and which ones don't. And could even be very difficult to determine the degree to which families were negatively effected by slavery.

 

I would be against any form of "direct payment" to anyone, because the source of the money and the calculation of the payment couldn't realistically be made.  How easy is it for a person to trace their lineage back to slavery?  Maybe this could be something as simple as, "show me that an ancestor was a slave and we will give you a scholarship to a public school of some kind".  There could be other ideas like this, maybe a "interest free" home loan or something similar.

 

I know that seems like a piddly deal, but if a person is still "struggling" because of slavery, they should take it and take a "free" step in building a better life.  If they determine they don't want it, they must be doing okay.

How about...if it can be traced back that YOUR (not you, I mean in general) ancenestors owned slaves or traded slaves that YOU (again, not you, the general you) have to pick up the tab for a teens college bill.

 

I am guessing that a lot of big talkers are going to get really f#&%ing quiet. 

Link to comment

I think reparations are unworkable but I think there are real steps we can take to even the playing field

 

A few ideas

 

1. Start wt prison reform and sentencing reform :  current system locks up a  disappropriate %  of minorities . This can create a culture of hopelessness. While AA and minorities may create a higher % of crime in ratio to their population the lock up rate is still much to high.

2. Education - target high risk areas with grants to get younger kids into schools that perform well or to improve the schools in their local area. 

3. Higher Ed - if some of the Dem canditates want free higher ed - phase it first by targeting low income areas - that move HS grads into

educational opportunities (vo-tech and college) that will give them the tools to succeed.

4. Tax and investment Incentives for business to build factories, or start businesses in low income or plighted areas

  • Plus1 2
Link to comment
1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

I think reparations are unworkable but I think there are real steps we can take to even the playing field

 

A few ideas

 

1. Start wt prison reform and sentencing reform :  current system locks up a  disappropriate %  of minorities . This can create a culture of hopelessness. While AA and minorities may create a higher % of crime in ratio to their population the lock up rate is still much to high.

2. Education - target high risk areas with grants to get younger kids into schools that perform well or to improve the schools in their local area. 

3. Higher Ed - if some of the Dem canditates want free higher ed - phase it first by targeting low income areas - that move HS grads into

educational opportunities (vo-tech and college) that will give them the tools to succeed.

4. Tax and investment Incentives for business to build factories, or start businesses in low income or plighted areas

Most dem candidates support this.  As far as I know, only Yang is giving out cash...

Link to comment
3 hours ago, teachercd said:

How about...if it can be traced back that YOUR (not you, I mean in general) ancenestors owned slaves or traded slaves that YOU (again, not you, the general you) have to pick up the tab for a teens college bill.

 

I am guessing that a lot of big talkers are going to get really f#&%ing quiet. 

That's pretty ignorant.  

 

I'm guessing that other than folks here that are 100% native american or potentially have immigrated from elsewhere in the last 60-70 years everybody has relatives who owned, hired or traded slaves.  Even my very poor relatives that immigrated from Europe and eventually made their way to Nebraska for the Homestead Act had slave interests while they were farming in NC, VA, KY etc.  sometimes listed as "housekeeper" or "horseman" "caregiver".  Some slaves were even tradespeople.  

 

Many seem to have the idea that slavery was mostly large numbers of people working on a farm to bring in crops but that's actually a very small part of the overall population.  Give me your info and some time on ancestry.com and it's pretty easy to trace.

 

And there's a difference between being a slave owner, and a slave holder which is interesting, but regardless the slave society is a broader idea with far more impact than if you just looked at who owned another person on paper.  And all our people were a part of that.

 

Just think about the folks used to build the railroads that populated Nebraska - it was not the hands of citizens who built the tracks.

  • Plus1 1
  • Thanks 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
2 hours ago, TGHusker said:

I think reparations are unworkable but I think there are real steps we can take to even the playing field

 

A few ideas

 

1. Start wt prison reform and sentencing reform :  current system locks up a  disappropriate %  of minorities . This can create a culture of hopelessness. While AA and minorities may create a higher % of crime in ratio to their population the lock up rate is still much to high.

2. Education - target high risk areas with grants to get younger kids into schools that perform well or to improve the schools in their local area. 

3. Higher Ed - if some of the Dem canditates want free higher ed - phase it first by targeting low income areas - that move HS grads into

educational opportunities (vo-tech and college) that will give them the tools to succeed.

4. Tax and investment Incentives for business to build factories, or start businesses in low income or plighted areas

I agree with this. I'd add a few more things like undoing the generational damage done during the Great Recession through home repossession, leveling the healthcare playing field (I prefer M4A), and desegregating our home buying/neighborhoods. One of the biggest continuing ways we continue to uphold racial injustice is how we allocate money to schools based on property taxes, which creates unequal schools and districts because of the disparity in who can afford the houses.

  • Fire 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, NM11046 said:

That's pretty ignorant.  

 

I'm guessing that other than folks here that are 100% native american or potentially have immigrated from elsewhere in the last 60-70 years everybody has relatives who owned, hired or traded slaves.  Even my very poor relatives that immigrated from Europe and eventually made their way to Nebraska for the Homestead Act had slave interests while they were farming in NC, VA, KY etc.  sometimes listed as "housekeeper" or "horseman" "caregiver".  Some slaves were even tradespeople.  

 

Many seem to have the idea that slavery was mostly large numbers of people working on a farm to bring in crops but that's actually a very small part of the overall population.  Give me your info and some time on ancestry.com and it's pretty easy to trace.

 

And there's a difference between being a slave owner, and a slave holder which is interesting, but regardless the slave society is a broader idea with far more impact than if you just looked at who owned another person on paper.  And all our people were a part of that.

 

Just think about the folks used to build the railroads that populated Nebraska - it was not the hands of citizens who built the tracks.

Look, I get what you are saying but my ancestors did nothing...yours did and you feel guilt over it, I get that.

 

Go pay for a kids college.  I guarantee you that the kid will be super happy and that you will feel great about helping out.

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

1 hour ago, teachercd said:

Look, I get what you are saying but my ancestors did nothing...yours did and you feel guilt over it, I get that.

 

Go pay for a kids college.  I guarantee you that the kid will be super happy and that you will feel great about helping out.

I’ll simply refer you  to the first line of my post.  

 

It still rings true in response to this. 

  • Plus1 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
22 hours ago, teachercd said:

Anyone else think it is insulting to blame "everyone"...my parents didn't do a f#&%ing thing to keep anyone down...because they were in another country doing all they could to get here...

 

I am also guessing most of your ancestors never did a f#&%ing thing to hold anyone back.

The fact of the matter is our white ancestors had every opportunity to advance and create wealth for themselves in their lives in America while many people of colors ancestors were not afforded the same opportunity. Things still aren't equal now. I'm not guilty about my ancestors, its just really obvious white people have been given the advantage of accumulating wealth here since we have arrived while similtaniously oppressing people of colors ability to do so. Its time we make things right and no, that doesn't mean you personally have to pay for someones college.

  • Plus1 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
31 minutes ago, Nebfanatic said:

The fact of the matter is our white ancestors had every opportunity to advance and create wealth for themselves in their lives in America while many people of colors ancestors were not afforded the same opportunity. Things still aren't equal now. I'm not guilty about my ancestors, its just really obvious white people have been given the advantage of accumulating wealth here since we have arrived while similtaniously oppressing people of colors ability to do so. Its time we make things right and no, that doesn't mean you personally have to pay for someones college.

Not mine, mine were not here in America.

 

And why not pay for someones college, I think it sounds like an amazing thing to do for someone that can't afford it.

 

I am 1000% for giving people money.  I just can't figure out why some the posters seem to think all of our ancestors were part of problem.  

Link to comment
1 minute ago, teachercd said:

Not mine, mine were not here in America.

 

And why not pay for someones college, I think it sounds like an amazing thing to do for someone that can't afford it.

You parents aren't American? If you are American from birth you have enjoyed advantages whether you want to acknowledge it or not. We can pay for education but your assertion of an individual paying for another individuals college is a troll job at best. Try looking at the bigger picture and stop taking this issue so personally.

  • Plus1 3
Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...