Reparations, Racism & Building a better Society

[TGHusker]

Reparations came up in the Dem debate last night.  

A bunch of questions besides those in the poll:

The question is should the US Gov't pay out reparations?  If so to who? And How Much?  How should it be distributed?

The larger question, as Joe Biden brought up "Is this generation responsible for the sins of their grandfathers  of many generations ago?

Should we drop the idea of reparations and concentrate on systemic racism of today and if so, how?

Are all races and ethnic groups capable of racism?
 

We could start a list of races/ethnic groups  that have been affect by racism throughout our history

The American Indian

The African American

The Hispanic American (most of the SW was once a part of Mexico)

Japanese Americans

Irish Americans

(name the immigration wave of past or potentially in the future)

[NM11046]

This is an interesting topic - I'm going to answer some of the questions above, but this is a topic I have some thoughts on but no specific ideas on solutions.  I'm excited for the discussion.

 

I think we should consider different solutions for different population groups.  For example I think that with Native Americans the greatest insult stems from land grabs, so reparations such as tax credits, low interest government loans, programs to assist them on reservations (healthcare, ed etc) and off are appropriate.  With African Americans I think I'd lean more toward monetary comp as well as education, Affirmative Action etc.  I don't think this should only be with government agencies, but that private corporations should either be rewarded for hiring minorities, or penalized for not doing so.

 

I do think we're responsible for the errors our ancestors made.  The minority groups who were taken advantage of are at such a deficit to us in income, home ownership, overall wealth, education etc and they'll never catch up.  That's on us, and if we can make adjustments to make those differences less severe that is our responsibility.

 

None of the moves made on reparations should take away from the focus on efforts to concentrate on systemic racism.  The fact that people think it's an either or situation are a big part of the problem.  My guess is those folks are also think the "problems" are far less of an issue than they are.

 

So my question is - let's try to even things up with these racial groups, but then are we headed toward the same debate about gender differences?  Sexual orientation?  Loaded questions, for me at least, as I think those too have to be acknowledged.

 

Like I said, a lot of this is fluid, I'm sure my mind will shift as others contribute.

 

https://money.cnn.com/2016/08/09/news/economy/blacks-white-wealth-gap/index.html

 

 

[teachercd]

Intersting.

 

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

When I think of reparations, I think about the Chapelle Show skit, and wonder how close to accurate that would be.

[LumberJackSker]

I didn't watch the debate so I'm not sure if this came up but one thing I always wonder when this comes up is who would get reparations. Would it be all African Americans or just those who can trace their ancestry back to a certain time? 

[B.B. Hemingway]

52 minutes ago, LumberJackSker said:

I didn't watch the debate so I'm not sure if this came up but one thing I always wonder when this comes up is who would get reparations. Would it be all African Americans or just those who can trace their ancestry back to a certain time? 

 

I just hope Joe Rogan gets his taste....

[Landlord]

I can not possibly see scenarios where reparations would logistically make sense and be equitable. I'm open to being presented with one but thus far I haven't seen anything even close, and am also probably closer along the lines of thinking that things like welfare and affirmative action end up hurting more than they help at scale, so I don't know if it's even necessarily a good idea or not conceptually.

 

I do get a kick out of the idea of simple straight forward monetary reparations for black people though. Like, Oprah might get $100,000 from the government while she's got a hispanic au pair who makes 40k a year and wouldn't get anything? Or black people who immigrated here within the last 100 years would get money despite no connection or ancestry to the slave trade or primitive America?

[B.B. Hemingway]

I would hope no one would be getting anywhere close to $100,000.

[teachercd]

If they start NM idea...I am going to OD on tanning pills...

 

 

[Nebfanatic]

9 hours ago, B.B. Hemingway said:

I would hope no one would be getting anywhere close to $100,000.

How much is 40 acres worth today? 

[teachercd]

12 minutes ago, Nebfanatic said:

How much is 40 acres worth today? 

Ha...depends where!

[Nebfanatic]

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

Ha...depends where!

Sure, but certainly 100,000 dollars wouldn't be out of the question. Some places that would be considered a steal 

[B.B. Hemingway]

2 hours ago, Nebfanatic said:

How much is 40 acres worth today? 

 

We're giving them free land now? Can't wait to see how that's cultivated....

[Nebfanatic]

11 minutes ago, B.B. Hemingway said:

 

We're giving them free land now? Can't wait to see how that's cultivated....

I mean that was the original deal that we didn't hold up 

[B.B. Hemingway]

31 minutes ago, Nebfanatic said:

I mean that was the original deal that we didn't hold up 

 

Only if they take the mule too....