Reparations for slavery

[MrMan]

In fact their ancestors would have been killed. Black slaves were generally sold to whites and Jews by other blacks because they were captured in battle, were criminals or in other circumstances where they would otherwise have been killed. Therefore if modern blacks want to rectify the situation that slavery brought about, surely they should just kill themselves.

From what I've read, there were a few African kingdoms in west Africa that sold slaves to the British. Slaves were typically captured in raids.

If you mean by whites I would doubt it given that white men really couldn't survive long in the tropical African interior prior to modern medicine. Maybe they paid natives to carry out raids sometimes.

From what I've read, the English were buying slaves from certain kingdoms, for example the Hausa kingdom. The slaves were supplied through raids and possibly other means.

[yick]

It could work but obviously the will isn't there - it's an idea because what's certain is that black people aren't leaving the United States - they will be there as long as it exists and this debate isn't going away either. I think if we contain this idea within the southern states and they have to go back there to reap these imagined benefits - it's something that I have thought of from top of my head - I don't see why it can't work. It's not - give all black people a free ride - it's give historically disadvantaged people who suffered discrimination in that country a leg up. We don't have to go back all that far - 1965... and sundown towns were around as late as the 1980's.

Politically, having the federal government pay reparations...but only to the blacks in southern states... doesn't make any sense. I'm not in favor of reparations. I would be more in favor for them for American Indians in cases where the government went back on its word with their nation and took the reservation back. But if the government paid reparations to only blacks in southern states, the ones up north would be upset. After the Civil War, a lot of blacks moved from the south to work in factories up north. The vast majority of blacks in nothernern states are descendants of slaves. They wouldn't like your suggestion at all. There would be an outcry. It's better to give no reparations at all.

If states were giving out money, it might be a different story.

The idea, and I haven't given it much thought, they would have to move back there - so to tip the balance as it were, I don't see why taxpayers money in a state that had nothing to do with slavery - I don't know - Montana - should foot such a bill - a black person who could trace their linage back to a slave (not that far back...) if they moved to Alabama - they could reap some of the benefits.

It's not something I thought long and deep about, there might be loads of holes in the idea. The debate isn't going anywhere anytime soon though.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

Please stop all this talk about reparations. This is what the leftists want.

Being black does not hold people back in America, the culture of POVERTY does and being black while living in culture of poverty simply exacerbates the problem.

I personally am laughing at the suggestion that I should get payment for the suffering of some of my ancestors. I think the farm land that my great grandfather obtained from his former owners in the 1800s was more than sufficient. I still own a portion of that land today.

[yick]

The subject came up so people are talking about it.

Secondly, the debate is not going away - and until we make pathways for the 45% of African-Americans who aren't 'middle class' then they're going to keep bringing it up, I am neither African-American nor an American but it seems to me from my rather far vantage point that none of this is going away.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

The subject came up so people are talking about it.

Secondly, the debate is not going away - and until we make pathways for the 45% of African-Americans who aren't 'middle class' then they're going to keep bringing it up, I am neither African-American nor an American but it seems to me from my rather far vantage point that none of this is going away.

Well "the pathways" already exist. That is what is being missed.

But you are correct in that poverty is not going away because not everyone is meant to be middle class. Some are meant to be wealthy, some in the middle, and some are meant to be poor. This is a consequence of culture, human behavior and free market economics.

But what about the 30% of non-blacks who are below the middle class? Once a society opens the door to reparations for past injustice, there will be a flood of requests for the same. Native Americans would be next, Irish and Italians right after, Chinese for how they were treated during the early 20th century, then Japanese for the WWII Internment camps.

Those of us who know whats going on inside black American culture are not at all moved by the protests, the violence, and the rhetoric. This is shameless guilt politics designed to yield government wealth redistribution, a Marxist goal if there ever was one.

[gsjackson]

The subject came up so people are talking about it.

Secondly, the debate is not going away - and until we make pathways for the 45% of African-Americans who aren't 'middle class' then they're going to keep bringing it up, I am neither African-American nor an American but it seems to me from my rather far vantage point that none of this is going away.

Well "the pathways" already exist. That is what is being missed.

But you are correct in that poverty is not going away because not everyone is meant to be middle class. Some are meant to be wealthy, some in the middle, and some are meant to be poor. This is a consequence of culture, human behavior and free market economics.

But what about the 30% of non-blacks who are below the middle class? Once a society opens the door to reparations for past injustice, there will be a flood of requests for the same. Native Americans would be next, Irish and Italians right after, Chinese for how they were treated during the early 20th century, then Japanese for the WWII Internment camps.

Those of us who know whats going on inside black American culture are not at all moved by the protests, the violence, and the rhetoric. This is shameless guilt politics designed to yield government wealth redistribution, a Marxist goal if there ever was one.

This is all true, and the current theatrics are nothing new. They've been going on at regular intervals for over 60 years. If Trump loses in November the professional agitators will disappear. If he wins, God only knows what will happen. I don't want to be anywhere near the U.S. at that point.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

The subject came up so people are talking about it.

Secondly, the debate is not going away - and until we make pathways for the 45% of African-Americans who aren't 'middle class' then they're going to keep bringing it up, I am neither African-American nor an American but it seems to me from my rather far vantage point that none of this is going away.

Well "the pathways" already exist. That is what is being missed.

But you are correct in that poverty is not going away because not everyone is meant to be middle class. Some are meant to be wealthy, some in the middle, and some are meant to be poor. This is a consequence of culture, human behavior and free market economics.

But what about the 30% of non-blacks who are below the middle class? Once a society opens the door to reparations for past injustice, there will be a flood of requests for the same. Native Americans would be next, Irish and Italians right after, Chinese for how they were treated during the early 20th century, then Japanese for the WWII Internment camps.

Those of us who know whats going on inside black American culture are not at all moved by the protests, the violence, and the rhetoric. This is shameless guilt politics designed to yield government wealth redistribution, a Marxist goal if there ever was one.

This is all true, and the current theatrics are nothing new. They've been going on at regular intervals for over 60 years. If Trump loses in November the professional agitators will disappear. If he wins, God only knows what will happen. I don't want to be anywhere near the U.S. at that point.

Yes, it is disheartening that some who live outside the USA are taking all this activity at face value.

About the election. I think the build-up to the coming second wave of Coronavirus is designed to potentially interfere with the November election. A second lockdown will give Democrat Governors to strategically close certain polling places to hurt Trump's chances, and if he still wins, Democrats can then violently contest the election as invalid due to the lockdown.

I see nothing but trouble if that comes to pass. That will be near the time I'll be in South America.