Should reparations be payed?

I came across this article and thought it was a joke at first....curious on what ATS opinions are on this topic/article.

ht tp://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/05/reparations_should_be_paid_to_black_americans_here_is_how_america_should.html

a reply to: Euphem

Before discussing, or argueing, or ranting, everyone should read the original article by a-Nehisi Coates in the Atlantic.

The slate rehash is derivative.

Personally I don't think reparations should be paid.
If you are the generation responsible for atrocities then you should step up and pay.
We should not go back beyond a generation because it opens a Pandora's box of sorts.
Any group who feels slighted can cite the precedence to push further back in time to get some guilt money.

Not a good trend to set.

a reply to: Euphem

They did it to themselves. Lets please all move on. According to the 13 amendment slavery is still acceptable if a crime is committed...so its all the same. What about the Chinese? didn't we have them build railways and bridges and everything else? No one is owed anything in my opinion. And before someone else says it, What are your opinions?

a reply to: Euphem

How does one figure out who owes who what and how much and honestly, how much is really enough. Once reparations are paid does that even the playing field?

I often discuss this issue with a mix bag of people from ethnic backgrounds and I am blessed to have friends that can talk about this stuff openly and rationally. Who would figure that opposing races could talk about this stuff civilly. The bottom line regardless how much is paid out their will always be the issue of slavery that will never go away and so with that said all that can be done will never be enough.


I'm also dubious about your post as you stated that you thought this was a joke...and you appear to be a new member..I don't believe either of them...I think you are simply trolling....good luck

No, bad things happen to people in every civilization known to mankind and the ones it happened to in ours are no longer living. What about all the millions of poor and starving immigrants of all races who got the shaft during and before the great depression? We might as well give hand-outs to everyone living now in the U.S. since I'm sure their suffering can be traced back to just about any legal resident living here.

Slavery is a very old form of business and it's still going on today.

I have no idea why whites are still being blamed for slavery when the owners are all long gone and reparations are being payed in the sense of blacks being allowed to stay and having affirmative action.

F*** no!

Im not paying a penny for what my ancestors may or maynot have done 200 years back.

a reply to: Euphem

My opinion on the slave trade/civil rights, definitely not. It becomes a never ending cycle of reaching back to produce more guilt to produce more reparations. Does anyone know anyone on this board that had slaves 3 generations ago even, I imagine that unlikely.

As far as indigenous populations, such as North American Indians, in a country that has been overwhelmed by a conquering group, I think there is an amount of reparation due.

There is a difference between importing slavery and exporting genocide.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

North American Indians, in a country that has been overwhelmed by a conquering group, I think there is an amount of reparation due. -

^This I can agree with. Mainly because of how the Native Americans are still being treated now. They were basically segregated and told to live on reservations that are the equivalent of trash heaps, and still are to this day. This is not right when it was their land to begin with.

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: Euphem

As far as indigenous populations, such as North American Indians, in a country that has been overwhelmed by a conquering group, I think there is an amount of reparation due.

There is a difference between importing slavery and exporting genocide.

Cheers - Dave

everything else aside, this is the exact reason theu will never be paid.

Americans still living in the 19th century ..
Meanwhile in the 21st century with the rest of the world ..

Wow. The article said that, even if your family never owned slaves, you still owe? How's that work? I'm confused. I think this is all very played out. The race card has been played to death. Things were bad, stuff happened; it's different now, get over it. Move on with your life, and whatnot. Either way, i'm not paying a cent to anyone.

a reply to: Euphem

Who should pay? Only parties that profited by slavery should pay.

originally posted by: shadow watcher
Personally I don't think reparations should be paid.
If you are the generation responsible for atrocities then you should step up and pay.
We should not go back beyond a generation because it opens a Pandora's box of sorts.
Any group who feels slighted can cite the precedence to push further back in time to get some guilt money.

Not a good trend to set.

This is the main reason that I agree with you. But this is not the only issue where I would feel this way. Let's take WWII and the persecution of the Jews by the Third Reich. Godwin's Law, lol. I would not agree with making the German people of today literally pay for the crimes their relatives committed. Well this is a bit different because there might still be some alive today who went through those ordeals, but the vast majority of those responsible are gone.

There is not a single person in the US today who has kept slaves or who was a slave, in the sense we are talking about at least. If I really wanted to make it difficult for my argument, and I do, I would bring up the Native Americans. Is there any difference between the giving of land to Native Americans, which was taken away from them to a large degree, and paying reparations to relatives of former slaves? It is not an easy question to answer in my opinion.

I think most people would say that giving land for Native Americans to pursue their ancestral way of life is some form of compensation, and is justified under the circumstances. I agree with that. So should reparations be paid because slaves were cheated out of an entire life, or years of their lives? Surely some would argue that this parallel between Native Americans and former slaves means that reparations are justified.

But perhaps it is not so cut and dry, considering the differences. Such as the fact that the majority of former slaves integrated into American society, although the Civil Rights movement was still a long way off. Native Americans, in my opinion, did not integrate into modern society in the same way. And considering the time that has passed I am not sure that reparations are justified. But even though I do not agree with reparations, I cannot say that it is based on firm ground where the above argument is concerned.

Like others have pointed out, there are problems with practical application as well. It was a whole lot easier, and perhaps even fairer, to set aside land for entire tribes of Native Americans than to figure out who gets what were reparations for slavery is concerned. Someone mentioned the Chinese labor used in America, but I am not certain that this can be likened to the slavery African Americans underwent. There was some parallels to be sure, but some of the most degrading aspects were absent, which in my opinion makes a difference. So to sum it up, I still do not agree with reparations, for even more reasons than I mentioned, but I am quite certain that decent arguments could be made in favor of them.

a reply to: Euphem

The idea of paying *ahem* "reparations" to any one particular ethnic group based on past injustices is offensive. Every group in the world, racial, religious, class/status, has been pissed on by the majority or rather, by the ruling group throughout history. This is a Pandora's box that should never be opened becuase there are only two options to it:
1. Reinforce the concept of a "special interest minority group" by only dictating group A is "deserving" of payments for past injustices while all the other groups are not worthy.
or
2. Pay everybody for the identical amount of crap their ancestors dealt with and we're back to where we started, just with a bit more jingle in the pockets which will be meaningless because supply and demand sets prices and values in our society.

At some point, people have to mature enough to look back and say "Damn, my ancestors went through some serious *stuff*." and move on with their lives, working as hard as they need to to ensure they're always making life better for themselves.

a reply to: shadow watcher

yeah, if slave descendants get reparations for the 1800's then...

I get reparations from the crown for running us out of Britain in the centuries previous.

Or how about the Native Americans get stuff from Europe, im part that too.

originally posted by: HanzHenry
Or how about the Native Americans get stuff from Europe, im part that too.

Hmmm... do we ignore the fact that more than a few of those native tribes raided and claimed slaves from other tribes? Which tribes can make claims against other tribes? Can they file reparations charges against the neolithic Mongols for pushing them across the land bridge in the first place?

Reparations won't solve anything. The same racist black people who are demanding reparations won't be satisfied until white people are hanging from trees.

a reply to: Thisbseth

I want to start off by saying that my best friend all through high school was black, we were on the same basketball and football teams together, and a few of my other closest friends during school were also black/mixed/or asian. The reason I say this is that I am a very blunt person, and can come off as an asshole/racist online.

Like I said initially, when I first read the title I thought it was a joke. After realizing the author was serious and reading the whole article I was dumbfounded. The majority of "facts" or "statistics" were beyond ridiculous. $10 trillion?! Might as well have said $100 trillion at that point.

I have asked all of my black friends this question before - Would you and your family be better off living in current day Africa going through all the hardships they deal with on a day to day basis(widespread disease, famine, lack of clean water or medicine etc..)as if slavery in America never existed? Or now living in current day America about as equal as man can get when it comes to human rights(regardless of race/religion) and having dealt with slavery?

I know that can come off racist, but it isn't. My friends know I have good intentions, and this actually has sparked some good conversations. The majority say better off in Africa, but I find that hard to believe. Any chance you have at reparations are out the door if you ever admitted that.