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Originally posted by wcssar
post Katrina workers are hardly the same thing
by the argument that your ancestors crimes are your you say your heritage is guilty that very close to the reasoning of racist and Nazi's.
if you have traveled in the world you see it all the time
people killing each other about something their grand feathers did or did not do.
on a side note there should be a way to shift or move a thread as sometimes it's hard to know where it should go.
Originally posted by wcssar
i just said that holding you responsible for your linage or ancestors was close to what the Nazi espoused.
so don't try to bait me into a flame war
Originally posted by wcssar
i get so tired hearing people complain about their ancestors problems.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Has someone here said that you are responsible for what your great grand father did or didn't do? Has someone said that you owe them something?
Originally posted by wcssar
2:i lived in Greece and traveled in turkey in the 70's and the atmosphere was rife with " I'll get you for what your ancestors did to mine" or you dirty Greeks/Turks owe us for what was done to my grand father
3: slavery was never a main theme in what i was asking about, but i can see that it would be a topic that if my recent ancestors had been slaves would not be easily overlooked.
5:flame war. no i have not seen one and am not interested in such, when a thread just becomes name calling and such it is about as interesting as watching kindergartners squabble on the playground
6: reparations should be as you have said the realm of the government since it was the law/policy of the government that made it legal
we must get over the past or it will drag us back into the same patterns of hate and violence that killed our grand fathers
Originally posted by HarlemHottie
And that's all I'm saying. I don't blame you, or BH, for anything, other than not standing with us to demand the US gov't right this egregious wrong.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Just so you and everyone knows, you're right.
I don't stand with you to demand that the US gov't "right this wrong"... because I don't think they can.
Because I think it would be a disaster for you to get it.
This country needs to continue to move toward equality for all people. I DO stand by that.
Originally posted by HarlemHottie
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Because I think it would be a disaster for you to get it.
That's not your call.
I wonder at the motivation behind such a comment.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
This country needs to continue to move toward equality for all people. I DO stand by that.
That's a cop-out.
Originally posted by HarlemHottie
Reparations does not address discrimination and racism. It's not meant to...
Reparations is deferred payment for forced labor, period.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
they would be paid only to descendants of slaves,
and the funds for such payments would come from a special tax levied only against descendants of slave owners.
This debt, if we agree it exists, cannot be transferred to the population at large. Here's why...
If these reparations were deferred payment for forced labor, period, we'd also have to figure wages at the time of slavery to determine the amount owed. And we'd have to subtract room and board (as meager as it was - it was given).
And then we'd have to know who all were slaves and have accurate records of their descendants.
Because if the government uses my taxes (me not being the descendant of slave-owners) to pay "black people" (many not the descendants of slaves) some arbitrary amount of money in reparations... Is that fair?
I'm not saying this is your take on it. It's one I've heard.
Originally posted by HarlemHottie
Nobody is asking you [as anyone's descendant] for anything...The reparations claim is made against the federal government, who received tax revenue, and corporations who made money from what were essentially unconstitutional trade practices.
Originally posted by HarlemHottie
Absolutely. Who suggested otherwise?
I disagree here.
The federal government is guilty of legalizing and unconstitutional practice. The money should come out of the government's coffers, however they manage to get it.
Individuals will have to make their peace, if they feel that they need to, some other way.
If I may tweak your example a bit,
It's more like, someone builds a house on an Indian burial ground, their descendants live there happily, and invite the new guy to move in. When the fed's come knocking, to make it a historical site or whatever, the new guy has to leave too.
Because, if you really think about it, black Americans would also be funding out [our] own restitution, and that's not fair either.
This country has paid reparations before,
I doubt that the Germans deducted 'concentration camp' expenses from Holocaust survivors.
(btw, I say "who-all" too. )
No, but we don't get much of a choice when it comes to how they spend our money.