politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
A $20k check 35+ years later doesn't really seem like it could possibly make up for it. I suppose it's better than nothing.
But it is was a lot easier to single out who to compensate, because there was a lot less time In between and many of those people were still alive. The payments didn't go to all Japanese Americans, but only the ones who were documented as going to those camps or their heirs.
Paying formal restitutions for slavery now, 150+ years after the fact, seems meaningless. I'd much rather see that money go directly to historically black communities. Yes, you could do both, but if you just do one you're not splitting the effort.
It isn't just slavery even if that is the easiest part to focus on. Reparations are also for the systemic racism that followed the end of chattel slavery, including the continued slavery allowed in prisons, Jim Crow laws, redlining, lynchings, and white people burning down black communities with the support of the government in the 1900s. Yes, slavery is the catalyst, but it isn't the whole thing that society owes as reparations.
Also, it doesn't matter what racists say. They already say that discrimination against black people was solved with the civil rights movement and doesn't exist except for DEI initiatives being somehow racist against white people.
Reparations should be a one time payment AND continued reparations as a combination money and other services to lift up black communities which are still commonly targeted by racists.
Well said, thanks!
My worry is that it would create unnecessary racist tensions. People who are in severe poverty would be extremely resentful if they didn't get assistance for not being the right race.
The cycle of poverty is a universal problem that transcends race and I believe it should be solved at the root of the problem which is intergenerational poverty and discrimination. No matter what the cause, nobody should be left behind and especially not for racial reasons.
Also agree that this many years after slavery there is nobody to directly compensate. Is less than 1% black ancestry enough? Do they do DNA tests or would they need to prove they had an ancestor who was a slave? Many don't have family historical records, I know many people who don't even know their grandparents.
What if someone is a billionaire whose family had recently immigrated as a wealthy family from Africa? Are they getting it but a homeless person of every other race gets nothing? It effectively turns into a sort of racial means testing that is divisive and overly complicated.