Reparations for slavery?

[PhilFish]

You could probably transfer your claims to a group like the Black Family Land Trust and help individuals who don’t have the luxury of waiving their legal title to property.

huh?

 

[Sunset Rose]

If there was proof it was stolen. Stretching to try to make a reason isn't going to win the debate. There was no stolen land. There was no stolen money.

There was stolen LABOR.

 

[Jen]

This is a hateful rant. Do you still admire Martin Luther King? Hard to believe after reading this.

Hateful?
Rant?
Nope. Not at all.
Martin Luther King said that we should judge people by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin. I agree with that 100%. I believe that Democrats of today have totally corrupted what MLK said and what he stood for. His niece Alveda King is one of the first in line to say that. I hold her in great esteem as I do MLK.......... the way he actually was, not the perverted version the Left has made up.

 

[Jen]

If somebody owed your ancestor money, but never paid him, would you want that money that was owed to your ancestor?

Perhaps the more truthful statement would have been this:
"If you thought somebody owed your ancestor money, but never paid him, would you expect that the money you thought was owed be paid to you now?"

There is no actual money owed anyone. It's just someone's idea that it was "owed". It has been paid back many times over when the descendants of slaves and any black person who has come to this nation since slavery gets to leap to the head of the line for a job (whether qualified or not).

Why wouldn't black people want to earn what they have in money and status on their own merit?

Expectation is not entitlement.

 

[Sunset Rose]

Hateful?
Rant?
Nope. Not at all.
Martin Luther King said that we should judge people by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin. I agree with that 100%. I believe that Democrats of today have totally corrupted what MLK said and what he stood for. His niece Alveda King is one of the first in line to say that. I hold her in great esteem as I do MLK.......... the way he actually was, not the perverted version the Left has made up.

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

 

[Sunset Rose]

Hateful?
Rant?
Nope. Not at all.
Martin Luther King said that we should judge people by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin. I agree with that 100%. I believe that Democrats of today have totally corrupted what MLK said and what he stood for. His niece Alveda King is one of the first in line to say that. I hold her in great esteem as I do MLK.......... the way he actually was, not the perverted version the Left has made up.

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

Perhaps the more truthful statement would have been this:
"If you thought somebody owed your ancestor money, but never paid him, would you expect that the money you thought was owed be paid to you now?"

There is no actual money owed anyone. It's just someone's idea that it was "owed". It has been paid back many times over when the descendants of slaves and any black person who has come to this nation since slavery gets to leap to the head of the line for a job (whether qualified or not).

Why wouldn't black people want to earn what they have in money and status on their own merit?

Expectation is not entitlement.

 

[EatTheRich]

Hateful?
Rant?
Nope. Not at all.
Martin Luther King said that we should judge people by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin. I agree with that 100%. I believe that Democrats of today have totally corrupted what MLK said and what he stood for. His niece Alveda King is one of the first in line to say that. I hold her in great esteem as I do MLK.......... the way he actually was, not the perverted version the Left has made up.

What other avowed socialists do you hold in high esteem?

Are you aware that King explicitly supported reparations?

 

[Sunset Rose]

Hateful?
Rant?
Nope. Not at all.
Martin Luther King said that we should judge people by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin. I agree with that 100%. I believe that Democrats of today have totally corrupted what MLK said and what he stood for. His niece Alveda King is one of the first in line to say that. I hold her in great esteem as I do MLK.......... the way he actually was, not the perverted version the Left has made up.

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

Perhaps the more truthful statement would have been this:
"If you thought somebody owed your ancestor money, but never paid him, would you expect that the money you thought was owed be paid to you now?"

There is no actual money owed anyone. It's just someone's idea that it was "owed". It has been paid back many times over when the descendants of slaves and any black person who has come to this nation since slavery gets to leap to the head of the line for a job (whether qualified or not).

Why wouldn't black people want to earn what they have in money and status on their own merit?

Expectation is not entitlement.

How can you earn something on your own merit when you face discrimination at every turn?
There is actual money owed. It is owed for the labor enslaved Africans provided to make this country rich.
So far it has not been paid back.

 

[EatTheRich]

Perhaps the more truthful statement would have been this:
"If you thought somebody owed your ancestor money, but never paid him, would you expect that the money you thought was owed be paid to you now?"

There is no actual money owed anyone. It's just someone's idea that it was "owed". It has been paid back many times over when the descendants of slaves and any black person who has come to this nation since slavery gets to leap to the head of the line for a job (whether qualified or not).

Why wouldn't black people want to earn what they have in money and status on their own merit?

Expectation is not entitlement.

Blacks are in the back of the line for jobs ... routinely passed over in favor of less qualified whites ... as part of the legacy of slavery and racism.

Why wouldn’t white people want to earn things on their own merit rather than through systemic racial advantage?

 

[Sunset Rose]

What other avowed socialists do you hold in high esteem?

Are you aware that King explicitly supported reparations?

Thank you. MLK knew how badly African-Americans had been cheated. He wanted them to have equal rights AND to have economic stability.
I wonder why so many people gloss over that part of his legacy?

 

[Sunset Rose]

Blacks are in the back of the line for jobs ... routinely passed over in favor of less qualified whites ... as part of the legacy of slavery and racism.

Why wouldn’t white people want to earn things on their own merit rather than through systemic racial advantage?

You always say things so perfectly!

 

[Jen]

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

You assume he would have supported reparations for slavery.
We don't know.
Interestingly enough, Dr Alveda King has a slightly different take on reparations. She doesn't seem to be against reparations, but there are legitimate qualifiers in her opinion.
I can't disagree with what she has to say:
Dr Alveda King on reparations/ abortion July 2019. I think you will enjoy this read.

 

[EatTheRich]

You always say things so perfectly!

Aw, shucks.

I know we have had our disagreements in the past but you at least have a little common sense and decency which sadly are in such short supply on this board that you seem to feel compelled to thank anyone who exhibits a bit of the same.

 

[Jen]

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

How can you earn something on your own merit when you face discrimination at every turn?
There is actual money owed. It is owed for the labor enslaved Africans provided to make this country rich.
So far it has not been paid back.

Good points.
We would need to determine which black Americans are descendants of slaves. And there are other considerations. Please read the article Dr. Alveda King wrote in her blog that I linked to you. She is a wise woman and I trust what she says to be solid.

 

[Sunset Rose]

You assume he would have supported reparations for slavery.
We don't know.
Interestingly enough, Dr Alveda King has a slightly different take on reparations. She doesn't seem to be against reparations, but there are legitimate qualifiers in her opinion.
I can't disagree with what she has to say:
Dr Alveda King on reparations/ abortion July 2019. I think you will enjoy this read.

This is an excellent article. Thank you for sharing it. I respect Alveda King's views, and I think she is a very intelligent lady.
I'm sure her uncle, MLK, would want her to be an independent thinker.
But, nothing she says has changed my mind about reparations.

 

[Charcat]

I don't know much about Alveda King. So, I won't speak on her.
MLK had become a little more militant in his thinking toward the end of his life. He also realized how important it was for African-Americans to have economic stability. I am sure he would have supported reparations for slavery.

How can you earn something on your own merit when you face discrimination at every turn?
There is actual money owed. It is owed for the labor enslaved Africans provided to make this country rich.
So far it has not been paid back.

Then reparations should be paid to all the white people who worked in sweat shops for next to nothing as immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s as well. Don't you agree? These people were from Europe and Asia, and they worked until they got out of poverty--at least most of them.

Are you a descendent of slaves? Would you trade your ancestry for mine (not knowing anything about it) or Phil's?

 

[Sunset Rose]

Then reparations should be paid to all the white people who worked in sweat shops for next to nothing as immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s as well. Don't you agree? These people were from Europe and Asia, and they worked until they got out of poverty--at least most of them.

Are you a descendent of slaves? Would you trade your ancestry for mine (not knowing anything about it) or Phil's?

1) There is a big difference between making low wages working in a sweatshop and being a chattel slave working for free. Here are a few of the differences: the sweatshop workers got to keep their names, culture, family ties, religion and all the other little things that help a person retain their humanity. If the sweatshop worker didn't work, he might go hungry. If the slave didn't work, he'd be whipped. The sweatshop worker had some control over his life, the slave had none.
2) After slavery it was very difficult for African-Americans to get ahead due to the virulent racism of the day. Most of them became sharecroppers, which is one step above slavery. The ex-slave masters kept them poor and subservient, so they would be dependable, good workers. So, for all these reasons Blacks cannot be compared to poor White immigrants. The Whites were allowed to join the mainstream after a few generations. Blacks were not.
3) Yes, I am a descendant of slaves. No, I wouldn't want to trade places with you, Phil or anyone else.
4) Would you want to trade places with a Black woman?

 

[EatTheRich]

Then reparations should be paid to all the white people who worked in sweat shops for next to nothing as immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s as well. Don't you agree? These people were from Europe and Asia, and they worked until they got out of poverty--at least most of them.

Are you a descendent of slaves? Would you trade your ancestry for mine (not knowing anything about it) or Phil's?

@Sunset Rose nailed the answer to this. I would add however that money should indeed be transferred to those who are poor because their white ancestors were exploited from the rich whose fortunes rest on that class exploitation as well as on slavery.

 

[Bronwyn]

There was stolen LABOR.

LOL! If there were actually slaves from the American south alive today you might have a case. As it stands, there aren't any alive and their descendants had every opportunity to make themselves successes. Nope. Not a dime they didn't work for. We don't owe them anything. Our ancestors worked to make this country too. Unfortunately there are those people like liberals who want something for nothing.

 

[EatTheRich]

LOL! If there were actually slaves from the American south alive today you might have a case. As it stands, there aren't any alive and their descendants had every opportunity to make themselves successes. Nope. Not a dime they didn't work for. We don't owe them anything. Our ancestors worked to make this country too. Unfortunately there are those people like liberals who want something for nothing.

If they had every opportunity then why isn’t their average income/wealth equal to that of people of any other race?