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[Sai1002]

is this your homework topics or something

[gcskate27]

i wouldnt mind this idea so much if college, let alone graduate school, wasnt so expensive... the second i get out of school im going to have to start paying back a rediculous sum... higher education is just way too expensive, and you can bet theyd raise the rates even higher if the gov was going to pay for a huge amount of students tuition...

and no offense, but i dont really see why i should have to pay tens of thousands of dollars while someone else gets it free regardless of merit, but soley based on thier ancestors hardships...

dont get me wrong, slavery is awful and wrong, and anyone how was a slave should be compensated for... but how many generations have passed when there hasnt been any slavery?






*just waiting for someone to call me a racist though i am not...

[The unProfessional]

Reparations may've been considerable in the past.  But nowadays you'd be dishing up loads of cash to people who probably know very little about slavery.  Those who're educated enough don't need the reparations.  The generations involved aren't even alive.  

If you want to pay reparations for slavery, do your part fight racism.  That's any of us can do.  Handouts would do nothing but harm.

That Dave Chapelle sketch was HILARIOUS...

Basically, cash handouts were given out... and dave chapelle (painted white as the newscaster) announces something like:

"Today, the largest company in the world was formed (queue black guys with cash in their hands).  Fubu and Kentucky Fried Chicken have merged forming the most wealthy corporation in the world..."

[RiotMasterMeth]

QUOTE

dont get me wrong, slavery is awful and wrong, and anyone how was a slave should be compensated for... but how many generations have passed when there hasnt been any slavery?

I understand what you are saying, but think of how many generations have gone past with no reperations of any sort.
Unprofessional I understand what your saying, It doesnt matter what form of reperations should be handed out, reguardless if it is money, or fighting racism. It just needs to be done.

[beaumac]

QUOTE (The unProfessional @ Jul 15 2004, 05:44 PM)

If you want to pay reparations for slavery, do your part fight racism.  That's any of us can do.  Handouts would do nothing but harm.

I couldnt agree more, handouts are completely ineffictive.  A large contributor to racism is this country is the fact that most minorities are poorer on the whole than whites. Education is the key to upward mobility, this is a remedy to racism in the US

[nemt]

Reparations...

There's the classic "my family wasn't here during slavery/never owned slaves" blah blah argument.  This can be discredited (just to play along) by saying slavery has not statute of limitations for one, but also that most immigrant families did not fight in the Revolutionary War, however, they have inherited the freedom of the country, and hence they also inherit the debt, assuming a debt is actually present.

Looking more towards the belief of slavery having no statute of limitations...this would mean african americans would need to pay jews as well.  Most "black power reparations" african americans are of the belief the egyptians were black, and not semitic.  The egyptians had hebrew slaves, and yet, I don't see anyone bringing this up in the discussion.

Reparations for slavery is a terrible idea, championed by racist morons looking for a handout.  If you don't like it here, and you feel the white man is keeping you down, go live in Liberia, that's what it's there for.

[The unProfessional]

Well affirmative action could easily be considered a "reparation" according to your last post.  In my opinion, special treatment now only raises the eyebrow of separation.  Today's society is much more complex than it was a few hundred years ago.  Providing special advantages to people have a completely reverse effect over time.

It may not be a financial break.  I had fewer than 10 scholarships available to me when applying to college.  My step-sister, who happens to be black, had collections of available scholarships, and was able to attend a private school.  She's a bright girl, no doubt.  And she undoubtedly deals with other disadvantages on a regular basis as a result of her race.  That's why everyone needs to do their part to fight racism.  If I was an asshole or a racist, I would've passed that frustration onto my non-white friends and peers.  And there are plenty of racists around to do that.

Short-sighted reparations or advantages would only bring MORE hatred out of resentment alone.  Look at the angst affirmative action causes.  Think of it as a scale or pendulum.  If you keep pushing it in one direction, it'll eventually swing back faster than you can say "Jesse Jackson".

[gcskate27]

QUOTE (beaumac @ Jul 15 2004, 03:54 PM)

this is a remedy to racism in the US

and you dont think a free doctorate while others recieve astronomical debt wont cause ill will?  

[The unProfessional]

QUOTE (gcskate27 @ Jul 16 2004, 12:00 AM)

and you dont think a free doctorate while others recieve astronomical debt wont cause ill will?

My point exactly (read above post)

[The unProfessional]

There's no immediate, simple solution like "reparations".  The mega-partisan NAACP can sit on that one.  The solution takes time, and can only be reached if people get over their childish prejudice, get past the idea of quick and easy advantages, stop voluntarily segregating themselves, and ignore the troll racist idiots as much as possible.  

When you add race-specific effects (advantages or disadvantages), you tell those people that they're somehow inferior or special, and the system maintains inequality.  Fighting inequality with inequality seems like something even a third grader would reject, yet somehow people can't see past the stupidity behind such a ridiculously over-simplified solution.

[The unProfessional]

[Colonel32]

[beaumac]

QUOTE (Colonel32 @ Jul 16 2004, 01:04 AM)

I don't this is a good idea at all. Look at the way Canada treats its natives, hasn't worked very well has it. Throwing money at a problem can potentially make it a lot worse, as it has on the majority of Indian reserves. Also, what do you do with the people who use the governments money to pay for school and living expenses, but don't go to school

Well fortunately we are not in canada or talking about canada. And the last time I checked the natives there were never slaves. So lets try to stay on topic ok?

So the only counter-argument I've heard is the residual resentment that would be a result of the reparations.  

NEWSFLASH:  No one give a $hit about resentment. We are talking about equality here. By that logic, we shouldnt have freed the slaves in the first place because it caused greater resentment amongst the whites resulting in the formation of the KKK.  

So theres got to be a stronger case against reparations than that or outright racism. Anyone?

[BenJeremy]

But you are basing your argument on the very idea of "resentment".

In reality, the 40 acres and a mule was not really promised, as I understand it, in any legal sense.

Likewise, who pays such reparations? Me, a taxpayer? Why? None of my ancestors had anything to do with keeping slaves in this country (who knows about it in ancient times). The ONLY argument you can have on that count is that the states who allowed slavery are forced to pay such "reparations". Good luck on that.

If we wanted to press the argument, don't Africans have reparations (and by proxy, all of their descendants, if all Americans are forced to pay reparations in your case) to the Jews (and also the Christians that descended from them) for keeping them as slaves to build the tombs and works of the Pharohs in Egypt?

Golly gee... if we use the logic people apply to slavery reparations, there's a lot of people owed a LOT of money, when you compound a comparable amount over 3,000 to 4,000 years!!

Come to think of it, my own people (native Americans), are owed a LOT more than 40 acres and a mule compounded by 150 years... after all, MY ancestors land was stolen, and we were forced to flee to tiny parcels alloted out in poor areas.


Ultimately, if we hold grudges against long dead people, we cheapen the injustices of the past, and only bring into focus the greed and materialism of those whose ancestors were victimized for the very same reasons. To me, that seems like an even greater injustice.

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE

I'm talking about retribution and punishment for crimes against humanity.

Ah, and there's the rub.... I am guilty of none of those things, yet I would be the one to pay, merely because I was born a U.S. Citizen?

My point is simple: If there is any "retribution and punishment" to be dealt (and by the way, that's NOT what justice is about), then it is to be dealt with the GUILTY PARTIES, and the "U.S." is not one of them - talk to slave owners and the states that allowed it to happen.