Outlaw: Everyone's very sorry it happens, but how does that ethically justify dumping cash on the offspring several generations removed? It doesn't. Sympathy isn't a reason! Reparations won't change the past. ------------------ Boston College - Big East -East Division Regular Season Champs Worst to First in 2001!
Actually, it wouldn't merely be white people who were pissed if these reparations were paid. Other minorities and even some African-Americans don't like the idea of reparations. Something in the neighborhood of 84% of Americans do not support the idea of reparations for slavery. That number is obviously not white people alone. The thing is, there wouldn't be a special tax or anything to generate the money to pay these reparations, it would simply come out of the budget (meaning that minorities would also be on the paying end. It would be unconstitutional to have a tax charged only on white people). So, either taxes overall would be raised, or other expenses would just be cut to make the payments. Knowing the way the Congress works, the chances are that other programs that help minorities would be cut to pay for this program. That bill that would provide $100 billion in scholarships for inner city school kids (authored by the supposedly racist David Horowitz)? That money would become part of a reparations package instead (And, as a matter of fact, if the result of slavery is the reported $10 billion per year wage gap - a dubious contention given that women, who were mostly not slaves, also see an even larger wage gap - then $100 billion in scholarships to inner city kids would be good for 100 years of wage gap.) The thing is, the contention that slavery is to blame for the problems in the African-American community today remains dubious. If someone can provide actual proof, then maybe we'll talk. But the fact that other groups who were also used as slaves or indentured servents (the Chinese, for example. Their exploitation to build the railroads is well documented) do not have the same problems, or that other groups that were discriminated against (but who were not slaves, on the whole) do have some of the same problems (women, for example, experience a wage gap, as well) tends to negate the idea that it is slavery that is the cause of the problems in the African-American community. ------------------ Houston Sports Board
Rocket River, Are you saying "black folx" will no longer be pissed if reparations are paid for slavery? If that is the case then lets do it. It would be worth a couple hundred bucks to never again have to hear someone use the race card, there would be no more need for special regulations like affirmative action, and everything would just be honkey-dorey. ------------------ "We messed with the Bull, and we got the horns." -- Larry Brown "quote" from AirBullard.com
Wha... I mean, of course. ------------------ "We messed with the Bull, and we got the horns." -- Larry Brown "quote" from AirBullard.com
probably not *as* pissed hell it seems most white folx don't wanna admit there is anything wrong with what happened they wanna justify it Rocket River ------------------
River, You can't change the past, it happened, and NONE of us was involved. Throughout history it has always been the strongest survive, and the weakest get conquered. Only this past century has slavery really become unecessary as advancements in technology made it obsolete. Yes it is wrong...SO WHAT !!! It happened, and not ONE person alive saw it. It should be talked about in history lessons, and never repeated, EVER !! But don't give money to people because their GREAT, Great, great grandpa was a slave. Ridiculous. Everyone's relatives were slaves..it may take a few more Greats to get there, but you will get there. We should move on, and quit dealing with race at all. Racism is plain stupid. DaDakota ------------------ If you like RTS games, check out this one. www.frontierwars.com coming soon to a PC near you.
Okay, 140 years.My mistake (and a pretty dumb one, seeing as how I knew that already). Originally posted by Rocket River: That could be construed as a racist statement. ------------------ "The idea of a band nowadays is five pretty boys, one with a tattoo, one with a shaved head, and on and on. I mean, I like Britney Spears, I think she's pretty, but I'm not from the Mickey Mouse Club. I'm from the Godzilla club!" ---Ozzy Osbourne
As I stated before Racism is still happening and black folx are suffering from it [in specific minorities in general] how do you stop the suffering? Until it is righted they/we continue to suffer no one seems to have a problem with that . . . .it's kinda laize faire attitude about uhm . . .it will make itself right sometime. . .maybe a year maybe a decade maybe a century .. . eventually. . no big whoop Rocket River ------------------
We should do what we can to help stop the effects of racism and to solve as many of the problems within our country that we can. There are significant problems in the African-American community, some of which are being addressed, some of which are not. But the way to solve these problems is not reparations for slavery. Here in Texas, the larger Hispanic community also does not share the same level of success overall that the Anglo community does. Slavery reparations would not even address their problems. (And actually, simply throwing money at these problems is likely not the answer, either. Sometimes solving problems merely means taking a different approach with the resources already available. Too often, our leaders are unwilling to try new approaches.) And finally, taking money from one part of the budget and putting it in another part of the budget and calling it "reparations" wouldn't do anything to stop racism in this country. ------------------ Houston Sports Board
Good article: http://www.msnbc.com/news/549582.asp ------------------ www.swirve.com I think my w**** is dead.
off topic, is anyone gonna pay $30 a year to read salon.com? that's just way too high. i'm thinking they'll be yet another dot-bomb in a few months. ------------------
I wouldn't pay $30 per year to read Salon.com. I'd be hard pressed to convince myself that it was worth $1 per year. Since it's free, I sometimes read things there. Once they start charging, I'll just read something else. ------------------ Houston Sports Board
And Horowitz' quasi response: http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/2001/04/02/reparations/index.html ------------------ Houston Sports Board
