This is very interesting. Most of the pushback from reparations is about political feasibility; how do you build a coalition to support giving what would be trillions of dollars to ADOS (American Descendents of Slaves) Blacks over other groups? But also, if you believe that white people are so racist that they'll vote against their own interest, why would they then support a massive raparations project? Particularly on the basis of past white racism/slavery when most white people today are descended from immigrants in the 19th and 20th century and not slave owners in the south?
And even if some white people in Georgia were descended from slave owners, why would you think they'd be billionaires 400 years later just because their ancestors owned slaves?
The fixation on reparations is based on this false idea that we would have all this money TODAY instead of a sizable majority of Blacks being working class. In fact, the worse atrocity for freed slaves was being denied work by racist whites and the lack of interest accepting Black people as American citizens as soon as slavery ended.
If descendents of slave owners dont have money, why would descendents of slaves have it 200 years later?
The consistent problem facing the Black poor today is being denied work opportunities! The deindustrialization of the 60s and 70s put a lot of Black families into poverty!
I wish I could add something brilliant or striking or profound about your insight. I can't. Your comment overflows with reality and common sense. Give anyone unearned assets today and I guarantee the grandchildren will not see a dime, except in the most exceptional circumstances. Assets that are earned have a way of remaining in the family over generations, but there are no guarantees even if ancestors were wise stewards of wealth. I am mindful of the Byrd descendant in Virginia who gambled his family's fortune away. William Byrd III (1728 - 1777) frittered away a 179,000 acre inheritance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Byrd_III Assets that took years to accumulate gambled away on horses, cock fights, and what not.
William Byrd III died broke, a victim of suicide.
Free money is here today and gone tomorrow. Thanks for your comment.
I'm curious, who gets more reparations. Descendants of a slave born just before the end of the civil war, or the descendants of a white union soldier who died fighting? Of course we need to account for the decades of jim crow and discrimination that must be suffered by the former slave. But the soldier suffered from slavery too. If one could choose to live one of those two lives, which would you choose?
I like life, so I would vote for the slave born before the end of the civil war, assuming the former slave lived a long life and died in his/her 90s. Before we can answer the question who gets more reparations, do we need to know what is the purpose of reparations? What is the point of reparations? Sometimes people talk about the lingering effects of American slavery but what does that mean?
I draw a bright hard line between slavery and Jim Crow/discrimination. It is easier to define lingering effects of Jim Crow/discrimination but I also believe we should not distribute unearned assets to those who did not experience Jim Crow. It might be impossible to quantify meaningful discrimination for these purposes.
Moreover , we must institute some statute of limitations period to prevent reparations for stale claims. I would use a variant of the Rule Against Perpetuities in property law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities I would propose we cap the eligible period for reparations as a life in being plus 21 years. For example, if a 90-year-old person is living today, I would add 21 years to that birthday and cap the limitations period at the year 1913. Any Jim Crow and/or discrimination before 1913 would be too stale in time for remedy and redress. Just my thinking. I would also be skeptical about reparations claims for someone born after 1968 when our world of race changed. A young Ivy League graduate born in 2002 should not salivate about the lottery prospects for reparations for American slavery, case in point.
This is very interesting. Most of the pushback from reparations is about political feasibility; how do you build a coalition to support giving what would be trillions of dollars to ADOS (American Descendents of Slaves) Blacks over other groups? But also, if you believe that white people are so racist that they'll vote against their own interest, why would they then support a massive raparations project? Particularly on the basis of past white racism/slavery when most white people today are descended from immigrants in the 19th and 20th century and not slave owners in the south?
And even if some white people in Georgia were descended from slave owners, why would you think they'd be billionaires 400 years later just because their ancestors owned slaves?
The fixation on reparations is based on this false idea that we would have all this money TODAY instead of a sizable majority of Blacks being working class. In fact, the worse atrocity for freed slaves was being denied work by racist whites and the lack of interest accepting Black people as American citizens as soon as slavery ended.
If descendents of slave owners dont have money, why would descendents of slaves have it 200 years later?
The consistent problem facing the Black poor today is being denied work opportunities! The deindustrialization of the 60s and 70s put a lot of Black families into poverty!
I wish I could add something brilliant or striking or profound about your insight. I can't. Your comment overflows with reality and common sense. Give anyone unearned assets today and I guarantee the grandchildren will not see a dime, except in the most exceptional circumstances. Assets that are earned have a way of remaining in the family over generations, but there are no guarantees even if ancestors were wise stewards of wealth. I am mindful of the Byrd descendant in Virginia who gambled his family's fortune away. William Byrd III (1728 - 1777) frittered away a 179,000 acre inheritance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Byrd_III Assets that took years to accumulate gambled away on horses, cock fights, and what not.
William Byrd III died broke, a victim of suicide.
Free money is here today and gone tomorrow. Thanks for your comment.
I'd never heard about the GA land lotteries, wow!
I'm curious, who gets more reparations. Descendants of a slave born just before the end of the civil war, or the descendants of a white union soldier who died fighting? Of course we need to account for the decades of jim crow and discrimination that must be suffered by the former slave. But the soldier suffered from slavery too. If one could choose to live one of those two lives, which would you choose?
I like life, so I would vote for the slave born before the end of the civil war, assuming the former slave lived a long life and died in his/her 90s. Before we can answer the question who gets more reparations, do we need to know what is the purpose of reparations? What is the point of reparations? Sometimes people talk about the lingering effects of American slavery but what does that mean?
I draw a bright hard line between slavery and Jim Crow/discrimination. It is easier to define lingering effects of Jim Crow/discrimination but I also believe we should not distribute unearned assets to those who did not experience Jim Crow. It might be impossible to quantify meaningful discrimination for these purposes.
Moreover , we must institute some statute of limitations period to prevent reparations for stale claims. I would use a variant of the Rule Against Perpetuities in property law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities I would propose we cap the eligible period for reparations as a life in being plus 21 years. For example, if a 90-year-old person is living today, I would add 21 years to that birthday and cap the limitations period at the year 1913. Any Jim Crow and/or discrimination before 1913 would be too stale in time for remedy and redress. Just my thinking. I would also be skeptical about reparations claims for someone born after 1968 when our world of race changed. A young Ivy League graduate born in 2002 should not salivate about the lottery prospects for reparations for American slavery, case in point.