Should the US pay reparations for slavery?

[kris]

The United Nations will be discussing the possibility of forcing countries that condoned slavery to pay reparations. The opinion of those that are arguing for this seem to think that these reparations are a moral obligation. What is your take on the US paying these reparations?

Of course they don’t talk about what would be included in these reparations, but the idea alone bothers me. Yes, the US was involved in slavery, Yes, it was wrong. But the people who where involved in such actions (on both sides of the issue) are long gone. I have to wonder who would pay what money to who? The very idea of forcing those who had no input on slavery to pay money to those that were not impacted by it seems totally foolhardy. I’m sure that some impacts of slavery exist today, but who could possibly quantify these effects down to a dollar value, and how would they go about it, and how would this solve more problems than it created?

To learn just a bit more, check this out. http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b61cafe2b1c.htm

[Mrcoilover]

First of all the people that live here now had no part in slavery so they
shouldn't be made to pay reparations. Do you really think that those
black countries would get a dime, probably not. Yeah it hell on my people back then but that is what we had to go through. God has a path
for everybody. We must move foward. We just need to keep all the
ignorance out of people to except everybody as equals. :smoka:

[Porsche]

No, there's way to many people that have long gotten over that. Who would it go to???? There's millions of people that were never really affected by it.

[Hudson]

Yes, the American government should pay reparations for condoning slavery. The reparations should go to all former slaves...wait, how many are over 135 years old?

I believe that slavery was wrong. And I believe the treatment of slaves should be covered in history class to a great extent...just as the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and Native Americans throughout the history of the United States (and every other group who was treated poorly) should be covered.

We should, as my life motto goes, "acknowledge and move on"...learn from our pass so we are not doomed to repeat it, as the saying goes.

[gang$tarr]

Originally posted by Mrcoilover
First of all the people that live here now had no part in slavery so they
shouldn't be made to pay reparations. Do you really think that those
black countries would get a dime, probably not. Yeah it hell on my people back then but that is what we had to go through. God has a path
for everybody. We must move foward. We just need to keep all the
ignorance out of people to except everybody as equals. :smoka:

amen to that brotha [Gang$tarr passes Mrcoilover a fat blunt]

I agree, I don't even see racism at all... so why should people get money if nothing happened to them?

[Hudson]

Racism happens all the time. You don't really have to look for it. Racism has less to do with the history of slavery and more to do with the stupid people who insist on treating different people (race, creed, color of skin, gender, sexual orientation) as unequal beings. Different people are different and should be appreciated for their differences, but they should not be treated as superior or inferior to any other group.

[Mrcoilover]

well said hudson. anyhow how would they pay people that are long gone. The should put the money in programs to keep slavery 99%
out of the world. It will never ever be 100%.

[JTS]

I agree. Just last Sunday, "60 minutes" did a piece on this movement by some in the black community to get reparations for slavery. The pro-reparations group feel that because Jewish (slave) workers are getting money from German industry and former Japanese internees got money from the US Gov't, the black community should get paid too. One the one hand, this seems somewhat reasonable - however, the problem (in my opinion) is in the implementation of this payout. One politician estimated the figure to be up to 10 Trillion dollars, which is a completely insane amount of money. Furthermore, as someone stated earlier in this thread, WHO would get the cash? It would just be one huge mis-managed slush fund where certain "connected" parties would get rich while the majority would get nothing.

Living in the past and demanding retribution for past wrongs can only lead to conflict and unrest (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ireland, the Balkans, Canada etc. etc.). Simple as it sounds, we all have to deal with the present and stop letting some people constantly beat us over the head with things that happened decades or centuries ago. If we go back far enough, I suspect we ALL have some legitimate complaint against somebody.

[Mrcoilover]

good reply JTS

[gang$tarr]

Originally posted by Hudson
Racism happens all the time. You don't really have to look for it. Racism has less to do with the history of slavery and more to do with the stupid people who insist on treating different people (race, creed, color of skin, gender, sexual orientation) as unequal beings. Different people are different and should be appreciated for their differences, but they should not be treated as superior or inferior to any other group.

I'm not an idiot, i know that racism happens all the time! I'm juss sayin here where i live, i don't see any racism at all

[Mrcoilover]

it is always gonna be there. People think it is gone b/c they don't see it.
But oh hell yeah it is gonna be around a while. It just disguises itself.:bandit: :smoka: :smoker2: :smoker:

[gang$tarr]

Racism will never be 100% gone, i think it's impossible..... there will always be atleast 1 person that'll think differently about a person because of there color

[DaFoo]

That's stupid. You could turn that around and say that black people should pay white poeple money because America banned slavery. They owe us! If we hadn't stopped it in America, they might still be slaves. Those poeple are gone and so is everyone involved. I never enslaved a black man, I don't owe him anything other than the same respect I would give anyone else.

[Mrcoilover]

they all should pay me some big bread b/c I am mixed. ha ha
you can't pay for slavery. how would they decide how much to pay?
have a little lotto drawing and see how much each person gets. It is
kinda rediculous. We should just use most of that money to teach kids about ignorance, respecting others.