How much do you owe the black family living down the street?

[Red Quacker]

Somewhere in the ballpark of 40% of African Americans believe that they deserve some kind of reparations from the U.S. government, which would be paid for by taxes. Essentially, the whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. would be each be paying some small amount of money to the black Americans in order to repay them for the negative effects of racism, slavery, etc. they have received at the hands of their non-black fellow citizens.

So, if you're not black, how much do you think each black person in America is due?

FYI in figuring the number: There are about (rounded) 35 million black people living in America (12.5% of 280 million). If, for example, you would like each black American to be paid $50,000 each, all non-black Americans should be taxed about $6,250 to pay for it.

If you're black yourself, how much money would you like the other Americans to pay you for the trouble you have received at their hands?

[Los]

Sorry, that's crap. Money will not make up for the loss the blacks had to overcome over time. But damn, if society has become the blessings of monetary substitutes for culture and ethnic class, then hell, we should all be shot.

I find it offensive that some blacks feel that they've been more oppressed than others. What about the hispanics or asians? They never had a civil war fought for them but yet you don't see them bitching about reparations and silly *beep* like that.

In this twisted world of money above all else, you make your own way. Though I agree that blacks and other minorities were treated horribly until the civil rights movement of the 60s, still, there is no real base to say 'you've screwed my ancestors; I want my money'. That was a different time and a different place. If America were to do it today, as in legal slave activity and such, then yeah, go for it. But *beep* from hundreds of years ago sounds like greed to me.

[Red Quacker]

[Jadzia Lenara Dax]

Umm...personally, I don't think any money is owed. Because, slavery was over a 100 years ago--anyone who actually endured it, is most likely dead at this time. How does making yet more of a cultural distinction between African Americans and other races help equality and integration? One race shouldn't be being favored over the other.

[Red Quacker]

Do you think this is being done with Affirmative Action? Race (not economic status, but just race) is used to determine whether or not someone is hired or accepted into a college.

One of the reasons given for affirmative action, besides trying to make the races exactly equal, is that when people are exposed to black people they become less racist against them. Of course, if all of the blacks you work with or go to school with are unqualified, does that make you more likely to have a racist attitude toward them? (Any blacks qualified for your college, of course, would be allowed into a better college because of affirmative action, thereby guaranteeing that the blacks you see will be less qualified than you.)

A problem with affirmative action is that by favoring blacks over whites, it creates animosity toward the two groups. One piece of legislation that almost passed in California was graduation quotas at college. Experts had noticed that a smaller percentage of blacks were able to graduate from the schools they were accepted to than other races. This left them with two options: either blacks are inherently inferior in some way, or the professors at the college were racist against them. Naturally, they chose that second option. The solution? Graduation quotas. An equal percentage of each race would graduate. For blacks, this allowed people with F's to pass. For Asians, some people with C's or D's would fail and be allowed to graduate only after paying for another year at the college.

Would this help us believe that blacks are not inferior, or would it make us hate them?

[Pah-Wraith]

I'd like to say my opinion but if one of my groups found out i'd be kicked out so I won't post my beliefs.

[Red Quacker]

[Pah-Wraith]

No My Group just prefer that I prevent racist comments not trigger them

[Red Quacker]

Your opinion is your own. No group membership can take it away from you. If they want to control you that way, then they're not worth it.

[Theresa]

To any living former slave, sure, give them money. But to their descendants? No way. My grandfather is Irish, and at one point they were treated worse than blacks. Couldn't get a job, nothing.
We control our own destiny. You can say society is to blame, w/e. Society affects who we are, it is not the definition of who we are.

[Anti-crombie1]

dude, do you start topics just to try to piss people off?

no, I dont think that they should.

[Red Quacker]

[Theresa]

Yup.

I also think Jesse Jackson is a joke. How many illegitimate kids does the good Reverand have floating around out there? When you put yourself in the public eye, especially as he has done, yes, he's to live to a higher standard.

[Anti-crombie1]

in my opinion, every reverand is demagogues, and a joke

I thought that if you were a reverand, you would live up to a higher standard anyways, and try to set an example and not do things that your suposedly against lol, and the little boys alone already

[thegame]

As to the original question, No.

No, as in no free rides. I hate affirmative action and the idea of reparations to "descendants of former slaves". I know such pragmatic ideals will be used to lable people like me a racist, too bad I'm not.

[Pah-Wraith]

I agree with affirmative action

[Captain Dappet]

Well...It was over a 100 years since slavery was legal.

Which gives black people no more rights to recieve money than white peeps or a.Z.n dudes.

Y'KNOW WhA I'M SaYiN'!?!?!?

[Los]

Dude, I'm there with you. *beep* affirmative action and *beep* reparations.

And I'm a minority.

What happened to striving to become the best? Recalling crimes that were committed by different people in different times is silly and down right stupid. You're not asking for justice but rather, you're asking for monetary compensation for an act you believe happened to you but NEVER DID.

[Praetor]

THat was along time ago, I don't believe americans should pay there hard earned money for somethign that happened that long ago. It wasn't there fault they didn't do it. THe past generations have.

[Anti-crombie1]

[Seven of Nine]

If that's the case, Liverpool should pay the African-Americans for building the boats and becoming the Richest City in the World from the Slave Trade.

Instead, they've got a permanent Museum Exibition open in the Maritime Museum, to remind us of our past. You couldn't really track down everyone who's families had a part, and it's not fair to make people who had no involvement pay.

[Red Quacker]