Reparations for Afro Americans

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

https://news.yahoo.com/slavery-reparations-federal-government-could-100018632.html

Examines what slavery Reparations WOULD look like in the future perhaps not before 2023, will the SEN pass it, but House it set to approve a Commission in 2021

It D's achieve a Supermajority Senate we can pass it after Midterms

[Hermit For Peace]

Research has found that the gap between white and Black Americans has not narrowed in recent decades. White households hold roughly 10 times more wealth than Black ones, similar to the gap in 1968. While Black Americans account for roughly 13 percent of the American population, they hold about 4 percent of America’s wealth. Experts note the gap is not due to a lack of education or effort but rather is due to a lack of capital and resources that have left Black individuals more vulnerable to economic shocks and made it difficult for Black families to build inheritable wealth over generations.

Other proposals, like one proposed by Andre Perry and Rashawn Ray for the Brookings Institution, would also specifically provide restitution to descendants with at least one ancestor enslaved in the U.S., coupling direct financial payment with plans for free college tuition, student loan forgiveness, grants for down payments and housing revitalization and grants for Black-owned businesses.

“Making the American Dream an equitable reality demands the same U.S. government that denied wealth to Blacks restore that deferred wealth through reparations to their descendants,” they wrote last year.

Ultimately, supporters argue the need for reparations should not be judged based on how popular the issue is publicly but instead should be looked at as a necessary correction for the moral, political and economic failures that have been created by federal policy at the expense of Black Americans.

Darity argued that even if detailed reparations measures are not politically feasible in Congress now, it is important that “the footprints must be put in place” for future efforts.

It's certainly a conversation that we must have. So many different opinions on what to do about it, though. And motivation is a factor...

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Biden can't even figure out how to secure the southern border. Hell, he's having issues passing infrastructure of all things. How is he going to do reparations?

[Hermit For Peace]

Biden can't even figure out how to secure the southern border. Hell, he's having issues passing infrastructure of all things. How is he going to do reparations?

Biden already said in a speech early on that he cannot solve all the problems in our country, but he can certainly make an effort to do all he can. Something like that.

As for reparations, I mentioned "motivation" because I don't think enough motivation is there to really do something with this subject, at least for now. But it's important to continue having the conversation to set the ground work for future remedies.

[GeneralMacArthur]

It's annoying to me that when people talk about "reparations" they always just specifically mean direct cash payments.

We have plenty of social programs, with hefty financial backing, aimed exclusively at helping Black people, to the exclusion of all other races.  This is much more effective at pulling Black people out of poverty, and building wealth, than direct cash payments would be.

[Ancestral Republican]

It's annoying to me that when people talk about "reparations" they always just specifically mean direct cash payments.

We have plenty of social programs, with hefty financial backing, aimed exclusively at helping Black people, to the exclusion of all other races.  This is much more effective at pulling Black people out of poverty, and building wealth, than direct cash payments would be.

Those statistics above directly contradict your statement.

[Ancestral Republican]

Biden can't even figure out how to secure the southern border. Hell, he's having issues passing infrastructure of all things. How is he going to do reparations?

It's rather sad that someone being educated at a major stare institution is espousing Facebook Grandma-tier opinions.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The Native Americans and Japanese people got Per Capita passed by Ronald Reagan and Section 8 vouchers have been given to more Latinos due to Dreamers at the exclusion of Afri Americans, it was in the 90s and early 2000s a program for everyone

That's why a Commission is gonna be formed before Reparations are given

General Macarthur doesn't realize there are 700K homeless people in America and the Majority of them are impovished Blks and most of them live on Skid Row in Maxine Waters District

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Im very curious as to what reparations would actually look like, especially when this article mentions using genealogical ties to slavery. Most African-Americans have little knowledge of their ancestors due to deliberate obscuration and denial of education making it hard to keep family records. Also it makes it where (for example) if you descend from a black family who immigrated to America while never being enslaved you would be ineligible and on the flip side if you had one ancestor who was enslaved and all you other relatives were white you’d be eligible. I don’t mean to sound like I’m getting into semantics, I generally support reparations, but in my mind the biggest obstacle to it is actually pinning down who is eligible short of a massive federally funded genealogical survey

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The Ds don't have a Filibuster proof Majority anyways this will be sidelined after 2022 midterms

The Ds need 52 or 53 votes including the H to pass this

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Im very curious as to what reparations would actually look like, especially when this article mentions using genealogical ties to slavery. Most African-Americans have little knowledge of their ancestors due to deliberate obscuration and denial of education making it hard to keep family records. Also it makes it where (for example) if you descend from a black family who immigrated to America while never being enslaved you would be ineligible and on the flip side if you had one ancestor who was enslaved and all you other relatives were white you’d be eligible. I don’t mean to sound like I’m getting into semantics, I generally support reparations, but in my mind the biggest obstacle to it is actually pinning down who is eligible short of a massive federally funded genealogical survey

After reading "The Color of Law" I think the case for reparations for explicitly racist housing (and others) policy in the middle 20th century is much stronger than the case for reparations for slavery. These policies excluded most Blacks from the middle class that has now had several generations to compound its wealth and social status.

The legacy effects of this policy are not only more recent but also have much more obvious and concrete contributions to the racial wealth gap than slavery. It would also fix the issue you raise of the massive burden of tying every Black American to an enslaved ancestor.

(also, given the discourse around Black people and vaccine hesitancy/general medical distrust in the last four months, any DNA-based program for heredity would essentially be DOA)

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Im very curious as to what reparations would actually look like, especially when this article mentions using genealogical ties to slavery. Most African-Americans have little knowledge of their ancestors due to deliberate obscuration and denial of education making it hard to keep family records. Also it makes it where (for example) if you descend from a black family who immigrated to America while never being enslaved you would be ineligible and on the flip side if you had one ancestor who was enslaved and all you other relatives were white you’d be eligible. I don’t mean to sound like I’m getting into semantics, I generally support reparations, but in my mind the biggest obstacle to it is actually pinning down who is eligible short of a massive federally funded genealogical survey

After reading "The Color of Law" I think the case for reparations for explicitly racist housing (and others) policy in the middle 20th century is much stronger than the case for reparations for slavery. These policies excluded most Blacks from the middle class that has now had several generations to compound its wealth and social status.

The legacy effects of this policy are not only more recent but also have much more obvious and concrete contributions to the racial wealth gap than slavery. It would also fix the issue you raise of the massive burden of tying every Black American to an enslaved ancestor.

(also, given the discourse around Black people and vaccine hesitancy/general medical distrust in the last four months, any DNA-based program for heredity would essentially be DOA)

I totally agree, I think there needs to be restructuring and a review of how banks offer loans and incentives them giving loans the POC homes and businesses. Property ownership is really the root of inequality. I also find tying eligibility to who you’re related to kind of absurd, as in saying you didn’t experience racism and prejudice if your ancestors were not enslaved by Americans.

(Side note; the “enslaved ancestors” would eclipse Kamala Harris and Barack Obama)

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Im very curious as to what reparations would actually look like, especially when this article mentions using genealogical ties to slavery. Most African-Americans have little knowledge of their ancestors due to deliberate obscuration and denial of education making it hard to keep family records. Also it makes it where (for example) if you descend from a black family who immigrated to America while never being enslaved you would be ineligible and on the flip side if you had one ancestor who was enslaved and all you other relatives were white you’d be eligible. I don’t mean to sound like I’m getting into semantics, I generally support reparations, but in my mind the biggest obstacle to it is actually pinning down who is eligible short of a massive federally funded genealogical survey

After reading "The Color of Law" I think the case for reparations for explicitly racist housing (and others) policy in the middle 20th century is much stronger than the case for reparations for slavery. These policies excluded most Blacks from the middle class that has now had several generations to compound its wealth and social status.

The legacy effects of this policy are not only more recent but also have much more obvious and concrete contributions to the racial wealth gap than slavery. It would also fix the issue you raise of the massive burden of tying every Black American to an enslaved ancestor.

(also, given the discourse around Black people and vaccine hesitancy/general medical distrust in the last four months, any DNA-based program for heredity would essentially be DOA)

I totally agree, I think there needs to be restructuring and a review of how banks offer loans and incentives them giving loans the POC homes and businesses. Property ownership is really the root of inequality. I also find tying eligibility to who you’re related to kind of absurd, as in saying you didn’t experience racism and prejudice if your ancestors were not enslaved by Americans.

(Side note; the “enslaved ancestors” would eclipse Kamala Harris and Barack Obama)

Well the reforms you're describing help but I very seriously doubt they would be able to start to narrow wealth gaps in any meaningful way. The problem is that those policies that built the middle class (which gave way to our upper middle class and on upward) are self-reinforcing and compound with time.

I think the term/concept of "legacy racism" is helpful here - not so much that (all) policy today is directly or actively racist, but we have policies that favor the rich and disfavor the bottom strata. But as a result of actively and consciously racist policies that were in place for several decades, those bottom strata tend to mostly be non-white (and obviously non-college educated). We built a middle class that excluded Black people and then after that built an economy that reduced economic mobility. The end result hurts Black people.

The case for reparations here is that simply making the reforms on their own won't fix the generations of lost income that created the massive inequalities; the payments/investments/transfers are necessary to narrow that gap.

There are a lot of administrative and logistical burdens to consider here but if you asked me for an argument in favor of reparations this is the best one I can think of.

[Kamala's side hoe]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/20/tulsa-race-massacre-survivors-describe-horrors-ask-lawmakers-help/5179703001/

107 years old and asking Congress for justice: Tulsa race massacre survivors testify

Survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre described on Wednesday how the violence tore their lives and community apart 100 years ago, and they urged a U.S. House subcommittee to help secure justice and financial compensation.

“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our house,” Viola Fletcher, a 107-year-old survivor of the 1921 massacre, testified.

“I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.”

Fletcher said the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties had “the power to lead us down a better path.”

“Open the courtroom doors to us,” she said.

Fletcher was one of three survivors who testified before the subcommittee, which held its second hearing on the massacre and potential legal paths for compensating survivors and descendants of victims.

It's estimated that the attack led to hundreds being killed and thousands left homeless in Tulsa's Greenwood district in 1921.

[Hermit For Peace]

It's annoying to me that when people talk about "reparations" they always just specifically mean direct cash payments.

We have plenty of social programs, with hefty financial backing, aimed exclusively at helping Black people, to the exclusion of all other races.  This is much more effective at pulling Black people out of poverty, and building wealth, than direct cash payments would be.

I agree with you about the cash payments. Giving people money is not going to take away the pain of what went on with our ancestors back in history. We need to address the pain and the social injustices that have been born out of that pain that affect us all today. But there seems to be so much resistance to doing this that I don't think it's a conversation we are going to have soon. But it's coming.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

It's annoying to me that when people talk about "reparations" they always just specifically mean direct cash payments.

We have plenty of social programs, with hefty financial backing, aimed exclusively at helping Black people, to the exclusion of all other races.  This is much more effective at pulling Black people out of poverty, and building wealth, than direct cash payments would be.

I agree with you about the cash payments. Giving people money is not going to take away the pain of what went on with our ancestors back in history. We need to address the pain and the social injustices that have been born out of that pain that affect us all today. But there seems to be so much resistance to doing this that I don't think it's a conversation we are going to have soon. But it's coming.

Native Americans get Per Capita and and due to Latinos and Dreamers Afro Americans are locked out of Section 8 vouchers, the system is rigged against Afro Americans that's why most of 700K Homeless people are Afro Americans while on Skid Row, Immigrants are selling Sports memorabilia to Afro Americans in the height of homeless population.

We need Reparations in exchange for PR Statehood and Immigration reform should we net 54 seats in Senate and 225 House of Rep which is possible now with Generic ballot lead at 10, by repealing Filibuster

The bill passed out of H is establishing a Commission it doesn't give Reparations automatic but 5/10K cheques would be fine or opening up more Housing to Afro Americans

[Storebought]

The only thing I will add to this thread is:

Yes, a disproportionate number of homeless are black men.

Not all of them, or even the majority of them, suffer "mental illness" or "drug addiction." Not that mental illness or drug addiction should inexorably lead to homelessness (how Victorian).

As for reparations, I am against them. Call me uncle tom or whatever, I think the thing is nonsense.

We have plenty of social programs, with hefty financial backing, aimed exclusively at helping Black people, to the exclusion of all other races

is nonsense on stilts.

[HisGrace]

This is just DOA. Any Dems in even marginally unsafe seats would run for cover if the issue of reparations ever came up and the leadership wouldn't even let it in the floor given what awful PR it would be to even debate it in Congress.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

This is just DOA. Any Dems in even marginally unsafe seats would run for cover if the issue of reparations ever came up and the leadership wouldn't even let it in the floor given what awful PR it would be to even debate it in Congress.

Our new Senate class hasn't taken up a position on it yet even if they said no, DC Statehood WOULD give us 2 Afro Americans, as long as we hold onto H and vote to affirm this, providing we get 55 or more seats with Statehood

I am counting 54 with Ryan and Jackson plus 2 DC that will give us 56 seats to secure Reparations, even if we lose Sinema, Manchin and Tester

59 Seats if we win FL, IA or MO and PR Statehood that is almost 60, we are up 10 on the Generic ballot since Rs are Obstructing Commission

If Rs were up 10 on Generic Ballot they would be talking 2010 53 H seats, we should be talking our own wave insurence seats since we are up 10

Not downplaying it

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

I've always thought the way you address inequality was by targeting the poor, not groups that may overlap with the same.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I've always thought the way you address inequality was by targeting the poor, not groups that may overlap with the same.

You’re not wrong, but wealth ≠ security for African-Americans. They’re still less likely to receive adequate healthcare, jobs, education then white people with the same income