Reparations

What's that old adage? Something along the line of "Always leave them wanting more".

It's a fascinating experiment in human psychology. 1) Just the talk of reparations makes the self-defined, needy, hungry and interested. 2) Form a committee to study the idea of reparations makes the thirsty thirstier. 3) Release the initial findings from said committee/study group. 4) More dates for a date keep the people anticipating a HUGE payout wanting more and inclined to support those promising more.

If one gave that much of a shit it would be interesting to map the duration from "thought idea" to present date. LOL it sounds very familiar to the existential threat of Global Warming / Global Cooling / Climate Change.

Will there be compensation (compensation currently un-defined) under the guise of reparations? Sure. Will it be on the scale as promised by those benefiting from said attention/adoration/votes? Nope.

Funny how the words of Rahm Emanuel or Oliver Twist continue to ring true this many years later.

Not a topic for here

@ea, agree with your 2 original posts. There definitely was some fuckery going on, it's horrible to think about but it happened. You can't fix the past, only try to do better going forward. Paying descendants of that shit isn't the answer though.

"While I would favor some kind of redress, I don't think cash reparations will ever happen."

A difference between Japanese reparations and this is that Japanese-Americans from the camps were still alive and could be directly compensated for the great wrongs done to them.

I hate talking about race and racism with white people because it's usually a matter of moments before someone says something so abysmally stupid that the top of my head comes off and that's with reasonably intelligent people. Which, you know, ain't necessarily the case here.

However, I'll give it a shot.

Everything we as a country have tried to somehow come to grips with slavery and structural racism has been deeply flawed and I'm none too sure hasn't made everything worse instead of better. I suspect the issue of reparations falls into that trap too and that's before the stupid-ass culture warriors chime in with their bullshit to make everything worse.

"Should those same descendants of slaves that these reparations are directed at compensate me for that?"

No, because your ancestors weren't fighting to free the slaves, they were fighting to preserve the union, something jeopardized by the secession of so many states. There were probably some abolitionists in many military units, but it wasn't actually a very popular position that slavery was wrong and should end and that was worth fighting for.

@ B& C

They won’t leave without an exit tax. That’s CA

Also, my ancestors got stabbed / shot / lost limbs fighting for the side that freed the slaves. Should those same descendants of slaves that these reparations are directed at compensate me for that?

Looks like some people in CA will now have some money to move out .

Good thing California is the worlds fourth largest economy, based on nominal GDP.

They are going to need every penny of it to pay for this can of worms.

Complex topic that is probably too deep for a swingers forum, but I'll put in my two cents...

Equal treatment is great. But how do you repair the 400 years of slavery, and the 150+ years after that of Jim Crow?

There is no question that the legal system has discriminated against black people (and to a lesser extent other minorities).

Just a couple of examples.

The original Social Security Act excluded professions that were dominated by blacks, including domestic workers and railroad porters.

There were racial restrictions in housing up until at least the 1970's. Read the book The Color of Law for an in depth discussion of this.

In my own neighborhood there is evidence of this. EA, you have probably been to the Midway District, where the San Diego Sports Arena is.

That area was originally developed during WWII as a mixed race housing development for war workers. After the war, the city condemned all of housing in the area and turned it into commercial. This was because of pressure the residents of Point Loma (where I live now) because they didn't want blacks living close to them.

Have you ever heard of Bruce's Beach? Look it up. An example of reparations in action.

On a related note, I had the good fortune to be a student of Harry Kitano at UCLA. He was an advisor to the people who managed to get reparations for the Japanese for their detention during WWII. Fascinating guy, and fascinating story. His last book, “Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Achieved Redress,” describes the story. Haven't read it yet, but it is on the list...

While I would favor some kind of redress, I don't think cash reparations will ever happen.

Let me guess , Newsom may be running for President .
This may be another Student Loan type of scam for votes .

@EA..

Now I know I’m hallucinatIng… I need to go out and get some air.. How can I feel that exact way? Holy fuck… I’m in Bizzaro Forum..

You should send this same post to your Governor.

Just to add, this is from the draft proposal in CA.

Estimate the amount black businesses have lost in stolen or destroyed property through 'racial terror' and distribute it back to black Californians (logistically not feasible)

Adopt mandatory curriculum for all teachers to take anti-bias training (Ok, I can see this.)

Recruit black educators for K-12 schools (I have no problem here.)

Provide scholarships to black high school graduates to cover four years of undergraduate at a choice school (I can see a tweak of this)

Compensate individuals who were forcibly removed from their homes due to state action, such as park and highway constructions (No. Eminent Domain sucks, but it sucks for all.)

Create funding to invest in environmental infrastructure (We are doing that.)

Create equal access to parks and national resources in black neighborhoods (Is this an issue?)

Compensate families who were denied inheritances they would have received if they were white (how do you prove that?)

Compensate those who have been discriminated and deprived of rightful profits from artistic, creative, athletics, and intellectual endeavors (WTF does that mean?)

Raise the minimum wage in predominantly black industries, such as food and agricultural (That should NOT know color)

Require scaling up the minimum wage for experienced workers (I can see this, but don't think it will fly)

Create a fund to support black-owned businesses and eliminate licensure barriers that harm black workers (What is in place that is a barrier?)

Compensate people whose health has been permanently damaged by anti-black healthcare (WTF is that? I am ignorant here.)

Implement policy to close the racial wealth gap in California (Too vague.)

Implement a clear and detailed program to help African Americans obtain reparations (NOPE)

Establish an Office of African Americans/Freedmen Affairs to help document eligibility and prevent future harm (Ok, please put one in for all minorities as well)

I am well aware that this is a seriously hot topic.

Newsome put together a nine person task force to look into reparations.

I abhor what was done by people multiple generations ago. I find it horrendous that we had slavery. I find it horrendous that LA still fucking allows it!

I completely disagree with paying cash to people.

There are logistical issues out the wazoo, but I am more concerned about the moral issues.

The argument that this panel has made is that there have been federal and state laws that discriminated. No fucking shit. It was just not blacks. EVERY minority has had forms of discrimination. But what is interesting is how far back do you want to go? Are the Indians entitled to reparations? If so, who? The natives that were here were not all homogeneous. They were often at war with each other. Do we go back further? Do we give reparations to descendants of slavery when their parents sold them into it? When their community sold them in into it?

To me, this is what happens when you get people screaming against Affirmative Action. This is the counter. Affirmative Action was built as a means to end discrimination and a leg up to help pull up the repressed.

But there is also the issue of private industry. One of the arguments for reparations is housing. There is a very good book called Weapons of Math Destruction. In that book, there are details of how MATH was used, not to discriminate directly, but was actually discriminating. One of the examples was using credit scores per zip code and lending/not lending in that zip code.

I am all for EQUAL treatment. I am all for EQUAL funding. I am NOT for reparations. I believe it will be a generation or two to fix this, but put the same $ per child in schools regardless if they are in the ritzy section or not. As an example, where I live, the elementary schools get over 30k per year per kid. If I go 200' and am now in a different city, they get ~6k per year per kid. End that shit and you are now working on making things equal.