[schaketo]

An important election year question:

What would JFK do?

[FReepaholic]

Federal Army Casualties:

Total Deaths.....389,753

Wounded in Action.....275,175

Total casualties, 1861 to 1865.....664,928

Reparations have been paid.

[William Terrell]

A friend of mine emailed me this some time ago. I've posted it several times because it profiles the central flaw in the reparations movement.

---

While travelling to work the other day, I happened to catch Michael Medved's talk show with some woman who is the head of one those groups demanding reparation for Africans in America due to slavery. Of course I'd heard of this before and had already decided it was ok by me as long as it was done fairly. Here's what I would consider a fair system of reparation to descendents of slaves:

First & foremost, reparation must include repatriation. Any African who doesn't want to be repatriated is admitting that they're better off in the US than they would have been had they been left in Africa. If having their ancestors brought here in slavery has made them better off than they would have been otherwise, then what claim do they have to reparation? Of course any repatriation would have to be permanent. Those being repatriated would have to give up their US citizenship.

Second, reparation dollar amounts must be based on the African enonomy not the US economy. If we have damaged some Africans by removing them from Africa, then obviously the amount of reparation we owe them would have to based on what they could be expected to earn in Africa not the US. If there income expectancy is higher in the US, then where is the economic damage? I have developed the following formula and taken wild guesses at the variables.

A 30 year old African decides he wants his reparation and he would like to be repatriated to Kenya. Ok, we find out the life expectancy in Kenya is 50 years. We also find out the average annual income in Kenya is $2,000. So we subtract his age from 50 and find out he has 20 years to live in Kenya. We multiple 20 times $2,000 and his reparation amount is $40,000. Plus we would give him free transportation to Kenya.

Since we have given him Kenya's average annual income for the rest of his life, he should be able to move to Kenya and live the rest of his life without ever having to work again. What more could a reasonable man ask?

It seems totally reasonable to me to base all of this on African life expectancies and African income levels because had we not enslaved their ancestors, then that is what they would have been born into. That is what they would have to look forward to. With the above two rules, I totally support reparation for Africans in America.

---

[ROCKLOBSTER]

NO!

Next question.

[xrp]

My ancestors came to America between 1880 and 1910. They never owned slaves.

Why should I have to pay? I haven't benefitted from racism, I've suffered. I can't get hired to certain positions because I don't help to fulfill a quota.

[aomagrat]

He says fair compensation for African Americans would involve a "civic restitution fund" and reparations would not come in the form of direct cash payments, but rather the use of tax money to fund social services for black Americans and scholarships for African-American students and historically black colleges.

Aren't we doing this now?

[RunningJoke]

"We are discovering that righting wrongs does not increase social concord. Women's liberation, racial equality, and the war on poverty have not made us a more united nation. On the contrary, social justice has multiplied grievances and fueled discord. Like total freedom, total justice may become a cause of social disintegration."

[G.Mason]

Who is "blacks"?

[giznort]

Yes....they should document the exact dates/times that they were enslaved, and submit the total time to the government. In turn, we'll figure out the average wages for that time period, throw in a little bonus, and then find the slave owners that made them slaves and have them pay them. Oh, they've all passed away? No debt, no reparations.

[cripplecreek]

If it can be proven that i ever owened a slave, I'll be more than happy to pay what is owed.

[PallMal]

Marable believes that every black family in the United States should receive reparations

Pretty ignorant statement, since there are many black families in the United States who voluntarily immigrated to this country after slavery. Does Colin Powell, who's parents immigrated from Jamaica, deserve reparations? How about the many Nigerians and other Africans who have immigrated here?

[JZoback]

Should blacks in America receive reparations for slavery?

Yes, they should!

Every living former adult slave from the Civil War time frame should receive their 40 acres and a mule or the equal in non adjusted Civil War era Union dollars.

Not sure what a 150 year old person will do with 40 acres and a mule, but we should pay never the less

[PLK]

"Most living Americans do have a connection with slavery. They have inherited the preferential advantage, if they are white, or the loathsome disadvantage, if they are Black; and those positions are virtually as alive today as they were in the 19th century."

Try telling my daughter, who is currently filling out scholarship applications for next school year, that she has a "preferential advantage." She is acutely aware of the fact that if her skin was black or brown instead of white, she wouldn't be strapped with thousands of dollars in student loans to pay back after she graduates.

White, middle class kids need not apply.

[pabianice]

They can get in line after us Jews, Irish, and Chinese.

[evad]

"Black people don't need no respirations"
"What black people need is to stop lying"...quotes from "Barber Shop"

[TexasCajun]

Who owes whom? Hummm

How much do Blacks owe the Whites that freed their ass? Many a white man died and millions of white dollars were spent in the effort to make all men free.

You never hear a black man thank the white men that made their live better. Blacks in a American have more "opportunity" than blacks in any other county including the Mother-land. There has never been a great, modern, industrial African society! Blacks should be happy they are part of the great American society!

[ANRCHTN]

repatriate EVERYBODY ____________________ [empty America].

[P.O.E.]

These two threads came up when I hit Browse, in this exact order. Honest!!!!

Debatable: Should blacks receive reparations for past slavery?

======================

Posted by xxxxxxxx
On 02/15/2004 10:16:53 AM EST #26 of 26

When UFOs Arrive

Posted by xxxxxxxx
On 02/15/2004 10:16:50 AM EST #720 of 720

[Semi Civil Servant]

The "reparations movement" is a scam masquerading as a moral issue.

[tcuoohjohn]

Why do people miss the most salient question of all?

Under what theory of law is ' victimhood' an inheritable asset?

One cannot inherit the status of victim any more than one can inherit the status of hero from one's ancestors.

[LS]

Two years ago (I think) the President of Benin, a coastal African country, made a speech in New Orleans in which he apologized to American blacks for his country's role in the slave trade. He admitted that before any whites could own blacks, black Africans first captured them inland and brought them to the coast.

Therefore, the FIRST STEP in any reparations is for African nations to pay America. Then we'll discuss the rest. Course, at that point, there won't be any further discussion.