BLM Coalition Reveals 6 Point Policy Platform

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much response thus far. I wonder if people are reluctant to address such a racially charged topic.

Honestly, just not much to respond to here.

So broad as to be virtually immune to discussion, except insofar as one can note that it's absurdly aspirational.

I'd have hoped for something with direct application to improving police/community interaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reparations? Seriously?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/02/new-website-allows-white-people-to-offer-reparations-directly-to-people-of-color/
Lmfao


“It’s about reparations for things that happened earlier today, for yesterday, for last Thursday,” she said. “This is for the present tense.”

"Here’s the basic concept: White people have created a political and cultural system that discriminates against and excludes people of color every day. Therefore, white people have a responsibility to actively work to level the playing field for the people of color who are disadvantaged and threatened by racism and racial inequality."

Uh
No
My white ass works hard enough & in no way feels responsibility.

White people have already done a lot to level the playing field through affirmative action - providing them advantages over whites in admission to college and graduate school.....for jobs.....for promotions. I personally have lost two promotions to less-qualified black applicants (the hiring manager told me, even though she said she'd deny saying it if I ever complained.) Isn't that a form of reparations?

Five years ago, I was up against an AA . My creds were better. (I learned this after I was hired.) But there was a diversity push. Thankfully, her boss was honest and slammed - saying she was hostile, never on time, divisive, etc. He could have lied and passed her on.

I knew someone who worked for the federal government, competing for a higher position. She had a Master's degree and 15 years experience. A relatively new employee, a black woman with less than two years and an undergrad degree, also went after it. The black woman got the promotion. The woman I knew filed a complaint, and after almost two years, she won. She got the better job and the pay differential for the two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much response thus far. I wonder if people are reluctant to address such a racially charged topic.

Honestly, just not much to respond to here.

So broad as to be virtually immune to discussion, except insofar as one can note that it's absurdly aspirational.

I'd have hoped for something with direct application to improving police/community interaction.

+1 Reads like a manifesto, not a policy platform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reparations? Seriously?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/02/new-website-allows-white-people-to-offer-reparations-directly-to-people-of-color/
Lmfao


“It’s about reparations for things that happened earlier today, for yesterday, for last Thursday,” she said. “This is for the present tense.”

"Here’s the basic concept: White people have created a political and cultural system that discriminates against and excludes people of color every day. Therefore, white people have a responsibility to actively work to level the playing field for the people of color who are disadvantaged and threatened by racism and racial inequality."

Uh
No
My white ass works hard enough & in no way feels responsibility.

Agree. Sorry but no. I have done nothing to disadvantage or exclude POC. I will not be made to feel responsible for something I didn't do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It looks like the BLM folks are becoming more organized. Per the NYT: "More than 60 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement have released a series of demands on Monday, including for reparations."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/black-lives-matter-campaign.html?_r=0

Six Point Plan:
https://policy.m4bl.org/

-End the War on Black People
-Reparations
-Invest-Divest
-Economic Justice
-Community Control
-Political Power

One of my main critiques of BLM was that they did not really have a formal platform. Without one, it made it easy for the media and others to define them. Conservative media is very good at this. It also allowed for typical responses like "why do black lives and not other lives" or "All lives matter," or even more common "why doesn't BLM fix black-on-black violence," all of which entirely miss the point (if you plan to say this, please do not bother responding to my post)[i]. Now they have some form of unifying message and platform that they could hold politicians to. Some of the points are a little rough, but I think its a great start for a national discussion.

Despite some of the point names, the actual underlying policy points are not all entirely race-based, and would benefit everyone, not just AAs (e.g. universal access to the internet, reformed tax code, end privatization of education, etc). Also, none of the points condemns or blames whites for the issues facing AAs, a common talking point for some folks. Probably the most controversial demand is for reparations, which I know most people do not agree with, but yet probably makes a lot of sense given the history of our government and its record of paying billions dollars in reparations to other groups that were wronged. Not sure how to do it though.

Without casting blame on AAs for the issues they face today (ignorant or dismissive of history, and suggests racial inferiority), or telling BLM to focus on "fixing the AA community from within" what do you guys think about the specific points outlined by BLM?

I thought that, despite the broad-sounding name, BLM was about injustice and brutality committed against blacks by law enforcement. Is it really just a black rights/empowerment group?

[Anonymous]

Too broad.

End the War on Black People? What does this translate into actually doing?

I think they need to get WAY more specific. For example, funding for a neutral third party assessment of police tactics in black neighborhoods and a round-up of best practices that help de-escalate tense situations that might end up being fatal.

But I have pretty much zero reaction/interest in these demands. They read like they came from a first-year students seminar on social justice at Oberlin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh god, reparations really? My family wasn't even here during the Civil war, they lived in Europe and didn't emigrate here until WWI or just last generation. So, they never owned slaves and didn't come from a country that even had them. That's just stupid...

but you move to a country that did you moved to a country that interred Japanese people and they were paid reparations do you think you deserve your money back to for that?
And I say this as a person who understands the desire for reparations but don't think it's going to end up being a feasible thing but your argument is asinine .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They want money. How revolutionary! LOL

Without working for it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strikes me as a lot of demands for "Black Privilege." Ironic since the premise underlying all this is opposition to perceived White Privilege.

- Every single black kid - regardless of aptitude or academic history - gets guaranteed admission to a 4-year public university, and completely paid for by taxpayers? Displaces white kids, even if they're more academically qualified or come from poorer backgrounds? Too bad, I guess.
- and even the ILLEGAL immigrants (as long as they're black) get the same deal? Taking space away from white citizens? Who cares.
- and the black students who currently have student loans get them forgiven (paid off by taxpayers) while the white students are stuck?
- and really, decriminalize drug use and prostitution for blacks? That's a goal?
- and have a minimum live-able wage for blacks? So there will be two pay scales: higher if you're black and lower if you're white? Can you imagine the response if this were proposed on reverse?

I could go on and on, but these "demands" are insane. Besides, how did BLM - supposedly a movement against police brutality of blacks - expand to a list of demands that essentially create a privileged black class at the expense of whites?

Not jus white but all other races...

[Anonymous]

The reparations for those in the Japanese internment camps paid $20K to each survivor (approx. 100,000).

I'm sure we could agree to pay 20K to each survivor of U.S. slavery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reparations for those in the Japanese internment camps paid $20K to each survivor (approx. 100,000).

I'm sure we could agree to pay 20K to each survivor of U.S. slavery.

No, we can't agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Strikes me as a lot of demands for "Black Privilege." Ironic since the premise underlying all this is opposition to perceived White Privilege.

- Every single black kid - regardless of aptitude or academic history - gets guaranteed admission to a 4-year public university, and completely paid for by taxpayers? Displaces white kids, even if they're more academically qualified or come from poorer backgrounds? Too bad, I guess.
- and even the ILLEGAL immigrants (as long as they're black) get the same deal? Taking space away from white citizens? Who cares.
- and the black students who currently have student loans get them forgiven (paid off by taxpayers) while the white students are stuck?
- and really, decriminalize drug use and prostitution for blacks? That's a goal?
- and have a minimum live-able wage for blacks? So there will be two pay scales: higher if you're black and lower if you're white? Can you imagine the response if this were proposed on reverse?

I could go on and on, but these "demands" are insane. Besides, how did BLM - supposedly a movement against police brutality of blacks - expand to a list of demands that essentially create a privileged black class at the expense of whites?

Not jus white but all other races...

Yep. It almost sounds like the idea is to use being black as a tool to get ahead (in terms of power, money) at the expense of all others (not just whites).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reparations for those in the Japanese internment camps paid $20K to each survivor (approx. 100,000).

I'm sure we could agree to pay 20K to each survivor of U.S. slavery.

That would work if we were able to identify the survivors of U.S. slavery, but that is near impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh god, reparations really? My family wasn't even here during the Civil war, they lived in Europe and didn't emigrate here until WWI or just last generation. So, they never owned slaves and didn't come from a country that even had them. That's just stupid...

but you move to a country that did you moved to a country that interred Japanese people and they were paid reparations do you think you deserve your money back to for that?
And I say this as a person who understands the desire for reparations but don't think it's going to end up being a feasible thing but your argument is asinine .

Well then, genius, put ME in the asinine category.

My roots go back to the late 40s when my parents arrived. However, we had relatives here in internment camps. I don't hear Italians screaming about reparations.

reparations! lol

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/11/us/an-official-apology-is-sought-from-us.html?pagewanted=all
AFTER SILENCE, ITALIANS RECALL THE INTERNMENT
An Official Apology Is Sought From U.S.
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: August 11, 1997

MISSOULA, Mont.— For decades, Italian immigrant families who lived through World War II in the United States did not want to talk about the curfews, confiscations of fishing boats, forced moves from coast towns, police searches of their homes and internments here at Fort Missoula.

But researchers are fleshing out this obscure footnote to American history: the treatment of 600,000 Italian citizens in the United States who were classified as ''enemy aliens'' after World War II began. And that is stirring memories among those who lived through it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reparations for those in the Japanese internment camps paid $20K to each survivor (approx. 100,000).

I'm sure we could agree to pay 20K to each survivor of U.S. slavery.

no, sorry

That $20K is going into my children's college fund - with the hope that they'll earn a spot over someone who's not as qualified.