Reply to It's (finally) time for reparations. It's time for the US to pay its debt.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Yes, the key words are "present problems." Blacks in America today have problems today. So do poor whites. And immigrants. So lets fix what is front of us. We can't fix what is behind us.[/quote]

Ok, but black people face unique challenges in the US today because of the last 400 years of oppression.

Poor black people have more trauma and barriers than poor white people. 
[/quote]
I disagree.  They face unique challenges because of today's oppression.  Is George Floyd dead because his great grandfather was a slave, or because a cop put a knee on his neck? Is it harder for a black person to buy a house today because of slavery or because they can't get a loan? 
 History may explain why these things happen, but it doesn't cause them.  What we do right now causes today's problems.   And the solutions are all right now as well.[/quote]

Well, George Floyd wouldn't even be in Minneapolis if the US hadn't participated in chattel slavery. If he, his father, and grandfather had more opportunities then maybe he wouldn't have been an out-of-work bouncer who was possibly writing a forged check. If the US hadn't allowed white supremacy to flourish for centuries then perhaps the MPD wouldn't have had such a toxic, racist culture and officers like Chauvin would have been kicked out long ago. There are a series of historical atrocities that led to his death.

It's not just slavery - the issue is that the US has allowed white supremacy to go unchecked for centuries. Slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, etc. Those are all manifestations with "residual harm".

Certainly, black people DO face unique challenges in the US today because of the last 400 years of oppression. 
[/quote]
If the US hadn't participated in chattel slavery, he'd be in West Africa. Then what?

I'm not arguing with you about the history is.  I am arguing about the meaning of it for today and what to do about it.[/quote]

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