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

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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=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But I have a serious problem with justifying correcting today's problems [b]because of what happened 400 years ago[/b].  [/quote]

Why do you repeatedly refer to “400 years ago”? Seems like an attempt to falsely create distance from the very recent atrocities in our country. 
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Because that's the justification for "reparations," in the article.  The justification is that BECAUSE this has been going on for 400 years, black people are entitled to something.  That's very different from saying George Floyd's family should be compensated or we should reform the police today.[/quote]

Saying [i]"because of what happened 400 years ago"[/i] is very different than [i]"because of what has happened for the last 400 years"[/i] - and given how precise you are with language it appears that you are intentionally distancing the atrocities.

Over what time period do you think the US has systematically oppressed black people and done harm? 
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400 years, did I not make that clear?

My point is that you don't get reparations for something that happened to dead people.  What happened to them can't be repaired.  You can get reparations for something that happened to you.   Black people are being oppressed today.  That is all that matters.  It doesn't matter if you are oppressed for 1 day or for 400 years.  It matters that it is happening today.  Which means we are responsible to fix it, today.[/quote]

It's not just happening to dead people.

There is "residual harm" from all of the various forms of oppression that have happened over the last 400 years.

slavery - loss of language, religion, family, history, culture
Jim Crow - segregation, monuments to celebrate white supremacy
redlining - further segregation

Segregation has led to decreased wealth, health, education, opportunity, etc. -- measurable harm in almost all aspects of life. 
[/quote]

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