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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nobody is disputing 400 years of systemic oppression.

Plenty of valid concerns and questions and objections to reparations have been raised, however. Yet it seems like the 2-3 reparations supporters who have been pushing this for 44 pages just mow over the concerns and objections every time they're raised. The only response to questions or concerns seems to be: but 400 years of systemic oppression.

Who gets reparations? How do we do this without bankrupting the country for generations? Why not also give reparations to American Indians or victims of US aggression abroad? What about the example of lottery winners (white and black), who use their cash on frivolous stuff and not as an investment in housing or education? How would $50K improve housing choices when it might get you a downpayment on a house in Bethesda, but it won't help you pay the remaining mortgage for $950K? Why is cash better than spending the same amount, or more, on improving education, subsidizing mortgages, training and rehabilitation, breaking down the 1994 crime law, boosting Head Start, boosting the estate tax, subsidizing college, universal healthcare, et cetera?

Continuing to cite 400 years isn't a satisfactory answer to these questions.

Here is Obama on why he opposes reparations:

[quote]I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say ‘we’ve paid our debt’ and to avoid the much harder work of enforcing our anti-discrimination laws in employment and housing; the much harder work of making sure that our schools are not separate and unequal; the much harder work of providing job training programs and rehabilitating young men coming out of prison every year; and the much harder work of lifting 37 million Americans of all races out of poverty.

These challenges will not go away with reparations. So while I applaud and agree with the underlying sentiment of recognizing the continued legacy of slavery, I would prefer to focus on the issues that will directly address these problems — and building a consensus to do just that.[/quote]

Also:

[quote]I have said in the past — and I’ll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed.
...And so, you know, I’m much more interested in talking about, how do we get every child to learn? How do we get every person health care? How do we make sure that everybody has a job? How do we make sure that every senior citizen can retire with dignity and respect?
And if we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they’re disproportionately uninsured. If we’ve got an agenda that says every child in America should get — should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it’s oftentimes our children who can’t afford to go to college.
[/quote]

[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/09/what-obama-actually-said-his-rejection-reparations/[/url]
[/quote]

Add to the list of concerns:

Cash grants wouldn't remove this underlying drivers that continue the racial wealth gap. These include differential incomes, differential savings at lower incomes (called the elasticity of savings in the Econ jargon), differential rates of return on things like real estate, lack of financial education, differential inheritances, poor educational opportunities from kindergarten through college, poor health care, and more.

The posters who continue to mow over these issues with "but 400 years" would help their cause by addressing some of these. [/quote]

So give free housing grants - real estate - done. [/quote]

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