General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: DU ... Just So You Know, It's NOT Our Imagination ... [View all]DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)"Someone will have to pay for it. Now, realistically, you and I both know it's not going to be the fat-cat Koch Bros types, but is going to be laid on the backs of the working white man. "
With all due respect, if the majority makes a government which is unable to make the fat cats pay for thing sthey have benefitted from, that is NOT an excuse to deny people their due. Indeed, part of reparations is to hold those COMPANIES that have benefitted from bad behaviour responsible, and there is enough modern day pollution (which happens to be in black areas) that not one ghost of a slave or slave owner need be summoned, that is because the bad behviour of yesterday is being used for bad behavior TODAY.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/02/koch-brothers-lawsuit-chicago-petcoke_n_5255853.html
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/30/3432796/koch-getting-sued/
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/21/3417531/peters-petcoke-koch/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/arkansas-koch-industries-plant-high-rates-of-cancer_n_1007148.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924
If you ask why bad behaviour that happened almost 200 years ago is relevant, it is because that same bad behaviour is being used to justify NEW bad behaviour. This is being done in black areas because the Koch brothers know that to many, Black lives do NOT matter.
"Also, the efforts of several Democratic administrations have resulted in welfare programs (I really don't like the word "welfare", but...) that already benefit the black man, as well as the white man. And, I use the terms black man and white man for no other reason than brevity. I intend no gender discrimination."
So, therefore, in the minds of many, payments are being made to the black man."And it is not our job to prove them wrong? And this welfare is payment for abuse, and not just the fact that if people are poor, they will either die or become criminals to survive?
"For the record: I am against reparations, because they cannot be realistically administered and will provoke a backlash that will most certainly result in death and mayhem and the destruction of even more lives. But we can solve it. "
First step is to commonly agree on what should be the minimum rights and standard that ALL Americans should expect, and admit that until such time as prejudice is eliminated, that yes, blacks and minorities are playing this game with a handicap. Even Barack Obama (and yes, I can disagree with him a LOT) has had hits that would NOT have been done to a Bush, or even a Clinton. Yes, Black people are still "last hired, first fired" and we need to formally acknowledge that. We need REAL education reform, not just Charter school crookery, to ensure that it does not matter what side of Town a student was born in. That is step one.