Do you support the idea of “Reparations Payments” being given to eligible Black persons “to atone for centuries of slavery & systemic racism” (& WHY)?

[Anonymous]

Screenshot from video in article below

Reference article: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/san-francisco-air-black-reparations-plan-5m-person-97848395

Note: Choose the answer-option that most closely matches your response to this question.

A - HELL NO

B - No

C - I’m NOT SURE

D - MAYBE — Depending on how much the reparations payments are & what the eligibility requirements are

E - MAYBE — Depending on SOMETHING OTHER THAN what’s stated in answer-option D

F - Yes

G - HELL YES

Updates

1 y

UPDATE 1:
Please state in your opinion WHY you support or don’t support reparations, or WHY you voted “I’m not sure” or “Maybe” in this question’s poll.

Updates

1 y

UPDATE 2:
Thanks for all the thoughtful opinions!
Make sure you also vote in this question’s poll.

Updates

1 y

UPDATE 3:
FYI a “follow-on” question has also been posted…

Should countries which have traded/imported Black slaves be made to pay their fair share of reparations money to be given to Black slave descendants? ↗

[Investigator]

The idea of reparations sounds like it should be simple: go back through the historical records and check who was enslaved, then pay them for their troubles. However, without a doubt, we will run into litany of problems:

1. How far back are we going? "centurie (s)" plural, as in more than 1? Are our records even accurate enough to make positive claims with better certainty than preponderance-of-the-evidence? The American Civil War started in 1861--that's not even 2 centuries, it's slightly more than 1-and-a-half.

2. Who is going to benefit? The popular response is "the African American community". Okay, which members? Because not all blacks were enslaved, some did the enslaving. Are we going to methodologically trace every single individual black person's ancestry back through to the Civil War to see if their ancestor's were slaves? What if we find out there are living elders who owned slaved? Do we make them pay others who were? Is it just African Americans who get reparations or anyone who was a slave at that time?

3. How far removed from the United States are reparations afforded? If someone's ancestor's were shipped in from somewhere like Africa or Uganda, do we have to go there and then give them reparations, if there are any living relatives?

4. What form would reparations take? If we're talking small sums, like maybe $5,000 (which is a lot for someone in a third-world country but starvation wages in the States), then perhaps it is possible to accommodate that through some sort of charity fund (perhaps "white guilt" people will, but how big a pool that is is up for debate), but if we're saying on the order of "these people had their villages burned down and property destroyed, the damages are in the 100s of millions, per village", that could easily amount to trillions of dollars over the course of an entire family tree... for just one family. How are we going to pay for that? Are we going to start increasing taxes on millionaires and billionaires expressly for that purpose?

While in theory reparations might be a noble way to make people whole, due to injustices perpetuated against them--such that their lives were upended and they were with nothing, through no fault of their own--I don't see how it is possible to implement, without drastically increasing expenses for everyone except those affected, as a form of restitution. The unfortunate reality of "reparations for historical crimes" is that they are crimes of burden, not crimes of action: there is no single white person we can point to and say "right there, that person is responsible for all slavery, everywhere". Nor is every black person the victim of slavery, even if black people suffer generally because they have, as a group, been set back by white men of the past. All of which assumes their unfortunate situation is actually the result of past unfairness and not because of some other extenuating circumstance, like a lack of father figure in the household.

This is one of those situations where there are too many variables and too many degrees of freedom, to account for. The more one thinks about reparations in a practical sense and less in the abstract "just give some people money", the more implausible a solution seems. Unless we intend to implement a true behemoth of a sociopolitical apparatus, to fulfill this purpose (for as long as it takes, however much it may cost), the most practical solution may just be "do nothing", as bad as that sounds. At this point in time and perhaps for the foreseeable future, the world is already trying to handle the dual threat of economic collapse and "social cohesion decimation, after complete lockdown from a widespread viral outbreak" in just the last 3 years; there really isn't any room for "historical repayments" in that equation.

[Asker]

Thanks for the in-depth analysis.
Did you vote “No” or “HELL NO” in the poll?

[Investigator]

I voted "E - MAYBE"

[Asker]

Your poll selection is VERY unexpected.

You stated that there are a “litany of problems” w respect to reparations (which you explain in detail).

And you said the following:
- “While in theory reparations might be a noble way to make people whole…I don't see how it is possible to implement…”
- “This is one of those situations where there are too many variables and too many degrees of freedom, to account for. The more one thinks about reparations in a practical sense and less in the abstract…the more implausible a solution seems.”
- “At this point in time and perhaps for the foreseeable future…there really isn't any room for ‘historical repayments’…”

[MysteriousDarkness]

@Investigator
That was very well said.

[Guanfei]

That has to be one of the most retarded idea ever proposed in the history of bad ideas.

First, the most obvious: no one today is either a slaver or a slave. You'd give money to people who have never been slaves, taken from people who never had slaves. Rewarding and punishing people for something that is over for 200 years.

Second, how do you know who get it? Do you take every person alive today and make their whole family tree in hope you'll find if that person had, at some point, any slave in his family? And I say EVERY person alive, because you can't know, even for white people, if there wasn't a mixed baby at some point in time.

And finally, who is paying it? Only white people? Every people who don't benefit it, even black? No black people? Who is getting discriminated against, to pay for it?

[Asker]

Well said.

Yeah, there are big problems about who gets reparations (and is rewarded) and who pays for it (and is punished) — like you stated:

“You'd give money to people who have never been slaves, taken from people who never had slaves. Rewarding and punishing people for something that is over for [greater than 150] years.”

[Aerissa_Jade]

I did A for hell no but I often say I will support it, but only under specific conditions.

That you can prove you were an actual slave and two that the actual slave owner pays the reparations not the tax payer.

No one who has never been a slave should be given money and only those who owned slaves should be made to pay, not tax payers who have never owned slaves.

If you didn't know this already, there is already laws on the book that in modern times if someone is put into slavery without pay, that is how it works to pay them back. The modern laws should work just fine for this purpose as they stand now. Plus the slave owners will go to prison for it too.

https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/virginia-family-sentenced-after-performing-decade-long-modern-day-equivalent-of-slavery-of-family-member/

Something to think about though is every race has been slaves at some time, there is a obsession with Black people in the US, but white people have been slaves before, Native American's were enslaved out west by Mexican's, and white people.

[Asker]

Great comments.

[KostasKouvalis]

President Monroe already created a whole new country for them in Africa as reparations. Only 5% of them chose to make use of it, so that's on them. Why should they get more?

[Asker]

@KostasKouvalis
President Monroe didn’t create Liberia “as reparations” for slaves…

“Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States…[Liberia’s] capital was named after ACS supporter and U. S. President James Monroe.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia

On December 21, 1816, the [American Colonization Society] was officially established at the Davis Hotel in Washington, D. C…slave-owning United States presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison were among its supporters.”

en.m.wikipedia.org/.../American_Colonization_Society

[KostasKouvalis]

Isn't that basically the same thing?

[Asker]

@KostasKouvalis
No.
“Supporting” something is different than “creating” something. And the reason Liberia was created wasn’t about reparations.

[Jay3344]

Citing Wikipedia is not credible. Kudos for the effort but Wikipedia is not really a good source

[KostasKouvalis]

@Jay3344 Thank you

[Fuentes]

So it's ok for Natives go get paid back have land & their isn't government with money. Most slave owners are rich bankers & businessman who built themselves into the 1% of rich off free labor. Japanese got paid back for the time they spent in internment camps what do foreigners who were not slaved in the US have to do with paying us back in free labor? Mexico was over ran by Spaniards and then the US pushed them back and took the Spaniard conquered land. So no Mexicans would not be owed anything because that land was never American land until they fought the Spaniards for it. The same way we fought the French who later became Canada for the north.

With your thought process your saying In 1910 Koreans were enslaved by the Japanese but that means they should be paid back but it happen in Korea not in US land. Just like it happen I'm Mexico, not US land. Therefore if you worked free labor you deserve to be paid.

So if you have an issue with that? Why are you not working for free?

[Asker]

@KostasKouvalis
@jay3344

Below are a couple other articles which I found that discuss the creation of Liberia:

www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe

“Monrovia, the capital of the West African country Liberia, is named after James Monroe. As president, Monroe supported the work of the American Colonization Society to create a home for freed African slaves in Liberia.”

www.history.com/.../slavery-american-colonization-society-liberia

“Many white people [in the early 19th century] thought the answer to [the question: “if the U. S. ended slavery, would freed men and women remain in the country or go somewhere else?”] was to send free Black Americans to Africa through “colonization.” Starting in 1816, the American Colonization Society—which counted future presidents James Monroe and Andrew Jackson among its members—sought to create a colony in Africa for this purpose. This was 50 years before the U. S. would abolish slavery. Over the next three decades, the society secured land in West Africa and shipped people to the colony, which became the nation of Liberia in 1847.

The society spent its first few years trying to secure land in West Africa. In 1821, it made a deal with local West African leaders to establish a colony…The next year, the society began sending free people—often groups of families—to the colony. Over the next 40 years, upwards of 12,000 freeborn and formerly enslaved Black Americans immigrated to Liberia.”

[ElGato31]

Every single country, on every continent in every historical time had slavery. Basically, everyone living today most likely had an ancestor who was a slave. Just a quick search on YT, you can find a lot of lectures about history.

I don't see why black people think they are so special. Also, as a few historians said it, then you have to go back to the roots of slavery for Africans. Who sold them? Who gathered them on the shores so they can be shipped? Let me tell you, it was not the whites!

Another thing, who would pay this? The US government? From the taxpayers' money? Taxpayers that include the hispanic and Asian population too? Or people whose family came to the US after 1865, the year when slavery was officially abolished? Which is basically the majority of the current population?

Nobody would be eligible anyway, unless they are at least 159 years old being born into slavery.

[Asker]

Per the reference article on this question, the San Francisco reparations eligibility requirements have NOT been determined yet. However the article says the following…

“Possible criteria include having lived in the city during certain time periods and descending from someone “incarcerated for the failed War on Drugs”…

The state panel made the controversial decision in March to limit reparations to descendants of Black people who were in the country in the 19th century. Some reparations advocates said that approach does not take into account the harms that Black immigrants suffer.

Under San Francisco's draft recommendation, a person would have to be at least 18 years old and have identified as “Black/African American” in public documents for at least 10 years. Eligible people must also meet two of eight other criteria, though the list may change.

Those criteria include being born in or migrating to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and living in the city for least 13 years; being displaced from the city by urban renewal between 1954 and 1973, or the descendant of someone who was; attending the city's public schools before they were fully desegregated; or being a descendant of an enslaved person.”

[Lliam]

Hell no.
Why should only African Americans receive reparations? Why not any number of others, especially indigenous people?

Should all African Americans receive reparations? If not, then what would be the criteria for determining who gets free money?

It's obvious that the government would pay, but it gets its money from the taxes that everyone pays. That would mean that every single American would be paying. But how many Americans had ancestors who profited from slavery? I know for a fact that mine didn't. What about Asian immigrants or others? What about recent immigrants?

We are supposed to believe that "white" people are responsible, but that's simplistic nonsense.

It seems to me that this is a ploy by Democrats to garner votes. Even the Civil Rights Act that was signed by LBJ in 1964 was a cynical political move. I fully supported it and still do. But LBJ, himself, was a racist who admitted that his motive was to make "blacks" loyal to the Democratic party, even if that meant sacrificing many white Democratic voters.

I think Democrats are playing the same game now.

Segregation was the real crime. And which party was mainly responsible for that?

I don't think the recent politicizing of BLM, CRT, the 1619 Project, etc. are designed to correct injustice. I wish they were. I think they are designed to actually incite racism and divisiveness; to create a greater rift between conservatives, liberals, Democrats and Republicans; and to tear this country apart for political gain. It's not about justice. It's a power play.

What some people don't seem to understand is that "whites" and "blacks" are not homogeneous. Some blacks are conservative, some are liberal, some are smart enough not to think for themselves and to not be guided by ideology and group think. The same is true of whites.

So who are the people who claim to speak for all blacks? They are like the loud, vocal feminists who claim to speak for all women, and the loud, vocal LGBT activists who claim to speak for the entire LGBT community, and Zionists who claim to speak for all Jews.

I strongly support truth and justice. But the idea of reparation has nothing to do with addressing injustice in this country.

[abc3643]

No, reparations are ridiculous and inappropriate and set a dangerous precedent.

That said, I don't have much problem with affirmative action.

The reality is that the majority of people of African descent in the USA are descended from slaves and have suffered in one form or another racism or "Black burden" (as opposed to White privilege).

It is a reality. When something like "The Green Book" had to be created just so Black folks could safely travel and the fact that, even to this day, Black families have to have "The Talk" regarding police or other authority figures should make non-Black folks aware of this.

To help get these folks in a better position overall in life, we need to do two things __for__generations__ that we have been doing: affirmative action and making White folks aware of the perspective of minorities and how they are the receiving end of racism and injustice. Over the next two generations, things should be substantially better unless the White Nationalists get out of hand.

======
What I wrote above mentioning affirmative action is something that is VERY hard to explain in words, but that, in mathematics, is clear. Maybe one day I will write a MyTake about this.

I have already muted this question.

[VanillaSalt]

No. Nobody alone today was a slave. It’s easy to fall to the same level as the lowest blacks person and it takes real effort to recover from that point for even the best white man.


If we pay reparations will you stop crying racism? No. Will you stop reminding everyone how horrible you were treated? No. It accomplishes nothing. On the contrary it would cost more taxes and Ide love to see how hard life gets for blacks people when Mexican cartels, dictators, and other systems of inequality are leveraged over this country following a collapse of the American dollar.


Our priority right now is our country, then it’s people, then the rest of the world. I know blacks feel marginalized but… how much easier is life NOW then when your grandparents were actual slaves? Hell look at Africa now… terrible people running the show equal to the Mexican cartels. Would you rather live under their rule? We have it comparatively easier then back then and it’s only gonna get better.


Why risk the great future you know is coming for your children?

[Wade12345]

No. I am not guilty of what someone did 10 generations ago, and I'm not guilty anyway because my famility immigrated to the USA after slavery was already abolished. Why should my tax dollars or any of my family member's tax dollars go to lazy black people who blame all the wrong people for their troubles?

I don't care what californians are doing. They are dumb with their fiscal policies anyway. Reparations is even worse than the 90/50 retirement rule CAlifornia State Government has created.

[Asker]

What is the “90/50 retirement rule”?

[Wade12345]

If you work for 30 years you retire for 90% of your income at 50 years old for life... in Californiia anyway.

[Asker]

Wow they really want to go bankrupt, don’t they?

[Wade12345]

Yup. If CAlifornia was a separate nation, it would have the third largest DEBT in the world and the second largest DEFECIT in the world.

[Dalisay409]

Stupidest idea ever. First. It won't "fix" anything. Second, who pays? I can guarantee that neither I or anyone in my family ever participated in slave trade. Members of my family fought and died to end it. Now I'm supposed to give someone my money for something that happened generations ago? All this will do is create racial animus. Of course, that is what many of the advocates want. So called DEI and "social justice" warriors are usually neo-Marxists who want to use race to divide and control us.

[Asker]

Great points.
Yeah, unfortunately, probably most of the people in power supporting reparations payments aren’t trying to “fix anything”; but rather, as you said, “divide and control” people and/or buy their future votes.

[FunkyMonkee]

Maybe, after I get mine. We Irish were enslaved and mistreated for a MUCH longer time than blacks were and a lot longer time ago!! If blacks want reparations, they should go to Africa and get them from the ancestors of those that sold them into slavery in the first place!

[Asker]

Which answer-option letter did you select in the poll?

[FunkyMonkee]

A or B.

[Asker]

So you didn’t actually “A VOTE” (select one answer-option) in the poll.
…Are you afraid (concerned) to actually vote in GAG polls for some reason?

[Asker]

* So you didn’t actually “VOTE”

[FunkyMonkee]

No, I clicked on B before I got to see what A said and, had I seen it, I would've clicked on that. Do you get Brownie points for each vote?

[Asker]

Ok. Nope, I was curious how you voted because you said “Maybe…”

[FunkyMonkee]

Re-reading the wording of the question, I might've dood a boo-boo. I voted no on the idea of reparations ion general but I SHOULD'VE voted "hell yes" that the IF reparations are to be paid at all, it SHOULD be paid by the country that SOLD THEM into slavery!!

[Asker]

I think you voted CORRECTLY on this question…

You DON’T think reparations should be given to slave descendants; but if someone were to ask you “Who should FIRST/MOST pay reparations IF reparations WERE paid by anyone?” then your answer would be “The country that SOLD [slaves] into slavery.”

FYI:
This question was just asking if IN GENERAL you believe in “Reparations Payments” being given to eligible Black persons.

And the follow-on question — found in UPDATE 3 of this question — is asking (per UPDATE 1 of the follow-on question) whether the COUNTRIES WHICH BROUGHT BLACK SLAVES OUT OF AFRICA AND TRANSPORTED AND SOLD THEM TO OTHER COUNTRIES should be making reparations payments to be given to Black slave descendants. (But NOTE: the general idea of whether or not reparations payments should be given out at all for the follow-on question still “overrules” the question of “Who should first pay reparations IF they were handed out?”)

[FunkyMonkee]

Okay, cool by me!

[Adam1978]

No because there is very few who has been slaves in their life today, so why would none slaves get paid because some long dead slaves existed and was slave to a long dead master? You all know its all coming from todays tax payers right. Not the ones committed the past actions. So all this is give black people free money, while punishing every tax paying citizen especially the white who hasn't done anything wrong.

[Asker]

So true.

[Avicenna]

Very bad idea. It encourages grift rather than thrift or hard work. Plus, what happened to affirmative action, minority set-asides in government contracting, the $83 billion Corporate America gave to Black Lives Matter, DEI, etc?

[Asker]

Did you vote “No” or “HELL NO” in the poll?

[Anonymous]

I don't want to answer directly, but my answer rhymes with "HELL NO."

And you said "centuries" of slavery. Google said it was less than one century in America.

And to this very day, the highest number of African slaves ever, is in Africa. Are we on the hook for that, also? And Gavin is just doing this to win votes, just like Joe did with his student loan forgiveness scam.

[Asker]

The quoted words in my question…

“to atone for centuries of slavery and systemic racism”

…were taken from the 2nd paragraph of the reference article to this question — which begins with…

“These were some of the more than 100 recommendations made by a city-appointed reparations committee tasked with the thorny question of how to atone for centuries of slavery and systemic racism.”

And the video included in the reference article to this question says this…

“1526, the Spanish bring 100 enslaved Africans to what is now the Carolinas and Georgia; they were the first known slaves on American soil.”

[Asker]

PS: I’m curious why you “[didn't] want to answer directly” and what “rhymes with "HELL NO." “
…maybe FELL or SELL or TELL?…and GO or HO? Lol

[Opinion Owner]

The left is crazy as usual.

[Asker]

What is your “answer [that[ rhymes with "HELL NO”?

[Opinion Owner]

Hell no. In San Francisco they want to pay black people 5 million dollars each, give them homes for one dollar, pay them 100 thousand a year for life, and pay off all of their debt. Just because of the color of their skin. It's the dumbest thing since electing Biden.

[Asker]

…or maybe did you NOT mean RHYME and instead meant that “HELL NO” would be a watered-down euphemism for your answer — which you “[didn’t] want to answer directly” — such as: “F-CK NO”?

[Opinion Owner]

Fuck no! They don't deserve a dime.

[Asker]

Yeah, “ ‘fighting racism’ with racism” is definitely crazy.

[chrissykerdock]

we're talking about peeps 7th grandfather at least... it's too long ago... it's time to let go of the past and move on... this whole thing about CRT is manipulation... black people can do anything in this country... they don't even have to be qualified eg our VP and press secretary and countless news hosts and talk show host eg joy reed.

[NamerOfStars]

Reparations for slavery... in San Francisco. In California. Where slavery only existed under Mexicans and Indians.

Is "thinking things through" considered racist now?

[Asker]

Which answer-option did you select in the poll?
And what do you mean by your last statement above?

[NamerOfStars]

You can't give "reparations" to those who were never victims.

[Asker]

Which answer-option did you select in the poll?

[Asker]

…A or B?

[Exterminatore]

No. No one should be compensated for things that occurred 160 years ago or more and that did not happen to them.


Systematic racism is an excuse and a lie.


The only people who are black that should receive any compensation are those who were directly affected by segregation and Jim Crow laws. The compensation for this is affirmative action, which all blacks get regardless if they were actual victims or not. So I do not agree with it and it only discriminates against all other races.

[BradBoy]

Have to go with no. What happened to relatives many generations ago shouldn't entitle anyone to anything who didn't experience any of it themselves. And where does it stop? Anyone of any race who had relatives with any kind of hardship should get something?

[MysteriousDarkness]

What about others that were enslaved for example the Irish and on top of that they were treated much worse?
1. How would the reparations be determined and to who?
2. How much would each person get?
3. Would the people who had at least one slave owner in their family tree be the only ones who have or would people who don't have any slaves or slave owners in their family tree have to pay as well?
4. What about people who live outside the US that have at least one slave and or slave owner in their family tree that lived in the US?

[Fireguy17]

our family came to this country long after slavery ended, and there were no slaves there at all.
It happened a long time ago, and that is the great thing about history, you learn from others mistakes and those mistakes never get repeated.

[Asker]

Which answer-option did you select in this question’s poll?

[Fireguy17]

I answered with B.
And there were also other races that were put into slavery, so if you are going to do it for 1 race you need to do it for all races that experienced being in slavery.

[Asker]

Yeah, where would paying “reparations” stop? (it likely wouldn’t); and who would be excluded — and not paying for reparations — for not having a slave-trader/owner descendant? (likely no one: government-collected tax money would just be given away to people meeting reparations “eligibility requirements”).

[Fireguy17]

that is just it.
Those people today were never slaves.
How about those killed in any of the wars so that we could enjoy our freedoms, what should their relatives get then?

[Asker]

Yeah those fallen warriors sacrificed it all and their families lost out on the incomes/wealth they would have generated had they lived.

[genericname85]

no because this is punishment of completely innocent people. also i think at "some" point you should stop getting "victim" privilege for stuff that happened several generations ago... like at what point is your own life your own responsibility? just get your shit together and stop blaming others for your misfortune.

[SusanColleen]

People who never owned slaves making payments to people who never were slaves makes zero sense. We now have quotas, “affirmative action “, preferential hiring for minorities, extra points on tests for government jobs. Nobody is suffering now because of slavery 170 or more years ago.

[exitseven]

I really think that the time has come to have a national divorce. Maybe we can have an East America and West America. The very fact that an idea as outlandish as this can get any traction shows that the country is fractured beyond repair. The left can have the west coast and the right cann have the east. I think everyone would be happier. That is until the west runs out of money.

[Asker]

Liberals are currently in control of both coasts. If any national split happens it seems like TX would breakaway first.

[Asker]

…or FL.

[exitseven]

Florida and the Carolinas and Georgia are pretty conservative states. As is New hampshire and most of Msine. New York NJ and Mass are the moonbat states.

[Asker]

Ok, I agree w that. TN is conservative too.

[exitseven]

@gagname Actually a lot of blue states just have the democrsts concentrated in the urban areas. If you look on the map a state like Pennsylvania is a red state except for Philadelphia but it is enough to turn it blue.

[Asker]

Uh huh.

[KrakenAttackin]

First of all, fuck no. Second, let's do basic math. If there are about 330 million Americans and 13% are black (about 43 million), if we paid each black, say, $50k "for all their suffering", that would equate to about $21.5 TRILLION DOLLARS.

[Asker]

There’d be other eligibility requirements — see the reference article for what San Francisco is contemplating for this — but yeah, it’s be a lot of money; and are we gonna do ancestry. com/23andMe/etc DNA & family tree analysis on everyone to see if they are descended in any way from slaves?

[Fuentes]

330 black Americans don't live in Cali, so redo your math buddy.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Fuentes Nationwide there are about 330,000,000 Americans.

[Fuentes]

Is reparations nationwide are only being talked about in the US

[Fuentes]

In one or two states like California and others

[KrakenAttackin]

@Fuentes The concept isn't workable. How do we pay for it, issue bonds?

[Fuentes]

Make the rich who profited off if it who are now trillionaires pay for it. They built their business off it today and still flourish, why are they not paying back?

[Exterminatore]

@Fuentes

The problem with slave reparations is that no one who is alive today was a slave. We only compensate actual victims.

Who will pay for it? How about Democrats? Since the south at the time of the civil war and immediately after was pretty much all Democrat. Since 97% of Democrats voted against freeing the slaves in congress and about the same amount voted against allowing blacks to vote.

I think people who were directly impacted by Jim Crow laws and segregation deserve compensation.

Who should the people who profited off it pay? All the victims and perpetrators are dead. It was mainly plantation owners, not cooperations who profited and they are all dead.

[Fuentes]

@Exterminatore I don't think the government should pay reparations I think the Business man and owners who companies profited off of it should be paying the cost they made billions of dollars today and only because they built their companies off free labor of others backs. The Natives were paid back and a lot of them were slaughtered but their family's still got paid.

It's not even to late I am 4th generation, you guys all act like it was so long ago, how is it so long ago if I am 4th generation of post slavery? It's not hard to track anyone down It's not hard to prove who was related to a slave or not. The documents still are alive today of who all became freeman that day which is why all of us are all named freeman or after our past slave owners, luckily for me I have my dad's last name. But regardless it's not a hard thing to do a lot of the 1% became the 1% off of slavery.

You act like my grandpa's grandfather wasn't a slave so therefore he saw a man and women who benefited off free labor and made others rich for free labor. If you support free labor it makes you a communist. It doesn't matter how long ago it was it was free labor therefore the family's who have roots tied back to slavery which are still documented and only 4 to 5 generations back can and still be paid.

[Fuentes]

@Exterminatore That's like telling me if your dad worked his butt off and was owed something and instead he dies and did all that free labor who made someone else rich and your just gonna sit there and accept it cause he's dead? So now in this country we don't fight for dead peoples money that's owed to them? What? Last time I checked if someone in your immediate family dies because of an accident that was another companies fault, you can sue and they would owe you money. Have you forgotten what country we live in or do you guys just all pick and choose when you wanna be communist? Because your upset about history and mad this should have been sorted out years ago but instead everyone else failed to address and take care of it and therefore today this is where we're at. If you made my family work for free you will be paying me, you wanna be a communist and want free labor go pack a bag and move to China.

[Anonymous]

hell no! a lot of them were sold my their parents into slavery in the first place, so they already profited from the slave trade. Why pay them twice? Also, plenty of people who never had slavery in their past have failed to become a financial success, so can we please stop with the bullshit that "white people have held them back"? the end

[Asker]

What do you mean by this: “a lot of them were sold my their parents into slavery in the first place…”? (Is there a typo in that statement?)

[Opinion Owner]

yes. it should say "by" their parents

[Asker]

Ok thanks for the clarification.