"I wuz jes funnin.... yall"
Many legal experts point to the fact that slavery was not illegal in the United States prior to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified in 1865). Thus, there is no legal foundation for compensating the descendants of slaves for the crime against their ancestors when, in strictly legal terms, no crime was committed.
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Other legal experts point to the fact that the current U.S. government did not exist prior to June 21, 1788 when the United States Constitution was ratified. Therefore, the U.S. government inherited the institution of slavery, and cannot be held legally liable for the enslavement of Africans by Europeans prior to that time. Figuring out who was enslaved by whom in order to fairly apply reparations from the U.S. Government only to those who were enslaved under U.S. laws, would be an impossible task.
The most effective legal argument against reparations for slavery from a legal (as opposed to a moral standpoint) is that the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits has long since passed. Thus, courts are prohibited from granting relief. This has been used effectively in several suits, including "In re African American Slave Descendants", which dismissed a high-profile suit against a number of businesses with ties to slavery.
Perhaps the most cogent argument against reparations (though this is not a legal argument) is that few African-Americans are of "pure" African blood since the offspring of the original slaves were occasionally the progeny of Caucasian male masters (and a variety of White males) by means of rape, concubinage or threat and forcibly slave-breeding of African and Black female slaves.
Should we assume by DNA linkage or documentation, reparations will be funded by the Descendants of:
By DNA linkage or documentation, the following Descendants are exempt paying reparations:
i would add to the exempt list any whites that emigrated to the United States after 1865, as they would not have been involved in the US slavery issue at all.
Only a slave begs for help...only a beggar begs for alms.
If you slaves want your freedom, act like men and women who are worthy of their freedom. Otherwise, admit that you are nothing but slaves...at best, pets.
Well stated points
One quarter of my family fought for the Union.
One quarter fought for the Confederacy. They lost everything in the war, and ended up starting over with nothing in the west.
Half my family was still in Germany.
American Indians exempt?
What about American Indians whose ancestors were slave owners and American Indians who fought for the Confederacy?
I had three ancestors who fought in the Union Army. My family’s “debt” is paid — threefold.
Decendants of african american slaves should pay a tax for being fortunate enough to live here..
Enjoying bathrooms.. running water(hot/cold).. good food.. and white people and businesses they can rob..
In africa they would live in the toilet.. some as floaters..
The floaters are the tribal demigogues they elect or prefer..
Being black in america is almost always tribal..
After a few thousand years of murdering all the freedom lovers..
It is not only cultural but could be genetic.. to some extent..
An american ghetto always looks pretty much the same no matter the location..
The progressives are counting on it being genetic..
Witch doctors of tribal-think..
Coates is right on this one.
The 7.5% comes from the percentage of southern individuals holding title to slaves.
The 25% comes from the percentage of southern families owning slaves. This makes a good deal more sense as a metric, unless you're going to claim Scarlett Ohara wasn't a slaveowner simply because title to Mammy was in Gerald's name.
The nearly 25% is approximately accurate for the South as a whole. In SC and MS the percentage was right at 50% according to the 1860 census.
Two items missed in the first response:
Blacks, if they think about it don’t want reparations. Here is why:
1. The word reparations means that the debt is paid. If reparations were ever made there could be no more talk of “White Privilege” There would be no more affirmative action, there would be no minority set asides in government contracts. The debt would be paid and no further claims would be possible. The playing field would be leveled. Whites would owe the blacks nothing further. All the leftist - guilty whites could breath a sigh of relief because they would no longer have anything to be guilty about and thus could display the leftist racism they try so hard to hide. After reparations blacks would need to succeed or fail on their own merit. That is what the word means
2. If the government simply gave every black say, $100,000 or better yet even $1,000,000 (I think this would be 300 trillion dollars) regardless of their ancestry or whether they were even descendants of slaves what would happen? Putting that much cash into society would mean that the price of goods would escalate because of the inflation introduced into the system. That means the money would be nearly worthless and they would achieve little or no long term economic benefit UNLESS they were actually smart enough to immediately invest that money in some form of high interest investment. Welcome to the $75.00 Cheese Burger Jamil. How about the $150,000 Chevrolet Avero and $225,000 Ford Focus? Nice car eh?
The first of those two factor means I’d almost pay the reparations and deal with the inflation and economic upheaval because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would need new jobs since they couldn’t pimp historical racism.
Secondly I’d have my money invested properly in things that are tied to inflation and real property like land and end up better off. This may be sadistic but it would also be fun to watch the welfare queens and lay-a-bouts think they were gonna get rich and blow a million bucks on cocaine, booze and bling all of which had quintupled or sextupled in price and then be homeless 9 months later.
People (middle class) who had paid $200,000 for their house might suddenly find it was now worth $750,000. They might like that. The bank wouldn’t because those loans would be nearly worthless
Who they gonna blame then when the debit is paid?
The people that would get hurt by the reparation are the poor, the unskilled and renters. In other words, poor single parent households which are predominantly single the minority community
Ta-Nehisi Coates was on our PBS Moyers this weekend pitching his reparations book.
One of his most entertaining arguments was that we did nothing in repayment by electing Obama, because he is too white (here’s not black enough.)
Moyer didn’t bat an eye.
If any of the people calling for reparations were serious about slavery being such an abomination that it still effects them generations later, they would be working to end slavery. I have yet to meet a race-baiter who even cared that slavery still exists now, or who even spared a thought for the people still going through it.
simple... it is a stupid idea
The proper response to such accusations of RACISM! should always be, "So, what?"
!
Not the union army? But wait a minute. There was slavery in the north as well as the south, at least until the 1830-40’s (New Jersey being the last holdout circa Civil war). American Indians were also slaveholders and runaway slaves were returned to them. Families on the Trail of Tears took their black slaves with them. So let’s not keep repeating the myth that just the South had slaves.
While we are being fair...
Whatever reparations are made to blacks, because of slavery in the 1800s, ...must also be made to whites of Irish descent with compounded interest over a 100 years, as there were twice as many white indentured servants in the colonies than blacks in the 1700s.
(Be sure to deduct the black slavery debt of their transatlantic transportation costs, compounded since it occurred, since indentured servants already had to recompense that cost, which was never charged to the blacks....just business....)
On the other hand, we could just call it a wash, or accept the return of those blacks who never paid that debt as indentured servants until the debt is repaid..../s
How many will piss their lives away awaiting the false *hope* of reparations?
Reparations - restore or repair.
Sounds like - send them back...
Plus, let’s not forget Liberia.