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Mary Frances Berry: We Need a ‘Reparations Superfund’
The New York Times ^ | June 8, 2014 | Professor Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Posted on 06/08/2014 11:05:49 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

In 1887, ex-slaves began petitioning the federal government for pensions and compensation for the years they had labored without wages before abolition. When Congress ignored their thousands of petitions, they tried to sue for wage theft but were told they could not. At the very least, the descendants of the tens of thousands of members of the Ex-Slave Pension and Bounty movement – whose membership forms stated the number of years they had been working as slaves, along with the names of their slave owners and the plantations on which they lived – should be eligible for reparations. Other individuals who can prove the identity of slave ancestors, whether they sought reparations in the 19th century or not, could also be eligible.

Reparations for unpaid labor are restitution, payment for damages to make whole for harm done. No restrictions should be made on how the money is spent. If their ancestors had received wages for their labor they too would have bought what they wanted, invested it as they desired, or given it to churches or schools or charities.

Beyond reparations to individuals, there should be a “Reparations Superfund” as historian V.P. Franklin suggests...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: blacks; civilwar; reparations; slavery; sourberry
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To: al baby

she’s got 33 college degrees

all of them the result of reparations aka “affirmative action”


21 posted on 06/09/2014 12:22:34 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: 2ndDivisionVet

The concept of Reparations will some day be extended to the decedents of today’s minimum wage workers, so next time you leave a tip, be sure to get a receipt for it to save with your other legal documents and heirlooms.


23 posted on 06/09/2014 12:40:23 AM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I'd say all of them owe the Irish immigrants “reparations" if you want to get right down to it.
24 posted on 06/09/2014 12:48:12 AM PDT by Bullish (You ever notice that liberalism really just amounts to anti-morality?)
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To: Bullish

And not to forget the Chinese.


25 posted on 06/09/2014 12:55:13 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Ouchthatonehurt

Recent studies suggest the number is closer to 735,000


26 posted on 06/09/2014 1:06:37 AM PDT by ken5050 ("One useless man is a shame, two are a law firm, three or more are a Congress".. John Adams)
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To: Ouchthatonehurt

Recent studies suggest the number is closer to 735,000


27 posted on 06/09/2014 1:06:53 AM PDT by ken5050 ("One useless man is a shame, two are a law firm, three or more are a Congress".. John Adams)
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To: Gene Eric

It would seem American welfare policy has raised a very lazy class of people.


28 posted on 06/09/2014 1:09:27 AM PDT by Bullish (You ever notice that liberalism really just amounts to anti-morality?)
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To: Bullish

Or facilitated unreasonable expectations.


29 posted on 06/09/2014 1:21:34 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: dsc
Everything dropped into place when I saw that photo.

I am doing FR on my cell phone, so the pic was a little small, but when I enlarged it, at first, I did not know if it was a pic of a man or a woman. Need I say more?

30 posted on 06/09/2014 1:47:47 AM PDT by Mark17 (Chicago Blackhawks: Stanley Cup champions 2010, 2013. Vietnam Vet 70-71 Msgt US Air Force, retired)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Every former slave alive today deserves reparations....


31 posted on 06/09/2014 1:56:27 AM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

And then the next generation of slave descendents wants to be paid because they didn’t get theirs. And then the next...

The War on Poverty and the Great Society pissed away any reparations anyone thought they had coming. Six hundred thousand civil war dead paid the real debt.


32 posted on 06/09/2014 2:08:49 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (When I first read it, " Atlas Shrugged" was fiction)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well.

During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.

You don’t hear me bitching and we got St Patty’s Day not entire history month.


33 posted on 06/09/2014 2:14:33 AM PDT by maddog55 (A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Professor Berry. Your contemporaries have opted instead to partake of the EBT reparations payment plan. They have also supplemented that with a “won’t get into jail card” Knock-Out Game, St. Trayvon Trump Card, and the Obama Phone.

Good luck with that.


34 posted on 06/09/2014 2:19:50 AM PDT by Gaffer
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: yldstrk

Even Allen West was in on passing Pigford.


36 posted on 06/09/2014 2:28:22 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: aquila48

There is no teaching associated with that position; she’s paid to be black and angry. She’s good at it.


38 posted on 06/09/2014 2:33:56 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (When I first read it, " Atlas Shrugged" was fiction)
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To: GeronL

Sure thing. Track down the descendants of each slaves owner, file an individual lawsuit in each case, and good luck proving your case.


39 posted on 06/09/2014 2:37:56 AM PDT by Kozak ("It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal" Henry Kissinger)
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To: GeronL

Do we get to deduct the Trillions spent on welfare from the total?
just asking.


40 posted on 06/09/2014 2:39:39 AM PDT by Kozak ("It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal" Henry Kissinger)
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