Submitted by Julette Millien (not verified) on 7 October 2008 - 9:37am.
Amazing, the priorities. What has been particularly distressing about this bailout is the racially tinged accusations of how low-income people and their greed for a home, caused the blowout.
A blowout that has been in the makings for MANY decades. And had more to do with hedge funds, derivatives, NO investments in manufacturing and infrastructure AND major GREED among our financial and political leaders - across party lines.
This is troubling - this issue of reparations and priorities. We are expected to have moved on, forgiven all, yet there continues to be evidence of systemic racism. Even a formal statement of apology is yet to be made...some have dabbled...
And of course we do have to move on, we do have to forgive, if we have any hope of maintaining our potency and moral leadership. We have to fight the fight with a clear head and open heart. If we hope to have lasting impact.
On the one hand there is no doubt that there has been systematic and continuing discrimination since emancipation, and the conditions of slavery were beyond horrific, any sense of justice demands that something be done.
On the other, what would be enough? Is there anyway to make up for what the slaves our country held went through?
More troubling is how you would give some reparation without stoking the thinly vailed racism that still exists? Let's face it, there are a ton of morons out there that have zero empathy for what the slaves went through and what African Americans (and other Americans of color) go through today. To them it would be some kind of unfair bonus that seems unearned.
These are exactly the kind of asshats that would use it as a further justification of their bigotry.
I just don't know, what the best course forward is, but that does not excuse us from trying to find one.
Submitted by EYES OF TEXAS (not verified) on 7 October 2008 - 3:45pm.
My ancestors were Irish and got crapped on pretty bad also. Where do I sign up for reparations for their inhumane treatment? Oh, that's right, I just remembered, they were the wrong color to be considered for any type of reparations. All I can say is get over it because it's not going to happen.
Wow, that is totally without any empathy. But since I am Irish too, do you really think that our history is in any way the same as those that were taken, by force, from their homes, sold as property, worked to death, had their children treated as live stock and were beaten or killed when they tried to escape or resist?
Our ancestors choose to come here. As bad as things were under the English (and let's not minimize that) it was orders of magnitude less than the slaves.
So, you might be a little less of a glib asshole about all of this, eh?
I didn't know the Irish were brought over here against their will in chains and bought and sold like property?
I have mixed feelings about reparations, but to compare your immigration by choice story to slavery is pretty much nonsense. But I have noticed that little of what you write has much thought behind it.
Submitted by Anonymous Hussein (not verified) on 7 October 2008 - 11:26pm.
What makes slavery of blacks so much more immediately horrible---not sorry, I agree with Morgan Freeman on the term African American; blacks are just as American as anyone else---is that it occurred in a country that built itself up as the land of the free. Jim Crowe is a more recent far -reaching legacy of it.
But I get tired of hearing how all whites have it made. Tell that to the coal miners and the hill dwellers living off pot and moon shine money, who never owned slaves. Those people deserve help, too. I rarely hear or read of black activists advocating help for them or for people who are not black. That makes them just as bad as the white fuckers that try to keep them down. I also hear little about the great accomplishments of early black scholars and inventors from modern black rights activists or from many white activists. It is like they are overlooked in a poor me /poor them way.
Instead of reparations, we should make sure that each public school gains access to the same EXCEPTIONAL books, programs, and food. The money could be used to buy clothes for students and to fund field trips, arts, and sports for children in public schools across the country. Give them annual check-ups, too.
On an interesting side note, read up on the slave trade that existed in Portland until the 1940's. You can tour the tunnels where men and women of all colors were kept drugged until they were shipped off to work in foreign lands. It will horrify you and it will also make you realize that in many corners of the world, this still happens.
But I think the author of this piece makes a valid point. I would rather my money go to reparations than this bailout, even though I do not agree with reparations based on color.
Got any dirt, tips, leads or money for us? Then drop us a line or two at editors [at] culturekitchen [dot] com or use our general contact form to reach everybody in the editorial team ASAP.
Nibble daily on our brainy goodness with our daily syndication digest. You'll receive an email with a list and links to the previous day's posts.
Mark Warner, former Virginia governor speaking at Wake
Forest University, criticized the "personal and partisan attacks" and
"complex issues reduced to easy-to-digest sound bites."
"No one — no one — in politics has a monopoly on virtue,
on patriotism,
or most importantly, on the truth," Mr. Warner said.
"And that goes for
everyone, from conservative to liberal."
Post to Twitter
reparations
Amazing, the priorities. What has been particularly distressing about this bailout is the racially tinged accusations of how low-income people and their greed for a home, caused the blowout.
A blowout that has been in the makings for MANY decades. And had more to do with hedge funds, derivatives, NO investments in manufacturing and infrastructure AND major GREED among our financial and political leaders - across party lines.
This is troubling - this issue of reparations and priorities. We are expected to have moved on, forgiven all, yet there continues to be evidence of systemic racism. Even a formal statement of apology is yet to be made...some have dabbled...
And of course we do have to move on, we do have to forgive, if we have any hope of maintaining our potency and moral leadership. We have to fight the fight with a clear head and open heart. If we hope to have lasting impact.