As BLM is advocating.
Should all black people, including Oprah, benefit from these reparations?
no, the past is the past move the f on
shareEverybody wants a free lunch these days
shareBlack people should first look to Africa and the Middle East as it was other black people selling them in the first place. Not to mention slavery has existed through all cultures. White people have been enslaved too.
shareI have considered this a little, and I don't know how it would work. Tossing Oprah in the mix is silly, but overall it's a serious subject. I just heard the woman who survived the 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four young girls (including her sister) is still alive and partially blinded by the bomb. Hasn't received any recognition from the city of Little Rock or the State, I'm led to believe. The reverberations of slavery and racism are incredibly salient. You can almost come up with a formula for what this has cost Black people over the last 150 years.
But how would this all be administered and where would the $$ come form? Arguments will be made for how much self-determination Blacks have versus being coddled by a society that likely doesn't really care. It's just unfortunate and we need to be better going forward.
Tossing Oprah in the mix is sillyIs it though? If BLM is saying reparations for all African-Americans, does that include African-Americans who are now part of the 1%?
All things regarding the tax code are going to end up being complicated. I doubt rich folks like Oprah would have her hand out for this and maybe she'd give it to a good cause if it were foisted on her. I wonder what Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain think about this. And the popular scientist with the three names. He seems like a liberal. So what do these people think about this subject?
The second part of your question is a bit of a rabbit hole to me. Too many loose ends and hypotheticals. I did make a couple other comments that might give you an idea my thinking about this. Mostly, I'm not trying to fix the ancient past but the more recent past. Not multiple generations, just the last couple hundred years. And we aren't talking about making anyone rich, just trying to come up with a satisfying remedy to close this unfortunate chapter, and I don't think it can be done.
I doubt rich folks like Oprah would have her hand out for this and maybe she'd give it to a good cause if it were foisted on her.F*** charity.
I don't know where you are going with all this. People are free to do what they want with their $$. Some people are more virtuous than others, regardless of skin color. I'm a little leery of Libertarians, too. People need to be governed to a large degree. People think they are taking a stand for Freedom, but as the saying goes, Freedom isn't Free. That's why I don't like Libertarian thinking. Not a lot of thought goes into it.
shareI think a lot of African-Americans, along with some other minority groups, may have good reasons to be wary of the US government, particularly the current one, however, ultimately I'd still rather see wealth in the hands of democratically-elected, and thus accountable, governments who can then choose who to distribute it to, rather than corporations or individuals, even benevolent ones.
That said, there needs to be stronger safeguards and protections for minorities in the Constitution so that their rights are not completely superseded by the majority, whoever that majority may be.
Still, I stand by my contention that if the West ever did pay reparations for slavery, that money should go to black people who need it. Not the already wealthy.
I don't think anyone would argue with your last comment. Bon mot.
share"But how would this all be administered and where would the $$ come form?"
The fairest method is tax exemptions.
I'd argue the complete contrary.
If you're not paying tax, chances are you're the type of poor struggling, possibly unemployed/low-paid, possibly even homeless, black person the government should be helping most.
How do tax exemptions for people like Oprah and the Obamas help anyone?
Tax exemptions for the needy I mean. Yes I should have, and thought to, point out that exemptions are already used by rich people to get richer, so it should work for struggling types too.
I do know there is a cutoff in the tax code, make less than 10kin a year and you will get back 100% of your income tax.... though it was still collected and held for up to a year.
I'm probably being dense, but I'm not sure what you're saying here (then again, I'm a Brit, so you guys may have a different tax-system to us).
I suspect what you're suggesting is well-meaning and well-considered, but I still come back to my original concern; if you're already exempt from paying tax, due to poverty, or simply not earning enough to reach the threshold for paying tax, how would tax exemptions help? Surely it would make more sense to pay hypothetical reparations in the form of benefits, specifically to the most financially needy, or even as lump sums to be paid to black community leaders so that it may be invested in projects designed to benefit black communities in general rather than individuals.
I'm not in favor of reparations in the first place, so I'm not actually debating the merits of various methods of accomplishing that.
My exemptions post was in fact a Devil's Advocate type addition, not my own argument.