Reparations for African Americans

Just as I predicted my opponent has very little knowledge of the history of Black Americans. I don't need a history lesson on the Civil War or Slavery. If my opponent seriously believes that African Americans owe a debt to this country because this country decided to stop selling breeding them as property (legally) and had to fight a war to treat African Americans slightly better than under slavery in the many years that follow I don't know what I could tell him to change his mind. After all this is as logical as increasing taxes on Blacks to pay for the enforcement of the Civil a Rights Act. It is common knowledge that some slaves were captured by other Africans. The fact that some Africans were complicit in the enslavement process would not nullify the need for reparations any more than the fact that some Jews collaborated with Hitler nullifies reparations that were paid out by Germany to Israel. More important than anything that happened to African Americans during slavery is what we has happened to them in recent history and what continues to happen to them in America today. Black Americans are not entitled to reparations exclusively because of slavery, yes indeed many African Americans that live in this country are descendants of people who immigrated many years after slavery. It is however ridiculous to believe that everything was rainbows and unicorns for black people in this country pre civil rights. There is no respectable scholar that I am aware of that believes African Americans are entitled to reparations based exclusively on Slavery . In any case Blacks deserve reparations because, as the social science tells us they are being legally discriminated against in housing, employment, and in their ability to receive welfare benefits. This is due to the fact that they are being targeted at rates higher that at which they commit crime, this is the new method of control of Blacks in this country by the State. It is called mass incarceration of Black Males many of whom go to jail or prison because of non violent drug offenses. This new method of control of the black population as well as state sanctioned white supremacy, discrimination pre civil rights, and lately the lax enforcement of basic civil rights law is the reason why the State owes reparations to Black Americans. I find it stunning that anyone could argue against reparations for Japanese Americans that were incarcerated by the State. Arguing that reparations for Black Americans would be illegally racist is as ignorant as arguing that the reparations Japanese Americans received after WW2 are racist. Clearly the government violated the rights of Japanese Americans and therefor had to pay reparations to them plain and simple. This is why I don't understand why reparations for Black Americans after the government has overtly violated their rights for the entire history of this country is so controversial to some. According to social scientist the gap between Blacks and Whites in wealth, educational attainment and income can be explained by the state sanctioned discrimination against blacks pre civil rights and the ongoing discrimination against blacks post civil rights in education, housing, employment and so on. The only explanations other than discrimination for the disparities between Blacks and Whites that I hear often are the mildly to overtly racist and baseless arguments made by Jared Taylor (and others in the White Nationalist Movement) and parroted by many conservative outlets about culture and IQ scores that have been endlessly discredited by respectable social scientists. I would like to conclude this argument by being humble in saying that I don't have all the answers nor do I pretend too. I am no economist by any stretch of the imagination therefor I can't say that I think one method of reparations is better than another, however I can give examples of many ideas proposed by others. I can also state what I am not proposing when I agitate for reparations for the black community. I am not proposing a tax on whites exclusively to be giving as reparations to blacks as a check I am unaware of any serious proponent of such a ridiculous form of reparations . Also I don't propose a tax hike on any income level for the expressed reason of covering reparations for black America. If I hold the position for example of increasing the taxes on the top 10 percent, that position is unchanging regardless on my position on reparations. Proponents of reparations differ in their opinions on how to pay for reparations, but what is certain is that tax hikes are not the only way to pay for reparations. If it was up to me I would make heavy cuts to our military for example. However the question is irrelevant to whether reparations should be payed out since people hold different positions on who should be taxed in general and at what rate, as well as where the government should allocate resources, what programs should be cut, increased, or remain the same, this is a completely different topic. My point is the government owes a debt to black Americans not white people per say just like there was African elites who sold other Africans into slavery other blacks and people of all colors have contributed in the oppression of blacks and other minorities through the government. If you have a problem with paying through taxes for the sins of your government you have a problem with the idea of government in general. To give a simple example, even if you had agitated against the Iraq War it would be ridiculous to then toss your hands up in the air when it came to rebuilding Iraq after your government had crumbled the country into pieces through bombings and the subsequent occupation. This is how representative governments work. Lastly I want to point out that may not know which is the best process for distributing reparations but I know of many good ideas that have been put forward. Such ideas for reparations would be similar to the benefits that veterans of color did not receive but white veterans did as part of the GI Bill or something similar to the Homestead Act. If my opponent finds the idea that black Americans are still being treated unfairly to this day unbelievable, I will be happy to go more into more detail about these injustices. It would be the farthest thing from surprising since pre civil rights 9 out 10 whites told a Gallup Poll that black children had the same opportunity of getting a good education as black children. Today that number is very similar hence I would not be surprised if my opponent has a hard time believing what overwhelming number of blacks tell us. Sources: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Numerous books by Tim Wise Numerous sociology books