General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBET founder Robert Johnson calls for $14 trillion of reparations for slavery
Johnson said reparations would send the signal that white Americans acknowledge damages that are owed for the unequal playing field created by slavery and the decades since.
The wealth divide and police brutality against blacks are at the heart of protests that have erupted across the nation following last weeks killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/bets-robert-johnson-calls-for-14-trillion-of-reparations-for-slavery.html
ProfessorGAC
(65,057 posts)...the number is so high as to have nobody look at this plan as anything other than fantasy.
I'm quite certain Mr. Johnson has actual economic data that supports the number.
But, asking for a fantastical sum doesn't start a negotiation. It ends the discussion.
Perhaps he could have said "You owe us $14 Trillion. Make your first offer, Federal Government"
Amishman
(5,557 posts)Even direct descendants of a slave probably isn't a clean criteria. Recently found out wife technically is. seven generations removed, and the rest of her family tree (that we have traced) are white europeans, so you'd never think it based on her appearance.
TheCowsCameHome
(40,168 posts)n/t
Archae
(46,328 posts)This guy is an idiot.
Who will collect the trillions?
And from who?
My own family came to the US 60 years AFTER slavery.
And who doles the money out?
And to who, and how much?
Are those with darker black skin going to get more, and lighter-skinned blacks get less?
And what about Hispanics? Asians? Arabs?
KWR65
(1,098 posts)It was their ancestors who created this debt. They need to pay for all the discrimination against colored people that has occurred since slavery was abolished. This is a good starting point.
Amishman
(5,557 posts)Far far to many complications for anything like that to be implemented.
Plus you'll never get something like that passed anyway.
KWR65
(1,098 posts)Archae
(46,328 posts)Why?
"Because they are white!"
Right. Sure.
JI7
(89,250 posts)but I support reparations.
Celerity
(43,399 posts)CURRENTLY that we PoC never had, do not have now, and never will.
I find it utterly tragic, but hardly surprising, when I see whites thinking that only the original sin of chattel slavery counts in terms of the causal action(s) for which redress is owed. The systemic race-based oppression that non-whites lived under, live under, and will continue to live under, post emancipation, is manifestly a massive part of the bill due as well.
JI7
(89,250 posts)reparations. WE would not have many rights and benefits and just overall be successful if not for black people who fought for Civil Rights . And everything else they gave yet still face some of the worst bigotry in this country.
Reparations can be done in many ways.
And it's not just about Slavery. It's about discrimination in housing, jobs , the continued police abuse and just the entire system .
ProgRocknProgPol
(143 posts)In the past, he praised Spanky on the "economy", told fellow black people to give him a chance, and tore Biden up about his stupid gaffe on the Breakfast Club in a way that I never hear him criticize Spanky. I'm thinking he might use Spanky's desperation and vice grip on the Republican party to try to pass this while he's in office (maybe that's why he's been so accommodating to him so far). Blexit will actually happen to a large extent if this comes to pass, and his cult might bitch loudly for a few hours, but will almost certainly line up behind him like they always did (including after the two omnibus bills they so loudly complained about). If this passes, it could be a seismic shift in policy on par with LBJ's Voting Rights Act.