General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are you in favor of reparations to African Americans? [View all]Chainfire
(17,757 posts)I feel that everyone in this country deserves fair and equitable treatment which would go a lot further to correcting past sins than a monetary payout. I do not feel that we can buy our way out of our shameful history. A good start to rectifying our sins of the past would be to provide equal public education and free higher education and a living wage for all Americans; that would go further to leveling the playing field than selecting winners and losers based upon history and race.
If we decide that we need to write a check to pay for our sins, would we not be obligated, for the same reasons to compensate people of Native American origins? Perhaps, even people of Irish American, or Italian heritage would deserve some compensation for being treated as untermensch when they immigrated to America. How do you possibly design and implement a "fair" system?
For a better outcome, we need to work on changing the current and future social and economic sins. The best way forward is to begin by addressing the massive disparity of the distribution of wealth in the country. People are mistreated as much because of their economic status as they are for their race or national origins. We can't change the past, but we can influence the future.