<<I’ve never understood why people call welfare programs reparations for slavery. >>
I have a vague memory that Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was motivated in part as a remedy for Jim Crow. I agree that welfare programs were never supposed to be reparations for slavery.
The concept of reparations for slavery was not on the table in the mid 1960’s. It would have seemed odd then, since slavery had ended around 100 years earlier. It seems even odder now after the passage of another 35 years.
by racekarl:
As you pointed out, most other non-Anglo Saxons were “proven” to be inferior by science, not just blacks. The Irish, for example, were considered to be “white niggers” for a good bit of time. However, unlike black folks, whose status as slaves kept them at the bottom of the heirarchy system no matter how light the color of their skin, the Irish were eventually allowed to assimilate and become “white”. Same went for other immigrant groups who were considered to be inferior. The difference between the black slaves and the immigrants was that no matter bad the latter group had it, at least they had purchasing power, the ability to build communities, make businesses, move wherever they pleased, save money, and eventually establish a foothold in America’s economy and political system. Slaves could do none of those things because they were slaves. Most abolitionists were white folks, not because black people didn’t care about their own freedom, but because most black people didn’t have the power to have a voice.
To answer your question, no. If a boatload of blacks had hit the hit the shores in 1865 in an America that had never known slavery, they would have at least been given the chance to prove themselves like the Irish, Germans, Russians, Poles, and Chinese had. Slavery was the bitch that it was in part because it enforced the same racist ideas that allowed it to exist. Whites could rest comfortably at night, knowing that blacks were intellecually inferior because “look, they can’t even read or talk proper english”. They could lull themselves into believing they were doing a service to black folks, because “without us, they wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves; the only skill they have is picking cotton; they’re like children!”
Immigrants weren’t pigeon-holed like that. They suffered discrimination and racism, but they were never treated legally like animals for centuries at a time.
Actually, to answer your question racekar, yes they would have been treated differently, not no. That’s what I meant to say.
Neurotik- “Liar. I never said that. And my name is spelled with a k not a c. But I will adress the rest of your post anyway.”
Neurotik damned Sam, I apologize for misquoting you the other day. That was a total fuckup on my part and I would have apologized sooner but have been out of town for a couple of days. Better late than never I guess. It was actually it wasYou with the face that made the remark. Sorry 'bout that.
I appreciate your taking it in stride. I just got back and have yet to catch up. So, I have no clue what kinda shit I’m in for. But, I wanted to make my recant first and now I’ll get back in the fire.
P.S. I got your name right this time I hope:cool:
Allright, so I’ve read the new posts since my departure the other day. I just spent two days in this hot ass Texas summer getting my dad’s '73 mint condition stretch BLACK Cadillac back on the road (30K original miles) It’s got a 500cu" w/4bbls, factory cam and runs like a damned jet. Best car ever built. Got 150mph on the speedometer and will peg that sucker in a half a mile. Rides smooooth as glass. No, he’s not black the car is!
I’m fuckin’ old school Texas, I drink fuckin’ cuervo, smoke big ass cigars and drive a God-damned Cadillac. If any dumbass #$&%@ thinks driving a Caddy is a put down then your just ignorant. Cadillac’s always been a sign of quality and a measure of success. Maybe that’s ol’ school thinkin’.
But, I really never even thought about the ignorant shits out there who would see it as a racial slur. Guess it just shows where your heart is.
I appreciate the few of you who didn’t automatically go down that bigoted road. Now, that I think about it. I’m glad it worked out this way. Anyway, I got that off my chest.
(next time I’ll use Lexus as an example, see who I piss off then) :rolleyes:
Sorry about the previous rant, I do that once in a while. Tell the Mod. to delete it if it was over the top.
Let me ask y’all something. How much money do y’all think we’re talking about here. Cause I just did a little research and what I found says approximately 1.4 trillion bucks to be asked for in reparations. This suit estimates the beneficiaries (descendants) to be 35 million in number. It’s kinda late so my math might not be too good.
But, isn’t that about $40/person.
Of course the lawers will probably get a cut. So, who is really getting the best end of this deal?
.(If it were to actually happen)
FWIW, t-keela, I never heard the “Cadillac=black people” thing before either, and I’m middle-aged.
P.S.: I want your dad’s car. 
t-keela,
If you didn’t mean it as an insult, that’s good enough for me. I apologize for making that leap.
Since several posters seem to be unaware of the connection, I’ll provide a few examples.
From a song by an asshat named Johnny Rebel, who’s filthy site I won’t link to, as the mods would rightfully be a bit upset by it:
Ronald Reagan’s made up little story about a welfare queen in her shiny Cadillac.
There’s also a C&W song title “Welfare Cadillac” by Guy Drake, which was in the top 100 on the pop charts in 1970. It was so popular that a black bluesman named Jerry McCain wrote a parody as a rebuttal, titled “Welfare Cadillac Blues.”
“So You Think I Drive a Cadillac?”: Welfare Recipients’ Perspectives on the System and Its Reform. A book by Karen Seccombe.
The New Republic mentions it.
The Arkansas Times makes reference to it.
I could quite literally provide hundreds of cites, but based on the wide spectrum of cites I provided, you probably get the idea.
Again, sorry to infer that you had that intention, but it’s a widely held misconception that is often applied to blacks, especially the poor.
Ah, I see. I think why I never heard of that connotation is that my parents wouldn’t have listened to such a song on the radio, and never would have made such a reference.
Quote: “1.4 trillion bucks to be asked for in reparations. This suit estimates the beneficiaries (descendants) to be 35 million in number. It’s kinda late so my math might not be too good.
But, isn’t that about $40/person.” t-keela
Must have been real late, but yeah, your math is off. $1,400,000,000 in reparations for 35,000,000 black people would be about $40,000 per person.
Since the government is already running a deficit again, it would be up to taxpayers to foot the bill through additional taxes. Assuming blacks wouldn’t have their taxes increased because of the reparations costs, that would leave about 240,000,000 others to pay (not individual taxpayers, just total citizens). That would then be about $5,833 for every man, woman, child, or infant in the US of A. Our household bill would be $17,500.
The math here is correct (I hope) but the numbers aren’t really realistic on an individual level. That’s why I’m willing to listen to a discussion about the need for reparations on and institutional level (healthcare, childcare, education), but it doesn’t seem possible to pay individuals $40,000 each.
SONOFA!!!
Stupid post eating SLOW_FRICKIN!!! WEBBOARD!!!
AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!
Giant post eaten in half.
No shit man, I skipped the billions part, brain dead, no calc., three in the a.m. here and one too many shots gold cuervo!
Hey, even so, $40K distributed over twenty years. If that’ll shut it up. Why not? Get it from the welfare system…anyone who receives a slavery reparation is not eligible for welfare benefits? Or at the very least…when receiving a check from soc. sec. any income above a certain amount is repaid back to the system. That’s the way it works now. Only people who can show they are descendants and are in poverty conditions will be eligible.
Taxes paid to cover this additional burden on the American economy will be withheld from individuals and/or businesses who are “wealthy”, their ancestors having benefitted from slavery. (wealthy to be defined at a later date)
NO, THIS IS NOT A GODDAMNED: BLACK=WELFARE…COMMENT!
Let’s just make the tobacco industry pay for it. Slaves farmed tobacco after all, and what with all the $80 billion verdicts they’re getting against them anyway, they’ll never noticed.
Or Bayer Aspirin. They used Jewish slave labor-- slave labor is slave labor is slave labor…
Snopes that sounds good since I don’t smoke cigarettes anyway. But, as I’ve already been told before. This is reparations for Black slave descendants, others need not apply!
I am not black. The only minority blood that I can claim is some Choctaw Indian. And I can’t claim that, legally, since there’s no papers.
I am against Slavery Reparations because I think it will do more harm than good.
The statements that the US was “Built on the back of slave labor” that I’ve seen bandied about on this and other fora is so much garbage that I can’t believe I haven’t seen a “cite please?” as a comback. One could just as easily state that the entire railroad industry was maintained by Chinese immigrants… something with a grain of truth, but only that one grain.
130 years. Say it again with me… 130 years… draw it out really slow. 130 yeeeeaaaarssss…
That’s how long it’s been since a slave existed in the US.
It’s an emotional issue, I know, but c’mon folks. Try to look at it rationally, with race removed if you can. The whole idea is ludicrous.
And, for the record, as I said in the other thread, if reparations happen, I will be moving to Canada.
Good. One less ingrate to worry about.
See these cites.
http://www.progressive.org/mpbvmo00.htm
http://www.mit.edu/people/bpfoley/slavery2.html
I don’t know why it has to be “so much garbage”. There’s nothing inherent in that statement that would suggest it was garbage. That is, unless you just don’t want to believe it.
Curious about what the hell this has to do with anything…
Monstro, your comments are ignorant, offensive and racist.
Hehehe. Project much?
Explain how my statement is:
Ignorant
Offensive
Racist
Ignorance–IMHO–is concluding that the idea that slaves helped build this nation is a bunch of garbage, without even doing any research before hand.
Offensiveness–IMHO–is saying you’ll leave the country because you simply don’t like how ONE court case turned out, whilst ignoring the blatantly hateful and irresponsible things this government does on a daily basis.
Racism is believing that one race of people is better than the other. Racism is also letting prejudice influence a debate or dialogue, stirring it away from a productive conversavation and into a chamberpot full of lies, exaggerations, whining, name-calling, garbage-spewing, stupidity, and meanness.
Stupidity is saying someone’s comments are ignorant, offensive, and racist just because you don’t know what else to say.
How would the success of such a claim for reparations for slave labor impact a possible suit by an American Indian tribe seeking to reclaim their ancestors’ territory lost 200 years ago, or at least, to obtain monetary compensation for the taking of the territory?
Tristan:
This is more evidence that this country needs an American slavery museum.
Forget the North, if it pleases your sensibilities. But just imagine what the South would have been without slaves. Does “King Cotton” ring a bell? Without the cotton commodity, the South would have had a mighty difficult time establishing an economic foundation. Cotton was the bread and butter of the rich planters, and even though not everyone in the south was a planter, they sat at the center of the wheel that was the southern economy. Cheap labor enabled things to operate as they did. If there were no slaves, there would be no planters. And without planters, there would have been little money for building cities and establishing infrastructure like railroads. There would have also been little incentive for bring railroads to the antebellum south. Cotton was their primary export.
A question to ask yourself is why wouldn’t slaves be extensively used? It was cheaper to use a slave than hire someone and pay their wages, so of course, it would profit employers to contract with slave owners. That goes for the North and South alike.