# Renewable Reparations **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594 "2020-09-14T17:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/121 "2020-10-06T18:18:02Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Simply not true. The Homestead Act of 1863 allowed free-Blacks to homestead. Cite? What Homestead Act of 1863? The Homestead Act of 1862 [reads](https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/homestead-act), “and is a citizen of the United States”. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/122 "2020-10-07T14:10:49Z")
After the 14th Amendment they could. So fine, then what is the argument that Blacks were banned from homesteading after July 9, 1868? ---
**Author:** ![damuriajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@damuriajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/damuriajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/123 "2020-10-07T16:12:04Z")
Combined with the claimants of the original Homestead Act, then, more than 1.6 million white families – both native-born and immigrant – succeeded in becoming landowners during the next several decades. Conversely, only 4,000 to 5,500 African-American claimants ever received final land patents from the SHA. > **[Land and the roots of African-American poverty | Aeon Ideas](https://aeon.co/ideas/land-and-the-roots-of-african-american-poverty)** > > The Homestead Act gave 1.6 million white families – and fewer than 6000 black families – 160 acres of virtually free land ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/124 "2020-10-07T17:52:45Z")
I would not argue that Blacks were _banned_ after that date. There were almost certainly hurdles to jump in practice, but as a matter of law Blacks would have been eligible for homestead claims and patents. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/125 "2020-10-26T22:31:19Z")
So ‘reparations’ for black people involves giving them land out in the prairie or desert and a job working in the fields, this time on solar panels instead of, say, picking cotton? And this is a _progressive_ idea? Any ‘help’ that forces people out of their communities and into specific jobs they may not want should be abhorrent. Also, there is lots of scholarship on what happens when people are gifted property instead of working for it. See what happens when people are given free apartments to live in. They generally turn into wrecks over time, as people don’t have an incentive to care for them, or the habits to do so. White, black… it doesn’t matter. The idea of reparations being paid to people for historical injustice, to be paid by people who did no wrong, is abhorrent. And it would set back race relations substantially. The only way to get past racism is to stop being racist. That includes ‘anti-racist’ racism, which is just racism. Start treating everyone equally, and provide a social safety net for those who absolutely need it. Skin color should NEVER be a factor. It should be illegal to even ask it on a resume, application or interview. If Black people are having trouble, figure out where the problems are and fix them. For instance, let’s look at the godawful inner city schools that are failing their students. ‘Reparations’ could be money spent to fix up minority neighborhoods, reform the schools, and increase funding to the cops to get violence under control. That’s what poor black people need - not a job baking in the sun in a field repairing a solar panel. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594/126 "2020-10-27T01:03:13Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > So ‘reparations’ for black people involves giving them land out in the prairie or desert and a job working in the fields, this time on solar panels instead of, say, picking cotton? > > And this is a _progressive_ idea? Have you read this thread? The OP, who is suspended, is the only person of any political position who thinks this is a good idea. And people of every political stripe have argued against it in this thread. This is not a “progressive” idea. Calm yourself. Why you needed to pop in here almost three weeks after the last post and complain about progressives is, how do they say, dropping a big turd in the punch bowl. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renewable-reparations/920594.md?page=6)