# Reparations Revisited **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 22, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969 "2014-02-22T20:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/221 "2014-03-18T21:13:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Is it really that attractive, though? Turds attract flies. No assessment has been made regarding who or what has been attracted, only that it is becoming a nuisance. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/222 "2014-03-18T21:24:43Z")
If Honesty doesn’t return to address the point I made about the complexities of DNA and financial eligibility using Vanessa Williams as an example, I think it should be closed. In fact, I think there ought to be a general rule that if an OP creates a position and then bails on defending it, that thread should be closed. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/223 "2014-03-18T21:26:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Also, have you seen Vanessa Williams lately? The paint is starting to run. Not lately, but surely one of the most beautiful women who has ever lived. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/224 "2014-11-01T14:24:39Z")
Perhaps we should ask the Brits to pay for most of this, since they brought most of the slaves here. And The Spanish, who were the first to impose slavery in the New World. Maybe some others, as well. We are already paying for the sin of slavery, as such, and the sins of slaveowners in particular. No need to make it worse. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/225 "2015-10-16T00:00:47Z")
I do not know. I am neither African American nor English American. In USA, African Americans make up only 12% of population, thus they will not have political power to obtain reparations. In Russia, much of population was **enserfed** before 1861. Jews were **enserfed** in a different way 1828 – 1858. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the property of the nobles was confiscated and partially given to former serfs. Thus most of my great – grandparents obtained decent apartments. I was born in a new part of Leningrad built in 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/226 "2015-10-16T00:30:29Z")
I know this is a zombie, but last week I stumbled upon the following article. [Prez Obama earmarks $12M for Holocaust survivors](http://www.jta.org/2015/10/01/news-opinion/united-states/obama-administration-earmarks-12m-for-holocaust-survivors) Is it true? If so, why hasn’t there a big hoopla about it? If it is true, how do people feel about it? Is it divisive in the same way I’ve been told slavery/Jim Crow reparations would be? If not, why? Personally, I find this a strange, unexpected offering. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/227 "2015-10-16T13:49:20Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I know this is a zombie, but last week I stumbled upon the following article. > > [Prez Obama earmarks $12M for Holocaust survivors](http://www.jta.org/2015/10/01/news-opinion/united-states/obama-administration-earmarks-12m-for-holocaust-survivors) > > Is it true? > > If so, why hasn’t there a big hoopla about it? > > If it is true, how do people feel about it? Is it divisive in the same way I’ve been told slavery/Jim Crow reparations would be? If not, why? It is not really reparations, because AFAICT Obama is not implying that the US was responsible for the Holocaust. Buying hearing aids for actual Holocaust survivors isn’t really the same thing as reparations. If they still want money a hundred and thirty years from now, that might be comparable. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/228 "2015-10-16T13:51:45Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > If they still want money a hundred and thirty years from now, that might be comparable. I think I understand what you’re getting at here, but from my reading about reparations they’re about far more than slavery, and include various forms of government discrimination (such as red-lining) up to the mid to late 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/229 "2015-10-16T13:52:37Z")
Yeah, it’s not a reparation (though _West Germany_ did pay reparations to Israel and to a lesser extent to Jewish groups elsewhere). It’s just an assistance program for the still-living victims. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/230 "2015-10-16T14:10:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I think I understand what you’re getting at here, but from my reading about reparations they’re about far more than slavery, and include various forms of government discrimination (such as red-lining) up to the mid to late 20th century. Which is one of the things that makes reparations controversial, and also makes these charitable donations something other than reparations. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/231 "2015-10-16T14:11:09Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Which is one of the things that makes reparations controversial, and also makes these charitable donations something other than reparations. I agree with both statements. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/232 "2015-10-16T19:45:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, it’s not a reparation (though _West Germany_ did pay reparations to Israel and to a lesser extent to Jewish groups elsewhere). It’s just an assistance program for the still-living victims. If President Obama decided to cut a check to the direct victims of Jim Crow (let’s say, via the NACCP), wouldn’t most Americans reflexively scream “HANDOUTS! DIVISIVE! REPARATIONS!” Because I’m thinking they would. It wouldn’t matter that President Obama wouldn’t frame it explicitly as reparations. I believe it would still be perceived as such. And I’m guessing people would be very angry about him giving such kickbacks to his homeys. So I’m curious why a check earmarked to Holocaust survivors only seems to be registering a “meh”, if that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/233 "2015-10-16T19:50:43Z")
Well, we weren’t responsible for the Holocaust. So giving survivors money is not seen as an admission of wrongdoing. You can’t pay reparations for something someone else did. We were responsible for Jim Crow, however. That would make it a _de facto_ reparation program. I suspect you’d need a lot more than $12 million to compensate people who were injured or damaged by Jim Crow, anyway. That would make it a bigger headline, and provoke a bigger reaction. I bet you that people would be screaming if Obama earmarked $12 \*billion \*for Holocaust survivors. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/234 "2015-10-16T19:54:23Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > If President Obama decided to cut a check to the direct victims of Jim Crow (let’s say, via the NACCP), wouldn’t most Americans reflexively scream “HANDOUTS! DIVISIVE! REPARATIONS!” > > Because I’m thinking they would. It wouldn’t matter that President Obama wouldn’t frame it explicitly as reparations. I believe it would still be perceived as such. And I’m guessing people would be very angry about him giving such kickbacks to his homeys. Unfortunately I agree with you. > [@](#): > > So I’m curious why a check earmarked to Holocaust survivors only seems to be registering a “meh”, if that. I think because it doesn’t remind Americans that this nation is guilty of having done pretty awful stuff, even pretty recently, to black Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969/235 "2015-10-16T19:55:05Z")
We are NOT doing this here again. Wanna kick around reparations? Go grab a quote from Ta-Nehisi Coates and go wild…in another thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reparations-revisited/681969.md?page=11)