# What should be done with historically oppressed minority groups?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-with-historically-oppressed-minority-groups/474428>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 25, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-with-historically-oppressed-minority-groups/474428 "2008-11-25T14:51:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-with-historically-oppressed-minority-groups/474428/21 "2008-11-25T21:12:17Z")

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Let’s stipulate for a minute that we can identify everyone and only those who qualify as a historically opporessed minority. So we have a discrete group of individuals who qualify.

Now let’s say that everyone agrees on a proper dollar figure for reparations. Checks are distributed to those who qualify and … now what?

I could make the argument that since the laws that institutionalized oppression have long since been repealed, and since monetary reparations have been paid to those who suffered from that oppression, that oppression is now officially ended in this country.

And that’s it. No more affirmative action programs, no more Title 1 programs, no English as a Second Language tutoring, no nothing. The government has officially gotten out of the oppressed minority business.

That fixes everything, right?

I’ll make a proposal. There are still a lot of Japanese-Americans alive who were interned during World War 2. They received $20,000 each and an apology in 1988 for having their rights as American citizens violated for three years. Let’s ask them if that fixed everything.

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**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-with-historically-oppressed-minority-groups/474428/22 "2008-11-25T21:19:34Z")

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> [@pancakes3](#):
>
> 1 - we have affirmative action, which generally breaks down to be: if 2 people are equally qualified for a position, the one of oppressed/underrepresented ethnic origins gets the job - which for the majority means hispanics and blacks.

White women are the primary beneficiaries of AA policies.

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