ye110man wrote:As I understand it reparations is not for services rendered during slavery but to level the economic playing field that was tilted due to slavery and discrimination after slavery.
I doubt the black leaders today would be in favor of a check sent out to every black person in the US. The implementation would be something along the lines of free private school and college education for all blacks and more liberal approval of home and small business loans.
Yeah! What he said!
(Though personally... I have other thoughts...)
But speaking about
IMPLEMENTATION, I'd like to address how specious it is to talk about it without having established or agreed on the validity on it. First I will say that for anyone who seriously wants to know what the position are that are held by those in the Reparations Movement then... The InterNet is free (or at least you must already have access to it if you're on this site). Use the resource that's right in front of you. And, yes,
ye110man, the idea of personal checks is not one that is at all seriously discussed. What you have said about education, etc. in one way shape or form is what is being advocated... I suggest those geniunely interested click on the N'COBRA link I posted. Both it and the CURE link answer a lot of the Frequently Asked Questions and I believe all of Craven's.
Now, it is obvious that if a person disagrees with an idea in theory then regardless as to how 'good' the practice is that same person will not see the merits of it. Revisit: COMMON GROUND
It is definitely necessary for people to agree in principle with the basic idea in order to even consider how to implement it and/or discuss practical ways to implement it because the "validity" of the idea and the resources/means it will take to bring it to fruition are all wrapped up together. People have a tough enough time agreeing on how to implement a program that they agree is needed, much less trying to see the merits of implementing something they vehemently oppose.
Again (for you Craven), the basis or should I say the
original intent [LBJ - "To Fulfill These Rights"] and the basic purposes of Affirmative Action and Reparations are the same. That is unless you fool yourself and pretend that AA was implemented for reasons that had nothing to do with race or that racism and the inequality of opportunities occurred along racial lines (eventhough there are 'white' poor, the intergenerational effects and the black community wide underdevelopment, how the inner-cities reflect that intergenerational underdevelopment, etc., etc., etc. ... oh... and how the black community could have been more self-sufficient had it not been for etc., etc., etc.
So, right there two important things have come to surface. First, IMO, any such targeted program should be aimed at African Americans gaining the means by which to be self-sufficient. IMO, beyond resources that requires a permanent apparatus or mechanism that ensures that self-sufficiency and fosters it.
Also, what is missed in most anaylsis with the propensity to focus on the "individual", the fact that we are products in one way or the other of our enviroment and the resources available to us in those places that we live then a community based perspective is one that must be considered. By community I actually mean the infrastructure and all the institutions that make up the cities and town that we live in.
Simply educating individuals when they live in a place/city that's in constant decline will not elevate the community. A good, thriving, functioning community free of wide scale vice is the necessary backdrop to large scale people and community wide improvement.
Instead of just No Child Left Behind there should be No [Inner]-City Left Behind. There's a whole line of study about how the creation of the suburbs reflect racist government sanctioned policies to the detriment of largely black innercities, etc.
In terms of IMPLEMENTATION... simply put:
WHERE THERE IS A WILL. THERE IS A WAY!
As far as dollar amounts well, I just heard someone forward an idea of about $87 Billion for what they called a Thurgood Marshall Plan earmarked for the 50 neediest cities.
As far as who pays... I have a solution for that too!.... A way where none of those questions about "Why Should I Pay?" would be left unsatisfied. But, again, I have to question whether that is the real issue with people that are against reparations. It's been my experience that for the most part when [my] model that would eliminate that concern is offered that the objections still remain. So, I'm left to believe that it really is more than about something like this proverbially "Taking [My] Money" Again, I have a model that eliminates that but doesn't eliminate the opposition. Matter of fact, it usually becomes even more vehement afterwards.... Imagine that!
Myself, I'm more of a self-sufficiency, self-determination and more than anything a real democracy type of advocate (which I see as a reflection of those other two things.)