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> Financial reparations to African American communities are key, argues Prof Baradaran This seems obvious and fair. Blacks have never been given a fair chance
by johnyzee 6y ago
> Financial reparations to African American communities are key, argues Prof Baradaran
This seems obvious and fair. Blacks have never been given a fair chance in America.
> In 1863, when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, black Americans owned less than 1% of US total wealth. Nearly 160 years later, this number has barely budged.
Just setting slaves free did not, in any way, put them on equal footing with the rest of the population, and they are still mostly in the hole today that they were then, through mostly no fault of their own.
Yet it is my impression that most white Americans, across the political spectrum, are repelled by this idea. There seems to be a widespread, though usually not so bluntly stated, sentiment, that blacks are to blame for their own problems. And not much recognition of how utterly disenfranchised, and frankly destroyed, this people were during slavery, and that this has effects generations later.
- ghufran_syed 6y agoyou might be interested by what a particular black professor has to say on the subject: https://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell/11/14/a-legacy-of-liberalism https://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell/11/14/a-legacy-o...
- ShamelessC 6y agoYou might be right about the "most" qualifier (although I hope you're not) but have you been paying attention to the protests and media/editorial coverage of the black lives matter movement? It seems many white people are finally starting to grasp the idea that black people have always been severely disadvantaged in this country. A good example is the popularity of the "white fragility" concept and a broader effort to call out racism when it happens instead of worrying about the egos and shame of those accused. Of course, there's also a lot of white people (conservatives, mostly) offended by this notion who are pushing back heavily. There's also obviously the issue that the majority of police in certain areas are particularly fragile and defensive when accused of being racists. Two sides to the issue n all that.
- johnyzee 6y agoI partly base the 'most' part on seeing how widespread the idea is here on HN, which I generally consider to consist of reasonable, and mostly liberal leaning, white people. Honestly, though the BLM movement is a nice gesture, it seems mostly prompted by the string of high-profile police brutality cases, and limited to that. I haven't seen a real agenda of change beyond that, like, for example, the suggestion of reparations, or other significant economic initiatives.
- ShamelessC 6y agoYeah, I agree that it's not nearly enough yet. The level of support for defunding police to fund social programs was surprising to me but of course our presidential candidate doesn't seem to be on board so that's not great. But yeah, there's been a substantial increase in conservative viewpoints here lately. Not that they're all racist, but I see a lot more racist dog whistling here than I used to. It's really unfortunate because it means anything politically charged tend to get flagged really quickly. I do appreciate seeing it in a way as it keeps me aware of just how popular those viewpoints are even among some otherwise talented people. But it does shut down a lot of productive discussion as well. Strange times.