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A couple things: 1. This headline is clickbait garbage meant to elicit a click/emotional response. The concept of reparations (whether you agree with them or n

A couple things: 1. This headline is clickbait garbage meant to elicit a click/emotional response. The concept of reparations (whether you agree with them or not) are way more complex than simply saying "will bill you for slavery". 2. California Gov Newsom, who's relatively centrist (especially compared to what's further left in CA), has been rumored to be eyeing a presidential run at some point for a while now. It's not a coincidence that this kind of proposal aims to garner brownie points with voters who are further left than him.

jfengel 3y ago
The clickbait is even a bit more sneaky than usual. Reparations are about a national crime. They are meant to bill everyone for slavery, a crime that the entire nation committed, and for which the descendants are still suffering. But this being the WSJ editorial page, their goal is to take the focus off of a serious discussion of the current impact of historical problems. They want to jump straight to the defensive. "It's not an 'us' problem. It's certainly not 'me', so I'm going to opt out of it." I don't particularly support California doing this on its own -- not because California didn't benefit from slavery, but because it confuses the issue of a national problem. California happens to be where a lot of wealth ended up -- wealth that took place in a post-slavery era that was heavily structured by centuries of slavery. That applies to the whole nation. We delayed compensation for the crime the nation committed, and now the Wall Street Journal would like to pretend that just evaporated. But the people didn't evaporate, especially since we continued explicit, legal oppression for over a century. This is a hard question, and it's not made better by WSJ jumping straight to paranoia.
- easytiger 3y ago
  > a crime that the entire nation committed, Quite impossible as literally no one involved is still alive. Quite impossible because many contemporaries had nothing to do with it. Quite impossible because many contemporaries fought against it. If your father committed a crime are you liable? If your father broke the speed limit before it was introduced, should you be fined for it given it was later introduced? Parts of my family moved from Ireland to the USA in the 1790s to found abolitionist churches - am i exempt?
porkbeer 3y ago
Newsom is in no way a centrist.

jfengel 3y ago

The clickbait is even a bit more sneaky than usual. Reparations are about a national crime. They are meant to bill everyone for slavery, a crime that the entire nation committed, and for which the descendants are still suffering. But this being the WSJ editorial page, their goal is to take the focus off of a serious discussion of the current impact of historical problems. They want to jump straight to the defensive. "It's not an 'us' problem. It's certainly not 'me', so I'm going to opt out of it." I don't particularly support California doing this on its own -- not because California didn't benefit from slavery, but because it confuses the issue of a national problem. California happens to be where a lot of wealth ended up -- wealth that took place in a post-slavery era that was heavily structured by centuries of slavery. That applies to the whole nation. We delayed compensation for the crime the nation committed, and now the Wall Street Journal would like to pretend that just evaporated. But the people didn't evaporate, especially since we continued explicit, legal oppression for over a century. This is a hard question, and it's not made better by WSJ jumping straight to paranoia.

easytiger 3y ago
> a crime that the entire nation committed, Quite impossible as literally no one involved is still alive. Quite impossible because many contemporaries had nothing to do with it. Quite impossible because many contemporaries fought against it. If your father committed a crime are you liable? If your father broke the speed limit before it was introduced, should you be fined for it given it was later introduced? Parts of my family moved from Ireland to the USA in the 1790s to found abolitionist churches - am i exempt?

porkbeer 3y ago

Newsom is in no way a centrist.