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865

What about reparations for the descendants of all of the Union soldiers who dies during the Civil war? I wasn't a slave owner. I went to integrated schools. The people alive today should not be held responsible for what happened more than 150 years ago. White guilt!

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Now that the Obamas are finishing their third mansion, this one on three acres of Pacific Ocean paradise so they can travel unimpeded from the other mansions at Martha's Vineyard and DC. , would someone tell me if these are reparations.. It just seems a little strange that Oprah who made her fortune giving away appliances to white suburban women, twelve of the richest rappers, the NBA players, most of the NFL players should take the lead to matching grants for "reparations". Maybe then reparations would have more impact than what the average lottery winners achieve after three years. And, so long as the author's poster boy (may his soul rest in peace) was a convicted felon, caught in a crime, with three times the lethal level of fentanyl in his system when he died, there is little hope that reparations will inspire from his life any achievement.

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The main argument for reparations, as I read through this article, is given as: "Give back what was taken from people like my parents,” she told me. “Help this younger generation.” But a lot of generations did not get anything from their parents: black, white, Chinese, Indians, Appalachians etc. Where is the end of this pay off attitude? Another opinion: "Fix what’s broken,” Mosley said. “Housing, education. Use reparation money to get old people off the street.” This is the real and dignified, but it has to be done on the regular budget. This is what states and townships should be doing- not the sex education and drag queens, what Evanston should be doing as well. (I wonder if the city tried to run referendum?) Yes, I know this is small thing, just an example. Look, every single thing the governments tried to establish was given as a charity: low priced housing, ferrying the black children around, even affirmative action, which was a very good initiative with a huge flaw-it did not have expiration date and became a privilege. Charity works only when it is purposed on each separate individual case otherwise it causes more problems and misery, than any natural flow of development. Black citizens proved it 100 years ago according to Sowell and other black intellectuals, which are the real progressives as compared to Al Sharpton and Jessy Jackson

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"People were in awe of us,” Evanston city council member Robin Rue Simmons, the plan’s architect, said in November 2019, shortly after the historic 8–1 vote." LOL! No, people were laughing their asses off at this virtue posturing. When you're done with reparation for blacks, evacuate the city and give it back to the Indians.

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May have some benefit but won’t wipe away the ongoing victim mentality many still have. Some times you just have to keep a skeleton in the closet and forget it. A starting point would be to focus on education and a family unit. That will pay big dividends in the long run.

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Reality always stomps on idealism in the long run.

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Reparations won’t work. Money doesn’t solve social problems like this. In a native community not so far from me, each resident member of the band received $50,000 when they turned 18. The community was dirt poor, with high rates of substance abuse and illiteracy, but it sat in top of vast oil and natural gas reserves.

The program was a tragic comedy. Kids would blow through the $50,000 in a matter of months. They bought brand new trucks and other trinkets and trashed them soon enough. Even worse, the financial leeches moved in and would pay families 50 cents on the dollar to access the funds years before the kids turned 18. Car dealers really benefited from the program as well.

The disbursements were finally dropped by the native band because it was a colossal waste of money and caused more problems than it solved. Twenty years later nothing has changed in the community. The band itself is wealthy beyond belief, but most the residents are still poor, still products of inter-generational poverty and substance abuse.

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I've learned that I have a not-insignificantly-lower amount of savings than all shades of people. What counts as savings? I do "own" my house. I only owe $110,000 more.

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When will the victim status for Black Americans end.

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I’m not saying the gentleman wasn’t discriminated against when he tried to get a home loan, but he wasn’t singled out if “red-lining” was involved. No one within the “re-lined” area could get a mortgage, and, historically, a majority of those within “red-lined” areas were poor whites.

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What are “savings?” 🥲

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There are people who live in this country today, many of whom came to the US for a better life for their children, who work hard and pay taxes. Should that tax money be used for reparations which will fix nothing? Should money, like Covid relief money that could be used for many useful things like schools, be used for reparations of a small group of individuals? Better schools will improve the lives of everyone. Getting a check will improve life temporarily but will not change the past. Like many have said, every culture all over the world has experienced slavery.

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I doubt there is sufficient political support for government-funded reparations to make them happen. Californians have voted twice against using race as a factor in university admissions or the award of state contracts. Would be interesting to see how the Evanston proposal would fare if put on the ballot.

My suggestion is that Feds give Americans the option of making voluntary contributions to a national reparations fund managed by an independent non-governmental organization, like the NAACP, established for that purpose. Funds could be collected by the IRS using a checkoff like the one used to publicly fund presidential campaigns. Those who believe in reparations could contribute. Those who don't wouldn't have to.

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"All around her, she noted, were signs of collapse: parentless children, drug abuse, neglect."

Harsh truth: many who have just as little, or less, are able to stay and raise their children; many are devoted spouses and parents; many do not abuse drugs. These problems do not evidence the need for reparations; nor will they go away because reparations are paid. Even harsher truth: they may even exacerbate the condition. As the guy cited in the article said, he could blow through the $25K in a day...or on a lady. The issue isn't the money.

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Northwestern is Evanston.....Woke Grifters...... Race baiters .....Shame on Evanston's wealthiest for being misers to their Blacks. Reach into Evanston's inter generational wealth next time.

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I agree with Coleman Hughes. Great article and really good details on the people affected by Jim Crow and the various communities trying to address reparations and the challenges.

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