San Francisco could pay $5 million to each of its Black residents in reparations

[SouthernIslander]

Exactly though… slavery affects the dependents of those who were in slave states much differently than those from states where slavery didn’t exist.

Of course there are plenty of other people that have had racism impact their lives, but reparations are to help alleviate the damage that slavery did, not the damage from every kind of racism.

Oh shit, that is a typo. LOL!!!! I was cooking, sorry. I meant that slavery DOESN'T affect me more than Black people living outside of the south. Northern slave descendants just had access to certain rights before we did down south, but the impact from slavery is much too generational for me to agree with location.

Thats like me saying a Black family in NY doesn't deserve the same amount of reparations as mine because slavery didn't affect them as much. That doesn't even sound right.


.

Ok, so , just tell me if I'm being ignorant about something here because I'm willing to see that if I am,

But I would completely think that the descended who have ancestral ties to the south would be more impacted.

No, asking for clarification to understand isn’t ignorant at all. Like Thelma said, it a massively complicated subject, but we gotta start somewhere at some point. Lol!

A lot of slave descendants have ancestral ties to the south, Black people in other areas are just further removed from the direct environment but the impact is still there.

I’m not gonna lie and say growing up in Mississippi wasn’t a bitch because the aftermath of slavery is more physically visible in certain parts. But again, not to the point that I feel like it justifies awarding less benefits to Black people who live in other areas.

Percentage seems more fair to me.

[SouthernIslander]

I understand what you're saying but in this time of on-line forms and filing, it seems logical that some sort of proof of identity/race would be required in the case of reparations like a birth certificate, license, voter registration, or census? In Mississippi, were Native American benefits based on birth certificates or how were biological percentage proven?

I think that the hang-up is with the word "identify" and the referencing of Rachael Dolezal but really, she only "identified" as Black for three years before she was outed by public documentation.

Historically listing one's race on documentation has proven to be dis-adventageous like in the cases of home ownership, agricultural loans, HOAs, business loans, job applications, or even registering kids for school. This is something that anyone who checks the "caucasian" block hasn't had to deal with. Wouldn't it be a little bit of justice to see some advantage rather than only disadvantage to checking that box?

I think Bob was referring to is a 10 year history of identifying as Black which can be different than providing proof and that’s kinda how I read it too (correct me if I’m wrong). Birth certificates yes but not documents where people can choose whichever race they want.

It has been a disadvantage but I still wouldn’t agree with setting the precedence that you can just “identify” as Black to quality because of people like Rachel Dolezal.

And of course all of this is hypothetically speaking. I’ll be surprised if I see reparations in my lifetime. Lol

I could understand if there was only a 10 year history of identifying but that is in conjunction with at least 2 other criteria. I guess it's totally inconceivable to me that someone would identify as Black (and have documentation) for 10 years, be a victim of displacement in San Francisco AND be able to demonstrate that they attended school before desegregation and/or were descendants of slaves and not actually be Black. While not completely impossible it just seems improbable and not a reason to discount reparations in San Francisco.

We are starting to see reparations which is a step in the right direction, albeit slow. Tulsa, NYC, San Francisco, St. Louis, Evanston, Providence, St. Paul, Asheville, Berkley, etc... In my state the colleges/universities: UVa, College of William and Mary, VCU, Longwood, VMI. I worked on a USDA grant project (reparations) for African American farmers which disappointedly was scuttled by the Republicans but is moving forward through private funding.

It's going to happen, at least I hope so, but perhaps not in your lifetime or mine but in our kid's.

Elizabeth Warren did it for years so it does happen but my argument isn’t a knock against reparations in San Francisco. It would have to be some extremely messed up circumstances for me to be against reparations for Black people.

[Valentina327]

Kind of a useless comment.

No, your comment was out of line and so ignorant ..it’s not much to do but shake our heads.

Are you honestly that oblivious to inappropriate that was?

Why would that be inappropriate?

People who had ancestors in states that had slavery were most impacted by slavery...

Obviously not all or even close to half, but some people can trace their ancestry back to certain plantations, my cousin has the exact place her grandmother was held.

There are certain businesses that are proven to have held and profited from slavery that still exist today... Holding them accountable more than innocent people isn't a bad idea.

Holy cow! That's wild that she was able to track that. From what I've seen, records weren't very well kept from that time. Is your family planning on going there? I'd be very curious to visit.

[Lemons]

I think what was done during the 1960s and 70s to the Black community of Filmore in San Francisco was pretty devastating which is probably why San Francisco feels that reparations to their Black community is appropriate.

True. But why not discuss the easier verifiable damage done by the South. You don’t think Southern states and what they did deserves reputations? Not discussing it is exactly the goal of banning talking about these issues.

I'm not sure who you think is "banning" discussions of reparations in southern states? This OP is specifically about reparations being proposed in San Francisco just like a thread about a year ago discussed reparations being proposed in Tulsa.

I think if you were one of the 60,000 Black individuals who lost their homes and businesses in San Francisco during the 1960s and 70s due to "redevelopment", you would consider that easy to verify.

I personally think that Blacks in US deserve reparations but find it cringy to try to pit one against another as to who suffered more or who is more deserving. Universities offering reparations is opening the subject and valuable to the discussion. Individual cities and towns offering reparations is valuable to the discussion. Arguing who had it worse and which states were the worst offenders kind of shuts down the discussion or at least offers no value.

These reparations for non-slave related wrongs, especially Tulsa where law enforcement murdered and burned down buildings are the right thing to do. But they don’t replace a long time coming need for. Federal reparations.

This article says what I was thinking but more coherently ……

“None of these policies can replace national action. Even combining their efforts, local and corporate entities couldn’t afford the scale of repayment — often estimated in the billions of dollars — that a federal reparations law would probably entail. Nor can individual expressions of remorse stand in for the “formal apology on behalf of the people of the United States for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants” called for in H.R. 40.

A federal law awarding reparations to the descendants of enslaved African Americans would be a matchless act of remorse and restitution. A systematic crime requires a systematic response. No partial undertaking can substitute for such a step.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/ ... happening/

[SoFloMom]

People love to point to the “long ago” example of slavery when arguing against reparations as if that was the only time White America did Black people dirty.

[Lemons]

People love to point to the “long ago” example of slavery when arguing against reparations as if that was the only time White America did Black people dirty.

It doesn’t bother you that slavery reparations haven’t been done already? States can do what they want with their money and so far two have come up with solutions. Slave states will never do anything on its own. We need a federal program that covers the whole country. Nothing less should be ok.

[Deleted User 1990]

No, your comment was out of line and so ignorant ..it’s not much to do but shake our heads.

Are you honestly that oblivious to inappropriate that was?

Why would that be inappropriate?

People who had ancestors in states that had slavery were most impacted by slavery...

Obviously not all or even close to half, but some people can trace their ancestry back to certain plantations, my cousin has the exact place her grandmother was held.

There are certain businesses that are proven to have held and profited from slavery that still exist today... Holding them accountable more than innocent people isn't a bad idea.

Holy cow! That's wild that she was able to track that. From what I've seen, records weren't very well kept from that time. Is your family planning on going there? I'd be very curious to visit.

We know that the furthest she got back was her ancestor named Catherine who is listed in “Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834”, living in st Vincent/ Barbados and we have her children listed in the American census, and her dying in Connecticut in 1930.

[Deleted User 1990]

People love to point to the “long ago” example of slavery when arguing against reparations as if that was the only time White America did Black people dirty.

America as a whole has done horrific things to lots of different people. Especially California who decimated Native populations, stole land from Mexican families and have been using them as close to slave labor as they could all the way up until yesterday…

But reparations are to help fix damage done by slavery. Not every racist incident …

[jas]

Instead of paying people I really think the money should be put into the infrastructures that are still keeping people down. Cities/counties across the country need to be fixed and changed. Schools, housing, etc all need to be changed. I think that would benefit everyone in the long run rather than a few bucks to this person or that person. Because let's face it, not everyone is going to get money. What do you think that is going to do? Further the divide.
And seriously, why only black people? The Indigenous and Mexicans have had it the same, if not worse, for a lot longer period of time. The colonists were horrible people.

[SouthernIslander]

People love to point to the “long ago” example of slavery when arguing against reparations as if that was the only time White America did Black people dirty.

America as a whole has done horrific things to lots of different people. Especially California who decimated Native populations, stole land from Mexican families and have been using them as close to slave labor as they could all the way up until yesterday…

But reparations are to help fix damage done by slavery. Not every racist incident …

The dirt didn’t stop when slavery legally ended. Black people really weren’t treated like reasonably decent human beings until the 1960s and still affects a lot of families.

That’s why the “long ago” argument normally gets a well deserved eye roll. It comes off rude and dismissive.