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A huge part of the argument for reparations a lot of platforms argues for reparations based on slavery. There is some argument for that, however there is a lot of room for anti-black racists to wriggle around and try to argue against it.
I argue that we are owed reparations more for the things that happened to us after slavery.
The sheer amount of discrimination that black people had to endure afterwards was insane. Slaves were released with absolutely nothing. They weren't allowed to have anything. They weren't even allowed to attend school in a lot of cases. Remember slaves weren't even allowed to learn to read in a lot of places. These released slaves weren't allowed to have jobs. They were arrested and jailed for petty crimes and then had their labor exploited. Remember how the 13th amendment reads.
This was just the immediate aftermath of slavery.
This type of discrimination continued far after slavery was over. Redlining kept black people from owing homes in certain areas. Housing discrimination kept black people from getting loans to buy homes. Even the soldiers who had VA loan benefits were denied loans. Meanwhile their white counterparts were able to use these benefits to buy homes. Black soldiers were denied the use of their education benefits. Black people were discriminated so much that open anti-black discrimination was a normal part of American society during the period after slavery all the way up until the late 60s.
Despite all this black people began to make progress only to have communities like Tulsa burned to the ground. Anytime we built anything and gained some progress it would be sabotaged.
Things improves slightly after the civil rights movement. Basally all the civil right movement did though was to make open and outright discrimination illegal.
During the 80s and early 90s the US government purposely flooded our communities with crack cocaine. This caused a endemic of young black men and women being locked away leaving their families behind. This separated black families making life more difficult and stifled progress. Regardless of what anyone may say a couple is stronger as a united front. This was robbed from so many black people during the 80s and 90s due to harsh on crime laws.
Even up until today black people have a harder time getting home loans. We have a harder time getting good jobs. There are so many examples of black people having to whitewash their resume. If you have a more ethnic sounding name it is far more difficult to get a job. Even just going to do something as simple as buying a car is more difficult for a black person. We have a harder time starting a business due to discrimination when applying for small business loans.
These types of discrimination have held up and stifled our financial progress as much as if not more so than slavery. One of the biggest and easiest ways to build wealth is through housing. White families were allowed to buy homes and pass them down to their children. Black families were not and even when they did get a house their communities were redlined rendering the homes nearly worthless.
While slavery was horrible, cruel and inhumane and an absolute abuse of human rights people will try to argue that no one alive now is responsible for slavery. They will argue that slavery was so long ago. They will say slavery was legal at the time. They will do and say anything to wriggle out of paying reparations.
However the things that happened after slavery right up until present day were not long ago. The housing discrimination and redlining which occurs in a way today, there are people alive today that are responsible. The discrimination in business and home loans, the discrimination in job hiring, and in the criminal justice system do have people alive that are responsible because it is still occurring right now.
None of these forms of discrimination can be argued to be legal. It goes directly against reading of the U.S. Constitution. It is against the very ideals that are described in the Declaration of Independence.
Lots of petty arguments which are all a load of garbage can be brought up when the discussion is about slavery. That all goes away once you move literally one day past when the slaves were released. What is the argument for the continued discrimination?
There is none. It was done because white people hated black people so much they made a conscious and systematic decision to hold back and stifle our progress. For that we are owed money that we would otherwise easily have gotten by now on our own. Sure some black people have done alright but I'd argue a lot more would be doing better if not for the rampant discrimination.
To me that's the argument for reparations.
I argue that we are owed reparations more for the things that happened to us after slavery.
The sheer amount of discrimination that black people had to endure afterwards was insane. Slaves were released with absolutely nothing. They weren't allowed to have anything. They weren't even allowed to attend school in a lot of cases. Remember slaves weren't even allowed to learn to read in a lot of places. These released slaves weren't allowed to have jobs. They were arrested and jailed for petty crimes and then had their labor exploited. Remember how the 13th amendment reads.
This was just the immediate aftermath of slavery.
This type of discrimination continued far after slavery was over. Redlining kept black people from owing homes in certain areas. Housing discrimination kept black people from getting loans to buy homes. Even the soldiers who had VA loan benefits were denied loans. Meanwhile their white counterparts were able to use these benefits to buy homes. Black soldiers were denied the use of their education benefits. Black people were discriminated so much that open anti-black discrimination was a normal part of American society during the period after slavery all the way up until the late 60s.
Despite all this black people began to make progress only to have communities like Tulsa burned to the ground. Anytime we built anything and gained some progress it would be sabotaged.
Things improves slightly after the civil rights movement. Basally all the civil right movement did though was to make open and outright discrimination illegal.
During the 80s and early 90s the US government purposely flooded our communities with crack cocaine. This caused a endemic of young black men and women being locked away leaving their families behind. This separated black families making life more difficult and stifled progress. Regardless of what anyone may say a couple is stronger as a united front. This was robbed from so many black people during the 80s and 90s due to harsh on crime laws.
Even up until today black people have a harder time getting home loans. We have a harder time getting good jobs. There are so many examples of black people having to whitewash their resume. If you have a more ethnic sounding name it is far more difficult to get a job. Even just going to do something as simple as buying a car is more difficult for a black person. We have a harder time starting a business due to discrimination when applying for small business loans.
These types of discrimination have held up and stifled our financial progress as much as if not more so than slavery. One of the biggest and easiest ways to build wealth is through housing. White families were allowed to buy homes and pass them down to their children. Black families were not and even when they did get a house their communities were redlined rendering the homes nearly worthless.
While slavery was horrible, cruel and inhumane and an absolute abuse of human rights people will try to argue that no one alive now is responsible for slavery. They will argue that slavery was so long ago. They will say slavery was legal at the time. They will do and say anything to wriggle out of paying reparations.
However the things that happened after slavery right up until present day were not long ago. The housing discrimination and redlining which occurs in a way today, there are people alive today that are responsible. The discrimination in business and home loans, the discrimination in job hiring, and in the criminal justice system do have people alive that are responsible because it is still occurring right now.
None of these forms of discrimination can be argued to be legal. It goes directly against reading of the U.S. Constitution. It is against the very ideals that are described in the Declaration of Independence.
Lots of petty arguments which are all a load of garbage can be brought up when the discussion is about slavery. That all goes away once you move literally one day past when the slaves were released. What is the argument for the continued discrimination?
There is none. It was done because white people hated black people so much they made a conscious and systematic decision to hold back and stifle our progress. For that we are owed money that we would otherwise easily have gotten by now on our own. Sure some black people have done alright but I'd argue a lot more would be doing better if not for the rampant discrimination.
To me that's the argument for reparations.
