• Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If Democrats were smart, they’d put a kibosh on this idea immediately.

    But knowing how much they love to shoot themselves in the foot, there are going to be a few rogue Democrats who will continue to float this idiotic idea just long enough to lose a few more elections.

      • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It is amazing how good the Onion is.

        The only people bringing up reparations are those who want to spoil the election for Biden. Mostly foreign actors pretending to be soooo progressive that their liberal guilt pushes them to want to give out reparations.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, no. I can assure you that here in the bay area, there are people who have bought so heavily into this kind of ridiculousness that they are true believers. And these people have bureaucratic power. Not at the top, but in middle management, “let’s schedule a meeting to plan our next meeting” levels of government, academia, etc.

          They’re not plants. They’re just stupid. Or naive.

        • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I do think there are an awful lot of people that have bought into it that are not foreign actors - if you venture into Oppression Olympics type of zones of the 'net and you’ll find them. I suppose some of those might be agents looking to put Republicans into power, but in some cases, questioning the ridiculous, childish orthodoxy (all xtian white cishet men bad; virtually anyone else is good) is bound to get you banned or at least your comment deleted in some of these zones, so it’s also moderators.

          I fear this kind of stuff is what harms progress in this country so much. I’m pretty sure people adhering to absurd, ivory tower, useless orthodoxy are a very, very tiny minority, but any time they say/do something really dumb (stuff like this, or “defund the police”), it gets picked up by the fascists and all progressives get painted with this brush - which, going by polls on issues, is most of the country.

          • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I think it is a mix. Some of the people you mention might have first heard about this nonsense from some bad actor (fascists posing as liberals) who was spreading lies, and now they are taking up the mantel for real.

            When it all comes down to it, the regular Left (not the extreme “liberal guilt” idiots) do an awful job at getting their point across to middle America. They do a terrible job at communicating with average Joes. They don’t understand how to connect with real people. They do such a bad job at it, that they actively push away people who should be welcomed to their fold.

            On the flip side, Republicans have done an amazing job at painting themselves as “real Americans” and have commandeered the blue collar, hardworking, cowboy, freedom-loving image all while their number one lord emperor is a billionaire from the bluest of states who shits in a gold plated toilet and wants to over-rule democracy. It is a master-class in marketing and image.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes, this. This seems like a redux of “defund the police”. And wow, do some on the left just seem to love the constant infighting and hairsplitting so much more than winning actual hearts and minds…

      If people want more Republicans, this is how we get them…

      • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Preach!

        It’s like some of these people ENJOY losing elections just so they have something to bitch and moan about. They will find any position to be as abrasive and counter to public opinion as they can possibly think of just to be edgy. Your “defund the police” is a perfect example. I hate the cops as much as anyone else, but holy fuck is the defund movement so utterly ridiculous. Push for more accountability. Push for better training. Push for more public involvement in PD duties. But for fucks sakes most regular folks don’t want to see their police departments shuttered due to lack of funds.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Democrats are not going to lose elections in California over this or any other idea. Way too blue. Still probably not the best idea, but they won’t be losing elections over it.

      If Republicans can translate California politics into national politics, Democrats may lose some elections.

  • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Everything is about details. Yeah, most voters (myself included) will probably disagree with any 1-sentence plan on what is certainly a controversial topic.

    So build out a robust plan and let’s start tweaking it. When I look for such plans, I see a lot of high-minded rhetoric about why we should do SOMETHING, but no specifics.

      • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My point is accurately summarized within the article itself:

        UC Berkeley Associate Professor Jovan Scott Lewis, who is on the IGS faculty advisory board and a member of the task force, said the poll’s question about cash payments misled respondents into thinking that reparations are “nothing more than a handout.” The question did not specify the task force’s basis for financial reimbursement, he argued in a statement to the Chronicle, and implied that payments were “for being Black in California and experiencing racism, as a generic condition of being Black.”

        My point is, any brief statement on solving this controversial problem is going to be incomplete, at best. At worst, it’s going to produce a biased negative response.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I’m not so sure. I think cash payment will always be interpreted as a handout regardless of content or context. Whitey doesn’t want to pay what he owes. You can’t escape that.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            As a whitey, I refuse to consider any reparations to black people, who California never enslaved, prior to native people, who California did enslave, and massacred too. Descendents of the exploited Asians who came here should probably be in that discussion too. Any discussion of reparations to Black people and exclusively Black people is a handout.

              • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                California was a free state from the start. Not to say it didnt benifit, but its pretty hard to quantify that in any meaningful way. Plus the state has a far more notable and easier to quantify list of autrocities, the scalp hunting of native americans being the largest and most brutal.

                Any reperation like system should be on a socio-economic level, prioritize historically poor areas first. Not to say you cant give direct reperations for certain things, for example it shouldnt be too hard to track down families whos properties were serized for the construction of the Interstate system, most of who were minorities or poor.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s possible to quantify the import/export values with the slave holding states, and from there determine the economic benefits slavery had in non slave holding states.

                  This discussion is kinda pointless, though, because whitey will never pay for his crimes. Not any of them. Not for the genocides, not for enslavement, not for land theft, nothing. Whitey will never willingly give up what he took.

  • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m all for this. Right after we substantially increase taxes on the wealthy. Capital gains taxes need to be taxed as income. Income taxes need to go substantially up for the top brackets. Corporate taxes need to be increased drastically. The tax code for both needs to be reviewed, simplified and loopholes closed.

    After we do this and the people who’s families likely established generational wealth with the help of slaves might actually pay for some of it. Then I’m fine with it. I’m absolutely not fine with doing it right now when the tax code has been written to take more and more from low and middle income families and we have a massive budget deficit.

    The wealthiest members of society were the ones to benefit from the wealth created from slavery. It’s only fitting that the wealthy pay any restitution.

  • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Human history is an uninterrupted sequence of one group of people fucking over another group.Should Saudi Arabia pay reparations to Italy for conquering northern Africa in the 600s? Should Greek cities pay reparations to each other for the incessant warfare and enslavement they inflicted upon each other?

    • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Or maybe just maybe, hear me out here. People in the US, all races of people, were fucked over by redlining. The majority of those people were those of color, yes. But perhaps we could figure out a way to help those families, who very recently were deliberately fucked over for the crime of living in a primarily black neighborhood, generate the wealth that their white counterparts have. Just a thought. Yes, it’s different from singling out black people, but just wait for Republicans to scream about how terrible it is to help poor people.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I think you’ll find that most people believe reparations should be paid to the living, not the dead.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          And do you think economic damages evaporated after death? The reparations are for the theft of generational wealth - the children of freed slaves inherited poverty.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Quantify how much wealth was created by slavery and then reimburse the descendents of slaves for the wealth their forebears generated and had stolen from them.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ugh. This is one of those ideas that might seem just peachy to a certain type of person that has not thought about it very much, but I honestly think it is almost designed to create more Republicans and hand more power to the fascists.

  • sadreality@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    As long we we make descendants of slave owners pay for it… there is no issue!

    People who got generational wealth from it, should pay!

  • who8mydamnoreos@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The only possibility of washing that stain is to abolish wealth inheritance for at least 3 generations. Anything else will just lead to more division.