Should White People be forced to pay reperations to African Americans because of slavery?

Mark Twain believed so. His friend, William Dean Howells, said that Twain believed it was the duty of white people to make amends for the for the crime of slavery. Twain sought those "amends" to take the form of his lives work -- such as the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as other literary works. The times he spent reliant on, or a party to, the grotesque nature that permeated from the institution of slavery would be a burden Twain would forever carry.

Such nature was described by Twain in his novel Jane Lampton Clemons when he described an instance on a steamboat (Twain grew up working on steamboats) in which as slave was killed after a man threw "a lump of iron at his slaveman in anger, for merely doing something awkwardly, as if that was a crime."

Twain would later remark at the "indifference" the townspeople showed towards the death of a slave "though considerable sympathy was felt for the slave's owner, who had been bereft of a valuable property by a worthless person who was not able to pay for it."

Yes, because I want to ruin the lives of millions of blacks and have them end up as bad as our poor Native American population. HELL NO, only a true racist who hates blacks would advocate punishing them with reparations.

We kind of already do in the form of affirmative action. Minorities are considered "poor" thus get an easier time applying to jobs and universities (unless you're Asian). White people get a "handicap", relatively speaking.

No

Didn't Africa send the worse of their criminals to America? I only know about the Colombia Exchange. South America and the Caribbean have been trading drugs for centuries. My bloodline had nothing to do with US slavery.

If white people were to pay black Americans back then white people could then say hey your not allowed to take government benefits since we just paid you. In a twisted reality. If the government was giving out lump sums for anyone to relinquish government benefits I would cash in but could end up homeless in the future.

No. I doubt any slaves are alive today. Nor are those who enslaved them. What a stupid idea.

No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

@LJS9502_basic: admit you have white privilege then you straight white cishet male bigot

Dumbest shit i never heard.

So now we gona look at history and see who did bad and shove a imaginary bill to people that are still alive today? Yea good luck with that.

My grand grand grandfather got killed by our goverment because he had to go to war with people he knew nothing about. Can i get money from the goverment?

Back in the 1600's another family member died because x reason, can i get money from them also?

Nobody alive today was a slave. That generation died out ages ago.

If you think white people had it easy in those time, in other continents you must be kidding yourself. Even the slave ships where runned by god dam white slaves themselves. Don't think those people where happy going on those trips dying from diseases and getting extorted of there money that "never got" the moment they even set food on a ship.

Black people have terrorized africa and south europe for ages. can europe also get money from that?.

Dumbest shit i ever heard.

Actually only a bigot would put people on less than equal footing....which you are apparently saying here. So the bigot is in your mirror.

@LJS9502_basic: us whites need to admit our whiteness gives us an unfair advantage in life

Considering that no American alive today had anything to do with slavery wouldn't it make more sense to demand reparations from someone that does? Like the Africans that continue to practice slavery to this very day?

Seeing as how there are no slaves or slavers alive today from that time period, it would make absolutely no sense.

Don't dismiss history so easily, Huck Finn and Twain are read as much today as they were in 1885.

Trump and Jeff Sessions are more likely to demand blacks to pay the descendants of slave owners the money they lost when slaves were freed.

I am black but I don't if reparation is needed. Things just need fixing. Retrain police to not automatically assume black people are criminals or up to something. People assume these things because years of slandering. I'm not saying there aren't bad black people but because of this mentality people have toward us sometimes innocent people even kids end up being shot. Actually retrain our police for all races, I think even white people fear for their lives because our police are too aggressive and not always held accountable for their actions. Our judicial system is just as bad blacks and other poc are getting harsher sentences even for minor crimes where's fair skinned people sometimes get off with a warning or a mere few months even if it's something as serious as rape or domestic abuse. Worst part is fair skinned people don't benefit from slack punishments. Like if I were the parent of a teen who went out joy riding I'd want my kid to do some for of punishment like community service or something. They're joy riding could have got them or someone else hurt or killed. It would also be nice if American historians could find out where we're from if possible. I don't if American of the past did documentation of slave immigration but if they did it'd great to know which African country we came from.

Sure, anybody alive today that was a slave back then they should get some compensation. Oh wait nobody alive today was a slave huh, whelp problem solved I guess.

No cause then everyone would be paying everyone. Black Slaves, Irish Slaves, Chinese Slaves, there were plenty of slaves throughout history. Yet one vocal whine ass group ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . Wrongs were made by just about every nationality/civilizations most of those wrongs were righted and why civilizations are the way the are learning evolving and moving forward. Quit using the black people were slaves crutch.

I feel this is an outdated view, however; at the time of Mark Twain's birth and life and writing, there actually were slaves and former slaves. Of course these people were entitled to compensation; they worked for free, often in abusive environments, and should be compensated. This is true not just of slavery but of any uncompensated worker (but especially slavery!), but as of now there have not been slaves for quite some time and they are generations in our past by now.

I often hear a similar argument used by racists in reference to Abraham Lincoln; Abe allegedly said he wanted to send the slaves back to Africa, so a lot of racists like to think they're clever and be like "Oh your hero Lincoln wanted to send blacks to Africa! HAHAHA he is on our side!" The truth is, though, that pretty much every single black person in America at that time was either from Africa, or a first-generation African-American. It would make sense to send them back to the home they were stolen from, and what they would want (provided they were given the choice, of course).

Different times, different context.

With that said, I feel we need to always acknowledge our history and not pay lip service to it; teach our kids serious history lessons, the consequences of it, and don't tell them fairy tales about it. I don't think we should pay reparations, however; that time has come and gone.

@mrbojangles25: Abolitionists were a little odd, they thought slavery was wrong but also thought black people were not as evolved or adaptive as whites so they wouldn't be able to adequately live in modern society. The writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, believed just that, and it was demonstrated in her book.

No.

It could be argued that any form of "welfare" or freebies have been detrimental to the American population and in particularly African American population. Not because African Americans are naturally prone to these programs but because the government incentives them to take place in them. When LBJ initiated these new programs, racism was still prevalent and the options were really to good to pass up. Unfortunately, these attitudes have carried on to modern days were racism really isn't getting the way to the extent it was back then. We still have many inconsistencies but if you look at history, modern western society is the closest the world has ever been. (Modern social academia will have to believe otherwise, but without the need for sweeping social reform they wouldn't get those juicy donation dollars). These government programs punish lower income families for making more money; thus keeping them from making enough to actually get off of these programs. They then punish families for sticking together.

We all know that this is just another form of government servitude, keeping voters on life support and milking them every election.

How is the TC not banned yet?

I think that we shouldn't be straight up paying people just because they're ancestors (or even the people themselves) faced hardships and inequality that they shouldn't have had to face. That said I think we should recognize that they have had less equality (and still do) than white people have had since the beginning of our country and that still has real effects in this day and age. What exactly should be done to address this is hard for me, a relatively uneducated individual on the subject and effects of racial inequality, to quantify.

What a stupid and moronic question.

But im sure this is a Troll topic so ha ha funny.

Let's ask the Italians if they want to pay for all the slaves Rome had or persia when they attacked greece the army was made up of mostly slaves. Slavery is not exclusive to blacks.

I wonder the same about you.

^ This

-sigh-

no

LOL

Maybe just work a little harder on the equality thing.

No, i think we are long past that. BUT, i think people and corporations need to suck it up, pay more taxes and rebuild our infrastructure for everyone but with specific attention being paid to black communities. Forget slavery, we've ravaged black communities across the nation for hundreds of years. When we see stable and successful black communities, we tear them (literally) or burn them down (literally. Black wall street) and this is completely unacceptable. Removing vital school, road, social service funds and resources from black communities first, all so they can fund ponds in a white picket fence area (true story in my city) is not okay by any measure.