The person who asked separate nation for blacks in usa
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I have some problems with money reparations paid in this day to people who are not the original victims of the abuse for which reparations might be paid. I am NOT saying that nothing is owed; I AM saying that it is a debt which cannot be written off with a simple cash award.
Follow me, here. A huge problem is the underlying idea that once the reparations are paid, then all is well. That may be partially true in the case where an offender pays a victim for a loss to the victim at the offender's hands: you slashed my tires, so you pay for my new tires. And in fact, something like this happened during reconstruction after the Civil War, at least, for a few short years, anyway, before Jim Crow.
But that's not really the point, here. In actual fact, the social and cultural conditions and indeed the personal attitudes of people are the sources of repression which black people and other groups endure to this very moment. The only "reparations" I can truly offer -and the only ones which might have a chance of being effective- are the ones which refer to the way I think and act and positive influence for change I may support or facilitate.
It must be understood that the gristly streaks of hate and fear and suspicion are insidious and of long standing. They may be buried, cloaked or masked, but they exist and they can't be "bought-off." Not for the victims, nor for the offenders. I hold that while material reparations may be important, and even essential, they are insufficient, and potentially dangerous if anyone imagines they carry some restorative property. If your hate drives you to cripple me, cash compensation will neither enable me to walk, nor soften your heart. Worse; the offenders who pay may believe they are more free than ever to vent their spleen. Thus the transfer of billions in material wealth to a population will neither lessen the cultural abuse that population endures, nor the disposition of others to continue the abuse.
What to do, then?
We exist in the here and now; thus here and now is where the work is to be done. And I'm not talking about polite church suppers among people of character and good will of any particular skin color. Better, perhaps, that people challenge both their own prejudice and the social enclaves which serve to perpetuate the bias. Government has done much to eradicate the legal basis of prejudice, but the legacy embedded in culture is resistant to change, and sometimes even stiffened by the removal of legal barriers. Yes, in point of historical fact, the misery and deprivation of the ghetto IS the dreadful inheritance of black slavery in the United States and the ugly handmaiden of its perpetuation in this day. Any rationalization or justification of this is the moral equivalent of denying the holocaust. I'm not sure what social movements will indicate substantive change in values, but I am certain that no such movement will occur without some consciousness-raising among the racially privileged who recognize what part they have played, whether passively or actively.
As to a "separate territory," this patently ridiculous idea presumes not just that black Americans may have a place "of their own," but also that they abandon the place to which their mere citizenship should have entitled them. And if there is a "place" for black people, then it clearly implies a special place for whites. And that's the situation which got us into trouble in the first place.
But of course, there is the "right" of free association in private life. I have no problem with that. Then let those of either race or of any race fence themselves in, or fence others out. At least that way, those who choose to stay behind in a diverse and inclusive society will be able to engage each other for the betterment, of all.
Follow me, here. A huge problem is the underlying idea that once the reparations are paid, then all is well. That may be partially true in the case where an offender pays a victim for a loss to the victim at the offender's hands: you slashed my tires, so you pay for my new tires. And in fact, something like this happened during reconstruction after the Civil War, at least, for a few short years, anyway, before Jim Crow.
But that's not really the point, here. In actual fact, the social and cultural conditions and indeed the personal attitudes of people are the sources of repression which black people and other groups endure to this very moment. The only "reparations" I can truly offer -and the only ones which might have a chance of being effective- are the ones which refer to the way I think and act and positive influence for change I may support or facilitate.
It must be understood that the gristly streaks of hate and fear and suspicion are insidious and of long standing. They may be buried, cloaked or masked, but they exist and they can't be "bought-off." Not for the victims, nor for the offenders. I hold that while material reparations may be important, and even essential, they are insufficient, and potentially dangerous if anyone imagines they carry some restorative property. If your hate drives you to cripple me, cash compensation will neither enable me to walk, nor soften your heart. Worse; the offenders who pay may believe they are more free than ever to vent their spleen. Thus the transfer of billions in material wealth to a population will neither lessen the cultural abuse that population endures, nor the disposition of others to continue the abuse.
What to do, then?
We exist in the here and now; thus here and now is where the work is to be done. And I'm not talking about polite church suppers among people of character and good will of any particular skin color. Better, perhaps, that people challenge both their own prejudice and the social enclaves which serve to perpetuate the bias. Government has done much to eradicate the legal basis of prejudice, but the legacy embedded in culture is resistant to change, and sometimes even stiffened by the removal of legal barriers. Yes, in point of historical fact, the misery and deprivation of the ghetto IS the dreadful inheritance of black slavery in the United States and the ugly handmaiden of its perpetuation in this day. Any rationalization or justification of this is the moral equivalent of denying the holocaust. I'm not sure what social movements will indicate substantive change in values, but I am certain that no such movement will occur without some consciousness-raising among the racially privileged who recognize what part they have played, whether passively or actively.
As to a "separate territory," this patently ridiculous idea presumes not just that black Americans may have a place "of their own," but also that they abandon the place to which their mere citizenship should have entitled them. And if there is a "place" for black people, then it clearly implies a special place for whites. And that's the situation which got us into trouble in the first place.
But of course, there is the "right" of free association in private life. I have no problem with that. Then let those of either race or of any race fence themselves in, or fence others out. At least that way, those who choose to stay behind in a diverse and inclusive society will be able to engage each other for the betterment, of all.
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