$5 million is too little:' Activists tell California reparations committee to aim higher

Thank you, Murrmurr. I didn't think it would be on the ballot first but I wasn't positive. Now we know. I wonder how California tax payers can manage to pay for this if it is passed. Any ideas?
What the state usually does is get access to federal money through various means. In addition, when the state doesn't impose a specific tax, the cost of living just goes up, often by suddenly charging certain businesses some bizarre new fee....but not necessarily a tax.

This state is expert at siphoning funds from various sources.
 

I understand that. I guess my point was if this becomes the precedence in California, every Afro-American person in the United States will want the same compensation.
There are millions of Black Americans who won't. In fact, they will be quite offended by the ridiculous injustice and bigoted implications of this proposal if it becomes law.
 

What they need is an overhaul of their culture — one that veers away from a culture of drugs, crime, unwed mothers, and a victim mentality, and focuses more on education, skills, and careers
But I think you are confusing class culture with ethnic/race cultures. When people are discriminated against in a slew of different ways that force them into poverty, it isn't right to turn that around against them and say it is their lower class culture that is the problem with them.

I grew up in the midwest where discrimination was rife and my high school only had one black student whose family had managed somehow to live within the lily white middle class suburbs, but then my last year of high school my family moved to the east coast and suddenly there were lots of black families living in the good neighborhoods and the black students at my school were from equal or higher economic class families and compared to them I was a hayseed bumpkin. It was a very good experience for me and I'm grateful for having such an effective lesson in the difference between race and economic class.

I don't know how I feel about reparations, I'm sure the economic damage from the past (and current!) discrimination is real and significant, but I'd guess the differences between the slower economic advances gained from privilege are different from a sudden burst of money. Just going from my gut and not from any educated opinion, I'd think reparations in the form of tax credits might be slower but fair. And they could be paid for by closing tax loopholes of rich people and having companies pay their fair share of taxes.
 
Look up median family income by race in the United States …

https://www.statista.com/statistics...in-the-united-states-by-race-or-ethnic-group/

Top is White? Nope, it‘s Asian. Yikes! Why? How could that be? Asians came to this country, initially largely to California, as laborers to work in the mines, or laying tracks for the railroad. They were looked down upon and no doubt discriminated against. So why the success and wealth in today‘s America? The reason is clear, significantly higher median IQ than the Whites who brought them here. Success in a modern economy is clearly a product of IQ, not skin color. Do those with higher IQ pay reparations for their genetic makeup and economic success? Yes, they already do? It’s called taxation.
 
I think this can be a very good thing. Who..exactly…loses if a portion of an underserved population has more opportunity for education or better healthcare? If that is how it is delivered than it will improve the dynamics of the whole state. Ohhh…native americans can attend Fort Lewis college tuition free in Durango Colorado. Certainly has not hurt the Durango economy any….
 
Look up median family income by race in the United States …

https://www.statista.com/statistics...in-the-united-states-by-race-or-ethnic-group/

Top is White? Nope, it‘s Asian. Yikes! Why? How could that be? Asians came to this country, initially largely to California, as laborers to work in the mines, or laying tracks for the railroad. They were looked down upon and no doubt discriminated against. So why the success and wealth in today‘s America? The reason is clear, significantly higher median IQ than the Whites who brought them here. Success in a modern economy is clearly a product of IQ, not skin color. Do those with higher IQ pay reparations for their genetic makeup and economic success? Yes, they already do? It’s called taxation.
The term "Asian" also includes people from India, who have been enormously successful in the U.S., while the poorer Asians tend to be the Chinese in the various Chinatowns in cities across America. Is that a product of IQ or culture?

I've worked with some really dumb engineers from South Korea and Japan, and really bright engineers from India. The South Koreans were Christian while the Indians were Buddhists, I believe. Did that make a difference?

I think it's more a product of your upbringing than anything related to race. Raise anybody of any race in a healthy environment and they'll have a good chance for success. And the opposite is also true. Look at the most impoverished urban centers in America and you'll find them dominated by Black people. Poor white people tend to be in rural areas. Poverty begets more poverty and abuse. Anybody raised in that kind of environment is screwed.
 
Let's do the math.

5 Million dollars for each black resident of California? So a family of 4 would receive 20 million dollars? And the activists are saying this is not enough? What delusional Planet are they living on?
 
I think it's more a product of your upbringing than anything related to race. Raise anybody of any race in a healthy environment and they'll have a good chance for success. And the opposite is also true. Look at the most impoverished urban centers in America and you'll find them dominated by Black people. Poor white people tend to be in rural areas. Poverty begets more poverty and abuse. Anybody raised in that kind of environment is screwed.
IQ is an interesting subject. The first indication of an Asian elevated IQ may have been when a Brit school teacher was posted to the Brit embassy in Korea. He took along one of the new IQ tests, Stanford Binet I believe. He administered it to the embassy students, who happened to include the children of Korean employees in the embassy. Need I say who scored highest on the test?
 
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No doubt there is a provision for residents who have domiciled there for a certain length of time?
I got stories I’ve been told to kind of side-step that issue. Anytime large amounts of money are involved and being handed out, you will find deceit and fraud. I have found articles stating $100mil and $286mil in COVID money that was stolen.

I wasn’t going to add this, but just as an add on, we had the FBI arrest one of our low-level Officers be arrested on base because he was “using” 7 different Social Security cards for compensatory reasons. I had heard he got a lot of time.
 
They already get reparations in the form of affirmative action policies, financial aid for colleges, welfare, job training... What they need is an overhaul of their culture — one that veers away from a culture of drugs, crime, unwed mothers, and a victim mentality, and focuses more on education, skills, and careers... things that will get them out of poverty, although with AI taking over, that might not work any more. Who knows.
What are the odds that the next generation will also want to collect more for the same nonsense?
What will all new comers do with all their free time when they wake up to the fact that there are fewer jobs going forward because of AI and the taxpayer money runs out?
 
What are the odds that the next generation will also want to collect more for the same nonsense?
What will all new comers do with all their free time when they wake up to the fact that there are fewer jobs going forward because of AI and the taxpayer money runs out?
Another consideration is: if so many people become unemployed due to AI, who's going to have money to buy the goods that power our economy?

Henry Ford knew the value of paying people a decent wage so they could afford the automobiles they were building. Everyone benefitted. No one is going to benefit from mass unemployment from AI and automation making many jobs obsolete. Something will have to be done to provide people with income, even if they're not working. Perhaps we can all be paid to play sports. That's something that AI and automation can't replace. For now.
 
Print more money, that will solve everything. :rolleyes:
I see the newest arrivals will be enjoying free college and tuition! How many of us worked so hard for our education. :mad:
 
There are no reparations that could ever be made for those that have suffered through the centuries. We all know some things, slavery, destruction of the society of native Americans, the discrimination of the Polish, Italian, Chinese that came here to have a better life. The holocaust and the discrimination of our American Jewish people, the forced imprisonment of Japanese Americans. The persecution of Latino countries that have come and want to come to have a better life for their future generations The Muslims that have come to raise their children and get them the best education, to have them learn by example that this is a good place, that they are opening the way for future generations with no wars. That there is a choice to practice their religion without discrimination.

None of this will stop until we as a nation stand up and say enough. We are all people that want to provide the best life for all families, that we all can respect one another. I am proud to be an American but I am not proud of those that think they are better than others that want to be Americans. We all are here through our ancestors that came here and built this great country. These are just the facts, that we can't change. We can change how we behave and treat people when they come here. We no longer offer sanctuary, safety, opportunity, acceptance. Those things are what the country was built on.

Yes, now is the time to scream and tell me how wrong I am. Will not offend me, there are two many that have suffered the unspeakable. I wish I could sleep at night but none of the above causes me to have nightmares, it gives me peace to say the words. I have a grandson that is mixed heritage, white, latino and japanese. He is the most amazing little boy, you tell me that is not true!!
 
Throwing money at these types of problems will never solve anything.

It takes two to tango. The black communities need to identify and own their shortcomings and find solutions rather than campaigning for stopgap handouts. At the same time, strong people lift others up...they don't put them down. The white community needs to provide more opportunity for marginalized groups to allow them to get their toehold in society.

What's gonna work? Teamwork!
 
If there is going to be any reparations paid out, how about we give some money to the next of kin of people killed by mass shootings? We just had six killed in Nashville. I think I would be OK with giving the victims’ parents, wives, husbands or children, whoever the next of kin is money so that they could afford to take some time away from work and take a break while they mourn their loss or losses.

It has to be devastating for parents who had their child killed by a gunman while at school or if a teacher was among the dead, the spouse and children will need time to recover. I remember when I was 9 years old and was told my parents had been killed. It takes time and being off school until after the funeral and then having to return to class, I couldn’t concentrate. It took awhile to get my senses back.
 
If there is going to be any reparations paid out, how about we give some money to the next of kin of people killed by mass shootings? We just had six killed in Nashville. I think I would be OK with giving the victims’ parents, wives, husbands or children, whoever the next of kin is money so that they could afford to take some time away from work and take a break while they mourn their loss or losses.

It has to be devastating for parents who had their child killed by a gunman while at school or if a teacher was among the dead, the spouse and children will need time to recover. I remember when I was 9 years old and was told my parents had been killed. It takes time and being off school until after the funeral and then having to return to class, I couldn’t concentrate. It took awhile to get my senses back.
Good idea. We could pay for it with a hefty tax on firearms.
 
If there is going to be any reparations paid out, how about we give some money to
And that list would grow exponentially... It points to one of the real problems with reparations. There are others, the least of which is where the money would come from. I suspect most of us could point to mistreatment of our ancestors in some way. Most of these wrongs were committed by people who are no longer living.

In the case of former slaves I do believe that much of the reason the population descended from our slaves is poorer and more at risk from criminals and criminals themselves is the residual effects of legal (at the time) slavery and the discrimination that came after it. It has been hard for many of these folks to find and take advantage of the opportunities we white people have. There are of course many noteworthy exceptions, but not enough. I understand that better than other disadvantaged people.

Rather than go down the reparations path with all of it's problems it seems to me this is a good reason to do things that will support any disadvantaged people in their efforts to raise themselves. I would start with a better, and better funded education system. More subsidization of a College education and so on. Safer streets and environments in our poorer neighborhoods would be another priority. I am not an expert as to the specifics of what or how this should be done, but I do think we should do it. Done right this will only cost us upfront, pulling people up economically will result in more taxes and less need for law enforcement, I think in the long run it would pay us all to do it.
 
There are millions of Black Americans who won't. In fact, they will be quite offended by the ridiculous injustice and bigoted implications of this proposal if it becomes law.
Sorry man, but if the govt is offering up $5million, every black person in America is taking it. In fact I will be searching my ancestors hoping for a drop of black blood. Nobody is passing up a free $5 million
 
Sorry man, but if the govt is offering up $5million, every black person in America is taking it. In fact I will be searching my ancestors hoping for a drop of black blood. Nobody is passing up a free $5 million
Not when race is attached to the offer. I lived in a very predominantly black community until just recently, and have African ancestry. You don't know what you're talking about. That said, if $5-mil was offered to any race for some perceived injustice, of course there'd be takers; there are unprincipled people among all races.

I'm telling you not EVERY black person in America would take the money.
 


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