Maxine Waters ... again

[Hawkmoon]

Now she wants "reparations" for black people.

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/maxine-waters-promises-reparations-stump-speech-2020/

She's nuts. The civil war ended more than 150 years ago. There are no black people alive today who were slaves, and no white people alive who owned slaves. So how can anyone be due "reparations," and how would anyone else be responsible for paying them? She gets crazier by the minute.

[K Frame]

Same old song from the same old freak.

Yes, different words this time, but the music of stupidity/insanity/stupidity is the same.

[JN01]

Can we deduct the trillions they have already received in the form of welfare and other government assistance programs?

[Angel Eyes]

From the comments:

[French G.]

We could say it will never happen, but let's look at this week in South Africa where there are no living whites that took land from the natives.

[Hawkmoon]

We could say it will never happen, but let's look at this week in South Africa where there are no living whites that took land from the natives.

Moreover, at this point any living whites are probably just as "native" as any living blacks.

[RoadKingLarry]

We could say it will never happen, but let's look at this week in South Africa where there are no living whites that took land from the natives.

Gotta wonder if the white South Africans have any reason not to fight. Unjustly take away everything a man has worked for all his life and you've potentially made a very dangerous man.


As to the OP, I will gladly pay appropriate slavery reparations to any living person or immediate descendant that I once owned as a slave.
If the "reparations lobby" want to push the issue I think it needs to get pushed all the way back to the African source as well.

[Perd Hapley]

RKL, are you suggesting we deport reparations activists to Africa? Cuz that would be a real mean thing to do. To Acrica.

[Hawkmoon]

RKL, are you suggesting we deport reparations activists to Africa? Cuz that would be a real mean thing to do. To Acrica.

I think he was suggesting that Americans couldn't have bought slaves if someone in Africa hadn't sold slaves, so perhaps the descendants of the African slave traders should participate in any "reparations."

Of course, those people would have been blacks and/or Muslims, so ...

[dogmush]

I think he was suggesting that Americans couldn't have bought slaves if someone in Africa hadn't sold slaves, so perhaps the descendants of the African slave traders should participate in any "reparations."

Of course, those people would have been blacks and/or Muslims, so ...

That would also require the Africans in question to have any wealth available for redistribution.

As far as I know the vast majority of rich central/west Africans defend their assets pretty fiercely.

[K Frame]

I've read over the years that a number of people have attempted to "adjust" their tax returns by claiming a reparations deduction, often a significant amount.

Yeah, here we go.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/thousands-demanding-tax-credits-for-slavery/article/2604357

I think a number of people have been prosecuted for fraudulently preparing such tax returns for people.

[Scout26]

I've read over the years that a number of people have attempted to "adjust" their tax returns by claiming a reparations deduction, often a significant amount.

Yeah, here we go.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/thousands-demanding-tax-credits-for-slavery/article/2604357

I think a number of people have been prosecuted for fraudulently preparing such tax returns for people.

That was a "thing" about 6-7 years ago, IIRC.  We had a few people come in and ask/demand that I include the "Slavery Reparations Tax Credit" on their returns.   

Yeah....I'll factor that in to your return.   

The owner made it worse because after one guy got very angry and upset that there was no such thing, he started telling people who asked about it that "It's in there".  Since we filed their returns electronically and only gave them the printout of the electronic return, no one ever figured it out, and we got quite a few people coming in asking it.   

[Hawkmoon]

That would also require the Africans in question to have any wealth available for redistribution.

As far as I know the vast majority of rich central/west Africans defend their assets pretty fiercely.

No problem -- just dispatch a squad of Black Lives Matter enforcers to make them an offer they can't refuse: "Pay up, or we'll burn your country to the ground."

[dogmush]

No problem -- just dispatch a squad of Black Lives Matter enforcers to make them an offer they can't refuse: "Pay up, or we'll burn your country to the ground."

I would pay Pay Per View money to see Black Lives Matter vs. West African Warlord.   

Hell the child soldiers could probably take most American ghetto dwellers.

[RoadKingLarry]

Hell the child soldiers could probably take make most American ghetto dwellers soil their shorts.

FTFY

[Firethorn]

She's nuts. The civil war ended more than 150 years ago. There are no black people alive today who were slaves, and no white people alive who owned slaves. So how can anyone be due "reparations," and how would anyone else be responsible for paying them? She gets crazier by the minute.

The one reparations guy I met shut up when I asked him when he was going to pay me for my great-great-something uncle who died in the civil war freeing his great-grandparents.

[K Frame]

Even better, how would one determine who would be eligible for reparations?

Record keeping for slaves held by whites was generally pretty spotty, and many records have been lost or were destroyed in the Civil War.

You can't just say that all African Americans are eligible, because there is a significant number of African Americans in the US who have absolutely zero ties to slavery, and whose ancestors were not slaves, so you can't make skin color a determining factor as to whether someone is eligible or not.

[grampster]

Heck, give the reparations.  But adjust them for the taxes not paid on them plus penalties and interest.  I'd wager they'd owe money.

[Ben]

You can't just say that all African Americans are eligible, because there is a significant number of African Americans in the US who have absolutely zero ties to slavery, and whose ancestors were not slaves, so you can't make skin color a determining factor as to whether someone is eligible or not.

In fact, I'll wager that recent immigrants from places like Somalia would just tell the reparations people to shut the hell up. When you go from wondering if you're going to eat (or be alive) tomorrow, to the comfort of the US, "reparations" are about last on your list of what's important.

[HankB]

Maybe Maxine Waters is mixing up the word reparations with repatriation, and actually is advocating for black people to be returned to their ancestral homelands?

[Perd Hapley]

Even better, how would one determine who would be eligible for reparations?

Record keeping for slaves held by whites was generally pretty spotty, and many records have been lost or were destroyed in the Civil War.

You can't just say that all African Americans are eligible, because there is a significant number of African Americans in the US who have absolutely zero ties to slavery, and whose ancestors were not slaves, so you can't make skin color a determining factor as to whether someone is eligible or not.

Not that anyone cares. Black people need reparations just because everyone is mean to them, and the cops kill them, and white privilege, etc. Who cares if your white ancestors never owned slaves, and were indentured, and your great-great-great-great-great-grandmother died on the way over, due to terrible conditions on the ship, or your dad was a victim of the Holocaust? You have white privilege, so won't you feel a whole lot better if you just pay? Of course you will.

After all, we'll all be so happy once the reparations are in effect, and we can finally put racism behind us, right?  

[BobR]

Maybe Maxine Waters is mixing up the word reparations with repatriation, and actually is advocating for black people to be returned to their ancestral homelands?

Probably not, they already tried that. It wasn't very popular, only about 20K people took the opportunity to return to their home continent.

bob

[Perd Hapley]

Probably not, they already tried that. It wasn't very popular, only about 20K people took the opportunity to return to their home continent.

bob

Probably none of them had ever been to Africa before, so only their literary agents would have considered it their "home continent."

[K Frame]

Thinking about this some more, just who would they expect to pay the cost for reparations?

Obviously "the government."

But, the people demanding reparations would, in part, be paying for their own reparations payments. And a LOT of people whose ancestors (including mine) never had a thing to do with slavery, and even actively fought against it, would be forced to pay "damages" for something they never had a hand in in the first place.

I think that point alone would be worth opposing it, if necessary, up through the Supreme Court.

[Hawkmoon]

Probably none of them had ever been to Africa before, so only their literary agents would have considered it their "home continent."

But ... but ... Roots