Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ 19 Jan 2022 21:07)
On a societal level, sure, that's how its traditionally worked, but we can use that to justify pretty much anything. The justification just amounts to "might makes right, I have the might to keep this stuff, so fuck you".
There's a reason it has traditionally worked that way. The more time has passed, the less practical it becomes to make up for the theft or exploitation.
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I don't have a link, but we can talk about it here.
My problem is that I remember myself making several, rather detailed arguments which I considered to be pretty good at the time... but I can't remember what these arguments were. Fucking early stage alzheimer's...

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I see no problem with taxing "white people who had nothing to do with it". If there is discrimination in the housing market you will have less competition for housing, education, and in the job market. You do implicitly benefit from it.
If you can prove that this discrimination still exists today, you might have a case. On the other hand, arguing that redlining which was ended decades ago is still giving whites a leg up in today's housing or job market is a huge stretch.
Also, the redlining argument doesn't cover the other argument you like to make in this context, namely the inability of black families to accumulate generational wealth. Whites who did not live in the U.S. or particular communities while redlining, Jim Crow and all this stuff was still rampant only benefit from black people's lack of wealth in an extremely indirect and negligible way. Forcing them to share in with reparations would be unjust.
Generally speaking, the dilemma of the United States, in my humble, out of touch opinion as a foreign voyeur, is that inequality tends to perpetuate itself, even in the absence of present-day discrimination. The only avenues for fixing this inequality (rooted in past injustice) in targetted fashion would all create new injustices. Which brings me back to my broader point which I have made repeatedly: stuff like race-based reparations would lead to new injustices and are politically toxic. The far better approach to address issues like the black-white wealth gap would be colorblind policies which help all the poor. If blacks are disproportionately poor because of past discrimination, they will automatically benefit disproportionately from such policies. I believe this approach (let's call it the "'Labour Bernie' from 2016 approach") to be more just, more effective and politically smarter.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 19 2022 02:26pm