There are 3 choices, 10 votes for NeferMaatNetjer's debate

reparations

I hear a lot of talk from Louis Farrakan and Al Sharpton and other black leaders about whites owing blacks reparations for slavery, even though there are no blacks living in this country today, who were born into bondage. slavery was abolished in 1965, when the last secessionist states surrendered to the Union Army.

here is my philosophy on the issue;

My great-great grandfather, Peter Eubanks, was a successful shoemaker in Pennsylvania before the Civil War. He had a wife and four children. neither he nor his immigrant father ever owned a slave.

in 1862, at the age of 29, Peter was drafted into the Union Army. He was taken from his family, and sent to fight for the freedom of the Negro. He did not protest, he did not try to dodge the draft. He answered his country's call with honor.

On july 3, 1863, at a place called Gettysburg, My great-great-grandfather, like thousands of other young white men like him, paid the ultimate price for black man's freedom.

So the way I see it is; Any debt I or my family owe the Negro for the slave trade seeped into the ground with my ancestor's blood. Unless the black community is willing to pay the families of all the men who died for their freedom reparations, I don't want to hear any more talk about what white people owe blacks for slavery

And if you dont like it, go dig up Peter Eubanks, and tell his bones what he owes you for reparations.


  • I Agree

    Slavery was a horrible, gruesome thing to do to a human being. There is no justification for anyone owning a slave but there isn't any white man alive today that owns a slave, there isn't any black man alive today that is a slave. While slavery was a horrible thing, no white person should have to pay some black person they've never met some money because of their ancestors. It's like telling the relative of a murderer to pay for the murderers crimes, is that fair, no, I don't believe it is.

    60%  Voted for by Hertha, ElisaRose, cosmosis, Weydon, cafegroundzero. (6 total)
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  • IN MY OPINION

    YOUR STATEMENT IS FULL OF ANGER AND RESENTMENT. I TAKE OFFENSE TO YOUR RANTINGS. WHY GENERALIZE ? DO YOU THINK ALL BLACK PEOPLE FEEL THE SAME WAY ?IT IS AS IF TO SAY ALL WHITES , LATINOS , INDIANS ARE THE SAME , QUITE ILLOGICAL. LET ME SAY THIS I DON'T FEEL THAT MONETARY COMPENSATION COULD NEVER BEGIN TO ASSUAGE THE ATROCITIES COMMITED TO MY PEOPLE. THE IDEA OF REPERATIONS IS REPUGNANT AND VILE. THOSE WHO PUSH FOR THIS DO SO FOR THEIR FOR THEIR OWN GAIN AND ARE NOT WORTHY TO CALL THEMSELVES MEMBERS OF THE BLACK RACE. I FOR ONE I AM NOT OWED A THING, NEITHER DO I WALK AROUND WITH A BLOODY CHIP ON MY SHOULDER CRYING FOUL EACH TIME I HAVE BEEN TREATED UNFAIRLY. RACISM EXIST, IT IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING AMONG US . I COME FROM A VERY PROUD HERITAGE I KNOW WHO I AM AND I WILL BE DAMNED IF I WILL BE BOXED IN, STEREOTYPED AS SOME MONEY GRUBBING PIECE OF WORTHLESS DRECK WHO WANTS MONEY FROM YOU AND OTHERS LIKE YOU. YOU DEFILE THE MEMORY OF YOUR GREAT GRANDFATHER FOR WHOM YOU SAID ANSWERED THE CALL OF DUTY WITHOUT WINCING, WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE .YOU DEFILE HIM AND HIS MEMORY AND ALL THOSE WHO DIED FOR THE CAUSE, WHICH IS EQUALITY TO ALL. LET ME REITERATE AND SAY ALL THOSE WHO PUSH FOR THIS DO SO AT WILL AND WITH THEIR OWN AGENDA IN MIND. I WOULD LIKE ALL THOSE WHO HAVE THE ABILITY TO THINK AND REASON TO DO SO BEFORE MAKING SUCH NEEDLESS ASSUMPTIONS IN THE FUTURE.

    30%  Voted for by a woman to love, cosmosis, Hertha.
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  • Truth and Reconciliation

    Aside from the problematic aspects of setting a dollar amount on the loss of freedom, the loss to life, limb, property, the human suffering, I think that yes, there is the need for our former slave-holding nations to confront the issues around slavery and segregation honestly and unflinchingly. At the very least, we should hold "Truth and Reconciliation" commissions such as those held in South Africa and Rwanda. I will, as an American and as the descendant of landowners, start this off by stating that it is highly probable that some of my ancestors owned slaves, whether it be in the American South, Eastern Seaboard, or Mexico. Furthermore, it seems to me a passionate attempt to dodge responsibility, on the part of even those European-Americans who feel they are sure their ancestors did NOT own slaves. After all, since slavery, there have been other types of injustice, prejudice, acts of aggressive and hostile bias, committed by people, even by African Americans. We need to air our grievances in a way which does not further hate, but offers us the chance to forgive our enemies and be forgiven in turn. Did individuals, businesses, including corporations, even governments, benefit by slavery and segregation? Undeniably YES. Can we and should we offer reparations? Perhaps so. Then we can also bill those who've benefited from the welfare society of the late 20th century through today.

    [Postscript: 21 January 2006, George Washington's Birthday. As I wake up to the news that terrorists have destroyed the Golden Dome and Shrine of Ali at Samarra in Iraq, I ponder, as I drink my coffee bitter black, the futility of the violence committed by all sides in this growing World War. Might we all benefit from a global Truth and Reconciliation Council?]

    Voted for by cafegroundzero.
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