Should African-Americans receive reparations from Europe?

1. 72

   platinumOwl4posted 12 years ago

   Should African-Americans receive reparations from Europe?
   
   Europe have and continues to extract wealth from Africa. At least eight European Nations are extremely wealthy due to free labor, then prison labor. Rush Limbaugh Claims, that affirmative action and county assistance for 28 years is all they will receive from the United States.

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2. 71

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   Your headline and your paragraph (explanation?) don't seem to match. What does giving reparations to African-Americans have to do with wealth extracted from Africa?
   
   Modern African-Americans are ... well, American! Africa is Africa.
   
   Because Europe is reaping so much wealth, should European-Americans get a percentage? That would be an equally interesting (though odd) question.
   
   African-Americans should not get reparations from Europe for the wealth currently be extracted from Africa. The two have nothing to do with each other.

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3. 60

   peterxdunnposted 12 years ago

   Should America give America back to the indigenous peoples that were displaced by the Europeans?
   
   Should Rome recompense the Jews for the diaspora? Or, for that matter, should the Israelis give back Israel to the Palestinians (Canaanites/Phoenicians) who they have displaced twice?
   
   Sometimes you've just got to draw a line under things as they are and take it from there.

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4. 72

   platinumOwl4posted 12 years ago

   Apparently, you missed the point of the question. I am speaking of the accumulated wealth that was created by the African-American's  forefather's free labor. Now, If you are unable to see any connection there, there is no need to continue the conversation. There are conferences being held in Europe now  to satisfy this very question.

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5. 59

   nightwork4posted 12 years ago

   what does africa have to do with african-americans? most of them wouldn't last a week in africa and just because europe rips off people in africa, it sure as heck doesn't mean african-americans should get something for it. as for it being created by forefathers, that's absurd. i bet less then 5% of african-americans even know where africa is or where any particular cities are.

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6. 0

   Old Empresarioposted 12 years ago

   I think it does make sense, but we have to seriously quantify what it is people want and how much they want. African Americans should agree to an amount that they feel would be appropriate and sufficient so that reparations could be either considered or not considered. Right now, nobody even knows what anyone wants. It's true that African Americans born today are still burdened by the cultural effects of what their ancestors suffered. And the fact that we have a black president does not prove that anyone can make it in the US; because President Obama's ancestors were not slaves. His father came over as a free Kenyan immigrant.

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7. 72

   kestranaposted 12 years ago

   The African slave trade was a terrible blot of the history of humanity. But if we started levying monetary payments for what is now old history, the whole world would become embroiled in lawsuits. Should Germans pay Jews, gypsies and others imprisoned in death camps during the Holocaust? Does Britian have to pay the Scots, Welsh and Celts for the terrible things they did to them? Where would it stop? People need to try to make a better future, learning from the mistakes of the past, not getting stuck dwelling on them.

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