[rajin444]

> No reparations were made for 350 years of de jure oppression

This is what all the other posters are saying. Nearly everyone has some ancestry that was oppressed for an extended period of time and they are not receiving reparations for it. Why should black Americans be different?

When you consider how small changes made early amplify over time, there’s other groups of people with orders of magnitude greater claims to reparations.

[dvngnt_]

http://www.mnchurches.org/blog/2021/02/18/holocaust-survivor...

[rajin444]

Yes, people who were wronged and are still alive should be compensated.

Punishing the son for the sins of the father is not healthy for society nor fair.

[alsaaro]

I think one of the presumptions for reparations is that any form of compensation would come from government, not any sole specific race.

[jahewson]

But the government’s money comes from taxes. In the end it’s effectively a balance transfer, just like the high price of housing is balance transfer from the young to the old. It’s a zero-sum game. That’s not to say that it’s bad - but let’s be perfectly honest about what it is. You can’t make one group of people richer without making the other comparatively poorer. See for example, the 1% vs the rest of us. Unless of course, you’re investing that money in, say, education, or small businesses which grow the economy - and that might be a good idea.

[krzyk]

Government doesn't have some magic basket of their own money. It all comes from the people.

[acjohnson55]

People who are oppressed should receive reparations, and there are many examples of this actually happening and many ongoing movements in cases where it hasn't:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_(transitional_just...

I'm not here to play Oppression Olympics and say that Black people deserve reparations more than anybody else. This push to compare and contrast often is used to deflect, delay, and ultimately disrupt the solidarity of marginalized people. So I only ask that people just understand the plight of Black folks in America in and of itself, and ask themselves what feels just.

This piece makes a compelling summary of the situation of Black folks in the US:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-cas...

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if reparations never happen for Black Americans within my lifetime. But that doesn't mean it's not justified. At the very least, what most Black people demand is a fair shake at jobs, wealth, security, and dignity. It is violations of these basic human rights and justice that get us out in the streets.