[stjohnswarts]

I agree. If reparations are "paid" does it ever end? Is there ever a maximum to be paid out? I'm saying this as someone who is of mixed European, African, and Native American ancestry, yes my ancestors were enslaved on two branches of my family history, I don't want reparations, I just want unequivocal equality and a chance, not special treatment. All we can do is demonize slavery and entrench democracy and equality, anything else is just going to serve further to split the 99% up and distract them from the real issue which is being taken advantage of by the 1%

[eesmith]

We've seen many cases where reparations end, so ... yes, they can end, and yes there can be a maximum payment. (Eg, $20,000 each for Japanese Americans interned during WWII.)

But "reparations" doesn't mean only financial reparations, and don't let people focus on just that!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_(transitional_just... describes "five formal categories of reparations: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition".

You want unequivocal equality, which is satisfaction and a guarantees of non-repetition - yes, you want reparations.

Which is entirely reasonable and just.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_for_slavery include examples of non-monetary reparations, this time for Africa as a whole, like "to use all lawful means to secure the return of African artefacts from whichever place they are currently held" and "an accurate portrayal of African history and thus restore dignity and self-respect to African people".

I can't help but think the idea of focusing on financial reparations is to keep people from thinking about all the other reparations that can be done.

I can't help but think the idea of focusing on reparations for slavery is to keep people from thinking about reparations for Jim Crow in the US (there are people still alive who suffered under Jim Crow) or reparations for imperialism (the Dutch decolonialized during 1942–1975; again, there are people still alive from that period).

And the point made is true - the Dutch profited from colonization, at the expense of their colonizes, and continue to profit from the inherited wealth of colonization. Why do ex-colonial powers get to hoard their stolen wealth?

Also, it mentions that in "Suriname, activists and officials say they have not been asked for input about the apology" ... why didn't the Dutch do that? Surely they must know it makes them seem like they still don't think of their ex-colonies as equals.

[stjohnswarts]

Should I just say "I don't want special treatment" then? I'll come out and say that. If a private company or individual wants to give out cultural/racially based scholarships/financial aid then more power to them. Why does everyone assume that others don't know that some European countries had evil colonial period histories. It's too late to make up for those ills. Move on and quit living in the past. Let's start treating people "right" now, not forever be digging up the past. Use it for context and lessons learned and not keep this race war and white guilt (or cultural guilt?) alive forever. It only serves to keep up 99% split up and infighting. Aka we can't fix the world's problems before we work on the ones at home. Why drag our children down with the ills done by our ancestors?

[eesmith]

> It's too late to make up for those ills. Move on and quit living in the past.

Do you apply the same viewpoint to everything else? When is too late? 1 year? 5 years? 50 years?

It took 45 years for Japanese American internees to get reparations. Was that too late? Should they have given up because they were living in the past?

In today's news, "Nazi secretary, 97, convicted for role in 10,000 murders at death camp". That was 75 years ago. Is that too late? Do you think the German prosecutors live in the past?

People right now are survivors of European colonial atrocities. Why shouldn't living Kenyans who were tortured by British troops get compensation for the Mau Mau rebellion?

> Why drag our children down with the ills done by our ancestors?

It appears that you want to teach our children that they can commit whatever atrocities they want in a less powerful country and, so long as they say "it's complicated" they can put off dealing with it forever.

Do you think the children of those tortured are so easy to forgive?

"Race" is a cultural creation meant to control people. I reject "white guilt" as being a meaningful concept since I've only seen it used as social control meant to keep others from doing what is right.

We need only to look at the long-held animosity between Irish and English to know that animosity does not disappear in a generation, and that "white guilt" is an artificial term.