Ta-Nehisi Coates Assails Mitch McConnell at Raucous Reparations Hearing

[SummerMadness]

I’m for that personally but wouldn’t force it on anyone else. Of course, I’m pretty sure all white people today in the U.S. are beneficiaries of slavery.

If we were to look at slavery alone, I think there is a case against that, but if you mean slavery as a system benefitted white Americans, who then used that wealth to build subsequent systems of power, I see your point.

Some people will argue that they have no connection to slavery, so they see no benefits; but another perspective is, are there any aspects of American society that would hinder an immigrant of African descent in American society due to blackness? Thinking of the murder of Amadou Diallo, it is quite evident that the patterns of racial oppression can hurt those who did not grow up in American society. And so to can an immigrant come to the United States and be given benefits due to whiteness without having been the descendant of a slave owner.

I still think the biggest sin is not slavery, but segregation and government policies that directly prevented black people from obtaining education and wealth via home ownership.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I still think the biggest sin is not slavery, but segregation and government policies that directly black people from obtaining education and wealth via home ownership.

I agree. I've said elsewhere that, if freed blacks had been allowed to integrate back into society, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Given the general state of poverty throughout the white community in the 1860's, the racial wealth gap that existed would have been relatively small and blacks probably would've been able to close the bulk of it within a few generations. But we didn't; we oppressed blacks for another 100+ years, during which time we made a lot of white people a lot wealthier (i.e. creating the middle class post WW2) and also made it harder to become wealthier (by tying personal wealth to real estate & requiring more and more education for good-paying jobs).

 

[Hank77]

also made it harder to become wealthier (by tying personal wealth to real estate & requiring more and more education for good-paying jobs).

All women were pretty much in the same situation.

 

[Sparagmos]

How? My friend who just recently became an American citizen. How did he benefit from slavery?

If he’s white, he benefits from white privilege, which derives largely from slavery in the U.S.

 

[Sparagmos]

I think there is a case against that, but if you mean slavery as a system benefitted white Americans, who then used that wealth to build subsequent systems of power, I see your point.

Yes that’s what I mean. Hey - I could be wrong but it seems that if my ancestors had never brought Africans here as slaves, and Africans had just emigrated here as free people, things would be a lot different. Blacks would have more power and whites would have less.

 

[iluvatar5150]

All women were pretty much in the same situation.

AFAIK, that sort of generational poverty wouldn't necessary get passed down from mothers to daughters because the white fathers would still be able to make a good living and afford to / be permitted to live in good areas. Women weren't segregated into poor ghettos the way blacks were.

 

[Hank77]

AFAIK, that sort of generational poverty wouldn't necessary get passed down from mothers to daughters because the white fathers would still be able to make a good living and afford to / be permitted to live in good areas. Women weren't segregated into poor ghettos the way blacks were.

I quoted what I was specifically referring to that was hard for women. I was speaking of women not being able to accumulate wealth for those same reasons, home ownership and good paying jobs.

 

[Gigimo]

Speaking of reparations I'm wondering when the taxpayers of this country is going to get some too?

 

[Ironhold]

Thinking of the murder of Amadou Diallo,

I was going to stay out of this thread, but...

One of my brothers was doing his undergraduate work in the criminal justice field about the time this incident happened, and so his professors made sure everyone in the program at the time studied it in-depth. He, in turn, made sure that I understood it in-depth as I was considering CJ as a field as well.

Diallo matched a vague description of a wanted suspect, which is why some plainclothes officers decided to stop him. Diallo panicked and reached for his wallet despite orders, and because of the poor lighting of the apartment complex the cops thought he was reaching for a weapon. One of the cops took a step backwards, and ended up tumbling down the stairs. The other cop put the two incidents together, declared "Officer down!", and opened fire.

The autopsy later determined that the first bullet to hit Diallo struck his spine, causing him to slump against the door frame. The frame propped him up, and the poor lighting would once again play a part as the cops couldn't see that he'd been hit. Instead, they presumed some sort of body armor and kept firing.

So no, it was not murder.

It was a colossal screw-up that never should have happened, but it was not murder.

 

[Ironhold]

If he’s white, he benefits from white privilege, which derives largely from slavery in the U.S.

The whole "privilege" nonsense burns me up.

I was born with a life-altering heart condition.

I had a bleeding stress ulcer when I was 8 that resulted in my vomiting blood.

By the time I finished 4th grade, I'd had my head cracked open twice.

I have nerve damage in both hands and tendon damage in my right thumb. Much of my fine motor control is gone.

Between injury and illness, my sinuses are so shredded that it's affected my senses of taste and smell, and I also bleed daily.

My left knee is almost completely blown out.

My spine is so badly mangled due to injuries that never healed right the physical therapist doesn't know how I'm able to walk.

The Health Exchange refuses to provide me with the subsidies Obama promised because I make too little to qualify, but my state Medicaid agency literally told me that as an adult white male who is not otherwise receiving aid I'm at the back of the line for assistance.

My alleged privilege is where now?

 

[SummerMadness]

The whole "privilege" nonsense burns me up.

I was born with a life-altering heart condition.

I had a bleeding stress ulcer when I was 8 that resulted in my vomiting blood.

By the time I finished 4th grade, I'd had my head cracked open twice.

I have nerve damage in both hands and tendon damage in my right thumb. Much of my fine motor control is gone.

Between injury and illness, my sinuses are so shredded that it's affected my senses of taste and smell, and I also bleed daily.

My left knee is almost completely blown out.

My spine is so badly mangled due to injuries that never healed right the physical therapist doesn't know how I'm able to walk.

The Health Exchange refuses to provide me with the subsidies Obama promised because I make too little to qualify, but my state Medicaid agency literally told me that as an adult white male who is not otherwise receiving aid I'm at the back of the line for assistance.

My alleged privilege is where now?

You simply do not understand the concept if you posted all of this.

This should help: "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh

Just because your life has struggles, does not mean you do not have privilege. I'm sure that there are many right-handed people who do not thrive in life, that does not mean the world is privileged toward right-handed people.

 

[Ironhold]

You simply do not understand the concept if you posted all of this.

So basically, more of the usual "That you question its existence proves it exists!" nonsense I usually get as a response?

 

[SummerMadness]

Ta-Nehisi Coates Dismantles Mitch McConnell’s Remarks on Reparations

Yesterday, when asked about reparations, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a familiar reply: America should not be held liable for something that happened 150 years ago, especially since none of us currently alive are responsible. This rebuttal proffers a strange theory of governance: that American accounts are somehow bound by the lifetime of its generations, when well into this century, the United States was still paying out pensions to the heirs of Civil War soldiers. We honor treaties that date back some 200 years, despite no one being alive who signed those treaties. Many of us would love to be taxed for the things we are solely and individually responsible for, but we are American citizens, and thus bound to a collective enterprise that extends beyond our individual and personal reach. It would seem ridiculous to dispute invocations from the Founders or the Greatest Generation, on the basis of a lack of membership in either group. We recognize our lineage as a generational trust, as an inheritance and the real dilemma posed by reparations is just that: a dilemma of inheritance.

 

[iluvatar5150]

The whole "privilege" nonsense burns me up.

I was born with a life-altering heart condition.

I had a bleeding stress ulcer when I was 8 that resulted in my vomiting blood.

By the time I finished 4th grade, I'd had my head cracked open twice.

I have nerve damage in both hands and tendon damage in my right thumb. Much of my fine motor control is gone.

Between injury and illness, my sinuses are so shredded that it's affected my senses of taste and smell, and I also bleed daily.

My left knee is almost completely blown out.

My spine is so badly mangled due to injuries that never healed right the physical therapist doesn't know how I'm able to walk.

Now, add being black onto that.

That's how privilege works.

Granted, in your case, the privilege gap is probably minimal, but nothing you described has any impact on whether you have or have not been on the right side of racial privilege.

The Health Exchange refuses to provide me with the subsidies Obama promised because I make too little to qualify,

You can thank your state government for that. The original ACA plan was to require states to expand Medicaid coverage in order to bridge the gap between people who were previously eligible for Medicaid and people who made enough to be eligible for ACA subsidies. Several states took the federal government to court and won, with the judgment finding that they couldn't be forced to expand their coverage. Those who opted out left the coverage gap you're describing.

Medicaid coverage gap - Wikipedia

but my state Medicaid agency literally told me that as an adult white male who is not otherwise receiving aid I'm at the back of the line for assistance.

I believe that's what you were told, but somebody there was lying to you. Race isn't a factor in eligibility for Medicaid or other assistance programs.

My alleged privilege is where now?

Well, for one thing, you didn't have a public employee lie about welfare programs in order to engender racial resentment towards your race.

 

[Sparagmos]

The whole "privilege" nonsense burns me up.

I was born with a life-altering heart condition.

I had a bleeding stress ulcer when I was 8 that resulted in my vomiting blood.

By the time I finished 4th grade, I'd had my head cracked open twice.

I have nerve damage in both hands and tendon damage in my right thumb. Much of my fine motor control is gone.

Between injury and illness, my sinuses are so shredded that it's affected my senses of taste and smell, and I also bleed daily.

My left knee is almost completely blown out.

My spine is so badly mangled due to injuries that never healed right the physical therapist doesn't know how I'm able to walk.

The Health Exchange refuses to provide me with the subsidies Obama promised because I make too little to qualify, but my state Medicaid agency literally told me that as an adult white male who is not otherwise receiving aid I'm at the back of the line for assistance.

My alleged privilege is where now?

White privilege simply means that if you were not white, things would be even worse for you. It’s relative. So as white people, there are just things we never have to deal with, like being denied a mortgage because of racial discrimination, or being followed in a store because of race. We don’t get racially profiled. There are lots of types of privilege and being able bodied is also a type of privilege. Being born into wealth is another type of privilege.

 

[Sparagmos]

Well, for one thing, you didn't have a public employee lie about welfare programs in order to engender racial resentment towards your race.

Great example.

 

[Sparagmos]

So basically, more of the usual "That you question its existence proves it exists!" nonsense I usually get as a response?

@SummerMadness didn't say that at all.

 

[Sparagmos]

Speaking of reparations I'm wondering when the taxpayers of this country is going to get some too?

Repetitions for all tax payers? Paid by the tax payers? For what?

 

[Ironhold]

White privilege simply means that if you were not white, things would be even worse for you. It’s relative. So as white people, there are just things we never have to deal with, like being denied a mortgage because of racial discrimination, or being followed in a store because of race. We don’t get racially profiled. There are lots of types of privilege and being able bodied is also a type of privilege. Being born into wealth is another type of privilege.

I once literally had someone tell me "a white person with nary a nickel to their name still has more privilege than a black person with a mansion".

 

[SummerMadness]

I once literally had someone tell me "a white person with nary a nickel to their name still has more privilege than a black person with a mansion".

And was that said in this thread? No. I linked an article that you failed to read, yet it addresses the arguments you and others have repeated.