Tax exempt status as reparations for slavery?

Question

People say, slavery happened a long tiime ago, they say all the slaves are dead, They worry about people claiming to be black being able to benefit from any type of reparations.
These people in large live in America. They are the ones whose families have benefited from the institution of slavery and the after effects.
What they don't understand is nothing can replace what was taken from the African American.
They lost their language
Their culture
Their religion
Their family history
They were cut off at the root for not 5 or 10 years but hundreds of years.
Generations have came and went with nothing to pass on to the next.
Most people know their family background, What country they are from and their nationality.
They have cultural music, dance, food, traditions, clothes and customs handed down for generations.
Its not about the money its about the acknowledgement of a horrible wrong done to a helpless people.
Would it be fair for African Americans to live tax free?

Answer 1

i didn't do sh#t to you neither did any of my LIVING family
why should we pay for something we didn't do?

so basically you would also like children to be held responsible for there parents credit also?

reparations are asked for by the weak who believe they deserve special treatment grow a pair and get over it

Answer 2

Each African American generation starts from nothing.......It will always be that way as long African Americans believe in the white mans god and accept white mans justice.

This society was built and designed for the comfort of the white race, not the red, yellow, brown or black.
Integration was one of the worst thing that happened to the African American.
At least with segregation they knew they had to do for themselves. They had a opportunity to become independent.
Their businesses grew and the experienced a cultural explosion.
Now that we are all intergrated into this so called melting pot, they just lay around beg for justice and pray to the white mans god.
Whinners and loosers beg and pray.
The only way you get anywhere in this world, you got to have balls.
You want it? don't ask for it. Take it.

Answer 3

I don't think so. I'm Armenian, ever hear of the Armenian Genocide?, probably not. Well anyway do some research then if you don't but I'm gonna tell you some stuff. The Ottoman Turks anhillated us, exterminated us. We were doctors, lawyers, dentists, merchants, tailors, bankers and goldsmiths. Our livelihoods were destroyed in a matter of days. All Armenian public officials were deported, executed, hanged, all property of Armenians was confiscated by the Ottoman government, being transfered to emigrants from the Balkans and the Treasury. The entire Armenian intelligentsia(intellectuals, cultural/religious leaders) in Turkey were executed. The cultural renaissance that was taking place was violently ended, our poets, writers and composers killed. Literature burned, churches destroyed, birth records torn to shreds. By the end of World War I there was no such thing as the Ottoman Armenian. The estimated population of Ottoman Armenians before the genocide was a little under 2 million, today, its 50,000. We have no gotten recognition for 92 years from the Turkish government that a genocide even occurred, that it was the Ottomans doing. Not a dime of compensation has been given to survivors. Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia, is right across the border of Armenia from the capital, Yerevan and it dominates the skyline. Try living everyday with that over your head, knowing your only a shadow of your former people. No amount of money can compensate for the suffering and attempted extermination of my people. The same should apply to African-Americans who have ties to the slave trade.

Answer 4

"These people live large in America"? i am a lower middle class white female who isn't "living large" and i think reparations are bullshit. i've never owned a plantation and i'm sure you've never had to pick cotton, endure getting beaten and whipped, or been labeled someone's "property". I'm Irish. There were 10's of thousands Irish slaves working alongside African slaves in throughout the 17th century. Do I deserve tax free status too? No, because I'm "white", so nationality doesn't matter. Take responsibility and initiative and stop looking at what is obviously terrible, painful, and OVER WITH to try and get a free ride. You're pathetic.

Answer 5

Very interesting question. To all those with negative answers, SHAME on you! I don't know ANY black person that has EVER asked for reparations! Can you honestly say that you have??? And to answer the original question, I don't think there should be a tax exempt status.
***Seetheworld, I really liked your response. Good answer!

Answer 6

I think American Indians are tax exempt in Canada, or they get a reparations check, at least. Honestly, I think the Government couldn't afford that kind of money with all the "anti terrorist" activities we're engaging in. Personally, I think a good start would be integrating black history with
the white history books more. That would be progress. I doubt you'll ever see a penny, because that would cost too much money. Another angle would be to hunt down all the tribes in Africa which captured the American slaves and sold them to the whites. Those people should be ashamed for selling out their own.

Answer 7

Americans did not have to pay taxes during slavery times.
They were able to amass vast tax free fortunes.
Taxes came about during the second world war.
When immigrants come to this country they enjoy a 7 year tax free status to help them get started.
Blacks were forced here and forced to pay taxes.
They will continue to be forced into a box until they realize that they are going to have to stop asking permission like children and start taking control just like white America.
Any time you ask a person for something you give them the power to tell you no.
You want power in this country? you got to take it.

Answer 8

Realistically, reparations really is an admission of guilt and white America simply is not going to do that. It is hard to apologize to anyone that you feel is beneath you. When we were forcibly brought here it was for the expressed purpose of economy; a work force. It wasn't about sharing wealth with these whites. It was not about being equals with them. Hell, not long ago we represented just 3/5 of a man. Imagine that. Science has proven that the Black man &woman were the first to inhabit the planet. Simply put, this means that every group of peoples born subsequent to the Original Man, would have to have some ties to that original man. If humanity stems from us, how could we be 3/5 of a man?! Blacks are the ones who gave humanity to the rest of the world. The white man has been on this planet for roughly 6,000 years. Blacks have been here millions of years. That, in my humble estimation, would mean that whites are not the first to do any of the things they have stolen credit for. We must first realize that we need one another's support in order to move forward. I observe foreigners that come here from their various homelands. When they come here there is a support system in place for them. They are provided with food and shelter & other incidentals (by their people) until such time as they are up on their feet. Not to mention, the tax-free provision and grants that many "foreigners" are entitled to. This seems like a form of reparations to me. If at some point the american government has wronged these nations and decides to do something to attempt to "apologize" for its evil deeds, what is wrong with African Africans receiving some of these "apologies"? It has basically been decided that this is not going to happen. So should we keep looking for help from someone who is clearly not going to give it to us? Or should we do like other communities and realize that our survival is inextricably linked to each other? We must work together in our families, communities, etc. and stop pleading with whites to be fair. Much of our existence here in america has been dictated to us by the oppressors. We must learn to define ourselves for ourselves, by our standards. We must not look at ourselves through eyes conditioned by the oppressors. WHITES CANNOT VALIDATE US AS BLACK PEOPLE. How could they? They don't know what it is to be Black and I'm sure many of them don't care to.
If you were being bullied, this course of action is not going to stop because the bully takes pity on you. He has no pity for you. The bullying will stop when you shed the robe of a victim and place on the armor of someone who has had enough and unwilling to suffer the indignity any longer. Thanks.

Answer 9

wizard81 is a prime example of ignorance of the question and the state of being here in America.
He can Identify scotland as a place of his families roots.
He did not say Europe he said Scotland. Africa is a continent full of countries and languages, "for those who don't understand the enormity of it".
I agree with lynsheryl.
African Americans are wasting their time asking for, fairness and justice from a nation of people who history has shown fears and hates them.
The negative responses here show the deep racist sentiment in this nation.
White America will never willingly or by choice put themselves on equal terms with the African American.
It is more about their fears than their hate.
They have never had to compete with African Americans on a level playing field and because of their fear of loosing, Unless they are forced to, they never will.

Answer 10

Jolly Roger, &NFervor4Ever--------------------
(Bought) slaves from blacks.
Not blacks selling to whites.
You can sell but only if someone is willing to BUY it.
Whites went to blacks...not the other way round
Since you brought up the selling part
what about over 100 million stolen from west and central Africa?

Now to answer your question...
Not mine:-------------

The question is not weather Blacks need reparations but does America deserves to benefit from the crime it committed? Would you grant amnesty to the illegals, to award them for their crime? If a mans steals a car should he be allowed to keep it because he went through a lot of trouble stealing it? So why should America be allowed to benefit from it's crime? Yes America, They had power to eliminate slavery and segregation when THEY decided to. Millions of blacks died in this land by whites and America allowed it to happen can anyone name 5 whites ever punished for killing, Lynching, or oppression a Black person? In 1865 when they decided to end slavery, did not slavery end? In 1965 when they decided to end segregation did not segregation?

What will America do about those it killed in vain, why should America commit such things and be allowed to go free?

When Blacks were first "bought" (not sold) into slavery they were oppress from the time they were "purchased" not sold to whites. You can't sell nothing if no one is WILLING to buy it. Blacks were oppress from the time they got on until the time Dr. King died in 1968, by WHITES not Africans. Is giving the black race equal rights make right all the oppression they face?

How can 400 years of oppression which include segregation be made OK by giving them equality? Will equality fix or bring justice to the Millions America kill unjustified. Will equality fix or bring justice to tens of thousands that were lynch during the early 1900's. What about their lost knowledge of a language, religion, culture and customs? Will Brown was shot and over 1000 times beaten, then set on fire. These things did not happen in ancient times but in my and my parents generation. We were oppress so we couldn't vote this was only the 60's. So the ones who were slaves could not get anything for their misfortune because they had no rights to, back then. Equal rights could not repay all that was done against the Black race. So in reality the two groups will never be equal one side had 300+ years of struggle and robbery while the other had/has 300+ years of privilege and benefits and the expense of another group, not just from free labor but from being on the side of the oppressors. That in it's self gave you privilege.

Truth is the people who would have inherited the money, their fathers SHOULD have got is still here. Just as the people and nation who inherited that borrow wealth, is still here, and the wealth is still here. So if Blacks got paid for that wealth they would have left their descendants with something rather than a spirit of poverty. As a result 70% of elderly blacks have no financial assets. Which is a direct result form segregation designed to keep the wealth in the white community and keep blacks from the houses, schools, and inherited wealth they helped build for the white community. It's never to late to do whats right, however reparations will divide the country.

Blacks don't need reparations but equality, and as I said equality is not giving blacks equal rights. Truthfully all the things the white race did or has done against the black race most surely can not be repaid with equality, neither can it be repaid with all the wealth this nation has.

Answer 11

No.

If you are worried about your culture, take a trip to Africa and rediscover it.

My ancestors had their land taken away from them and were forced to flee the country (Scotland). Should I also, based on your description of lost culture, ect. be able to live tax free?

Perhaps we could go back to the families that never owned slaves and also make all those decedents tax free.

What about the decedents of slave owners that are black? What would their status be under your proposal?

I can go back in history far enough to say that every single person living in America is a victim of some type, and I would not have to go back very far in 99% of the time.

It is time to move forward, and not backward. It is time to live in the present and make the future better for everyone, not dwell on the past.