How should white people atone for their racism?

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Hey that's not entirely true!!

Remember history.....


http://rutherfordtnhistory.org/black-slave-owner-an-untold-part-of-history/

All descendants of Sherrod Bryant please remove yourself from the list of recipients to the proper line with your checkbook in hand.

That is all.

They all get exempted from racism and objectively measurable negative outcomes that are racially determined, right? No? Oh, what's that? Your super clever soundbite collapsing at the lightest hint of critical thought? Don't you get tired of that?

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Would you argue for reparations as opposed to helping the impoverished? Do impoverished and economically disadvantaged black people deserve more help than impoverished and economically disadvantaged people of other ethnicities because of what happened to their ancestors 170 years ago?

Didja see where I said "Reparations is a suggested way of giving similar assistance to people who are objectively disadvantaged, although the exact form such reparations take, who pays for them, who is entitled to them, and so on, is endlessly debatable."?

Also, no one is claiming people are disadvantaged purely because of things that happened 170 years ago. We're talking about people who are objectively, measurably disadvantaged right now, although the Usual Suspects would much prefer we argue about the 170 year old strawman, of course.

 

[Twilight Hue]

They all get exempted from racism and objectively measurable negative outcomes that are racially determined, right? No? Oh, what's that? Your super clever soundbite collapsing at the lightest hint of critical thought? Don't you get tired of that?

Not if it's true... Oh wait.... it is true.

So no I don't get tired.

 

[Spiderman]

The average white person nowadays has nothing to do with slavery, so saying they should "atone" for it is simply a racist, manipulative form of guilt by association.

I'm actually getting tired of reading stuff like this from so-called "liberals" (not you, PAD, but elsewhere). It seems that some hypocritical racists want to make racism against white people the cool thing to do--and it's this kind of sycophantic and ironically hateful rhetoric that goes against the very principles such people claim to support, such as equality and tolerance.

Amen!

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Okay, I agree. But that is not the same thing as "reparations." Reparations means making good on harms done in the past. Well, before we made things more accessible, those with handicaps couldn't get around as well. We can't fix that in retrospect, only try to do better going forward.

Yes, I agree that there are also people who are objectively disadvantaged due to nothing more than the attitudes of those around them … there are indeed racists, Islamophobes, homophobes; and there are misogynists, and any number of other ways we humans can hate, mistreat and abuse each other. It would be lovely if we could find ways to fix all of those things -- but I have to say in all seriousness that I don't think "reparations" is the way to do that. You can pay me something every time somebody hatefully calls me "***," but while I might enjoy the money, the hate and the hurt both remain in full force.

Do remember OP's tendency to phrase things... in a colourful way. I already said to someone else that "reparations" is a loaded term. My problem is with the dog-in-the-manger types who will deliberately try to derail any discussion about social support mechanisms as "reparations" to present a thin veneer of justification for their desperate desire not to let anyone else have something they're not directly entitled to. Such people are already circling the thread.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Not if it's true... Oh wait.... it is true.

So no I don't get tired.

That didn't even make sense. Your defense mechanism of throwing out a non sequitur when you know you can't support your argument sure makes me tired.

 

[Twilight Hue]

That didn't even make sense. Your defense mechanism of throwing out a non sequitur when you know you can't support your argument sure makes me tired.

But it's true. Ask Sherrod Bryant's descendants.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

But it's true. Ask Sherrod Bryant's descendants.

Doubling down on the non sequitur after you've been called on it is just sad.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Doubling down on the non sequitur after you've been called on it is just sad.

I'm just doubling down on your double standard.

 

[David1967]

White people are all the same. Don't you know?

Nah, we just all look alike.

 

[Revoltingest]

Hey that's not entirely true!!

Remember history.....


http://rutherfordtnhistory.org/black-slave-owner-an-untold-part-of-history/

All descendants of Sherrod Bryant please remove yourself from the list of recipients to the proper line with your checkbook in hand.

That is all.

And he wasn't the only one.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

None of us should atone for slavery as we had nothing to do with it, it's the past, it's done, it's time to move on, we have problems and issues now, today, and they won't go away tomorrow. And if a white person (or any person) is racist the best that can be done is to try to teach them otherwise.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The average white person nowadays has nothing to do with slavery, so saying they should "atone" for it is simply a racist, manipulative form of guilt by association.

I'm actually getting tired of reading stuff like this from so-called "liberals" (not you, PAD, but elsewhere). It seems that some hypocritical racists want to make racism against white people the cool thing to do--and it's this kind of sycophantic and ironically hateful rhetoric that goes against the very principles such people claim to support, such as equality and tolerance.

Exactly! Yes, let's do put Mr. Rogers in the same category as a Klan Grand Dragon. It works out so fantastically!
The rhetoric also loses elections for Democrats, so the Liberals really need to start holding each other accountable over this nonsense if they ever want significant political power anytime in the near future. Bill Maher can't do it alone.

 

[Shiranui117]

Didja see where I said "Reparations is a suggested way of giving similar assistance to people who are objectively disadvantaged, although the exact form such reparations take, who pays for them, who is entitled to them, and so on, is endlessly debatable."?

Also, no one is claiming people are disadvantaged purely because of things that happened 170 years ago. We're talking about people who are objectively, measurably disadvantaged right now, although the Usual Suspects would much prefer we argue about the 170 year old strawman, of course.

When people talk about "race reparations", that certainly implies the idea that people are disadvantaged primarily because of things that happened decades or centuries ago, and that whites somehow are now being required to pay money as damages to these people decades or centuries later. Hence the term "reparations".

But I non-rhetorically did want to ask you. Which do you favor? Race reparations or welfare/programs to help the impoverished in general?

 

[Thief]

Recently I heard a black lady argue with a white lady and she said she takes no disrespect from any white person, because white people must atone for slavery.

nay....

it' a crutch

it's ....I am one up on you because history now points a finger.... at you

nay.

I am not guilty of the sins of the past


the present sin have nothing to so with slavery

 

[Cooky]

Yes.

I do not disagree with you, but am frustrated with certain behaviors. As I said, I have also met so many black people who I consider better people than myself.

Because of the environments I live in, I do indeed get discriminated against, threatened, and hit.

For the sake of being fair, I've lived in slums. I'm sure poverty has a lot to do with those behaviors, not ethnicity.

Roughly how many times do you estimate you've been called "white boy"..?

...But calling a black person "black boy" will land you in very hot water.

 

[SomeRandom]

If everyone had to atone for the sins of their presumed ancestors, it would be nothing but a perpetual cycle of everyone trying to atone to everyone else. Let us remember the past, do not repeat it but more healthily move on. Do not hold on to the past so tightly as it constricts your own future.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

When people talk about "race reparations", that certainly implies the idea that people are disadvantaged primarily because of things that happened decades or centuries ago, and that whites somehow are now being required to pay money as damages to these people decades or centuries later. Hence the term "reparations".

But I non-rhetorically did want to ask you. Which do you favor? Race reparations or welfare/programs to help the impoverished in general?

welfare/programs to help the impoverished in general

 

[Jumi]

For the most part, I'm race blind. The only reason I care at all about race is because others around me keep talking about it and making such a big deal about it. Social norms pressure me into thinking it something I should care about too. I try to ignore it as much as possible, because I see how it changes my thinking about things in directions that I do not like. I like being race blind and not giving a crap about any of it. It means I treat people as people, full stop.

That's how it should be, in my view.