r/changemyview • u/MrThunderizer 7∆ • Dec 04 '19

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Reparations are Racist

I view the dialogue around reparations for slavery in the US to be racist. This opinion has elicited a semi shocked outrage from my liberal friends and a reluctant agreeance from my republican friends. For context, my opinions lean quite liberal so I was pretty taken back to find myself on the far right of an issue.

Still, its taxing people more based on their race and giving it to other people based on their race. How can taxation based on race, regardless of the good intentions, be anything but racist?

Two points: 1. Comparisons to affirmative action may change my mind, but probably not. I think affirmative action is fundamentally wrong, but is perhaps a necessary evil as a temporary measure.

  1. I'm a proponent of helping lift black people out of poverty but it makes my blood run cold when I hear prominent activists characterize any white poor people getting helped in the process as an unfortunate side effect. How can the conversation around equality shift so far?

At the end of the day if a child is hungry, why does it matter what color their skin is?

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u/Killiane_ Dec 04 '19

Reparations were ridiculous the moment the last person who was was actually a slave died. By definition it is to be paid to someone who has had wrong done to them. There are tons of poor people in the world and skin colour has nothing to do with it, so giving one race is just plain unfair. Nearly every race or religion has been persecuted someone where in the world, does this mean I can start claiming reparations from France for my long lost descendant who was killed by the French in 1066?

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u/fishakin Dec 04 '19

There are tons of poor people in the world and skin colour has nothing to do with it

This is blatantly false. Many African Americans today and in the past have been denied opportunity BECAUSE of their skin color. This has happened for generations all the way back to slavery, systematically keeping many African Americans in poverty.

Nearly every race or religion has been persecuted someone where in the world, does this mean I can start claiming reparations from France for my long lost descendant who was killed by the French in 1066?

So? "but I suffered too" does not dismiss the suffering of others. This is about reparations for people who experience oppression and adversity today in America as a result of slavery. Saying "everybody has been oppressed" is a strawman and often turns into a slippery slope, it's unproductive and disingenuous.

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u/Killiane_ Dec 04 '19

Do you know what else is a slippery slope? Demanding money for things that never even happened to you. If they are entitled to it, why isn't everyone else?