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  • #76
    I'm bored. Can I play?

    Originally posted by MrFun
    I found an interesting article of an argument in support for slavery reparations.

    Title: The Legal Basis of the Claim for Slavery Reparations
    Author: Anthony Gifford
    Source: Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities, Sping 2000, Vol. 27 Issue 2

    .

    PROPOSITION ONE
    "The enslavement of Africans was a crime against humanity.
    OMMISSION
    Historians can show without difficulty how the invasion of African territories, the mass capture of Africans, the horrors of the middle passage, the chattelization of Africans in the Americas, and the extermination of the language and culture of the transported peoples constituted a continuing crime against humanity."
    A crime which (as defined) ended in the United States in 1865 - 137 years ago. There are neither living perpetrators, nor living victims,

    PROPOSITION TWO
    "International law recognizes that those who commit crimes against humanity must make reparation.
    The right to reparation is well recognized by international law. It was defined by the Permanent Court of International Justice in 1928.
    The Constitution of the United States forbids both ex post facto laws and bills of attainder and corruption of blood. No 1928 finding by any court can retroactively create a basis for action stemming from acts which ended 63 years earlier, and no heirs may be held liable for criminal acts of their ancestors.

    OMMISSION
    *In 1952, the Federal Republic of Germany reached an agreement with Israel for the payment of $222 million, following a claim by Jews who had fled from Nazi-controlled countries.
    OMMISSION
    *Japan has made reparations payments to South Korea for acts committed during the invasion and occupation of Korea by Japan in World War II.
    *The UN Security Council passed a resolution binding in international law, requiring Iraq to pay reparations for its invasion of Kuwait.
    *In 1988, the United States government passed the Civil Liberties Act, in order to make restitution to Japanese Americans with respect to losses resulting from their intermment and ill-treatment at the hands of U.S. authorities during World War II.
    OMMISSION
    In each case, damages were paid for acts after the 1928 finding of law, and to, or for the benefit of, survivors of those acts.

    *In November 1995, Queen Elizabeth personally presided over the signing of the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Bill, giving reparation for the seizure of Maori land by British colonists in 1863.
    OMMISSION
    Settlement of a real property claim is immaterial, and is also a question (as in Native American cases) of the treaty status of the parties to the claim.

    PROPOSITION THREE
    "There is no legal barrier preventing the claim for reparations.
    The New Zealand case is an example of a claim by the descendants of the original victims; they suffer from the loss of their anscestral land and dislocation of their social fabric.
    OMMISSION
    This has already been rebutted - the Constitution of the United States provides an absolute bar. The collective property claims of native groups are an entirely distinct issue, hinging on treaty rights and other legal issues.

    PROPOSITION FOUR
    "The claim would be brought on behalf of all Africans, in Africa and in the diaspora, through an appropriate representative body.
    Who would be the paintiffs in a claim for reparations? All Africans on the continent of Africa and in the diaspora who suffer the consequences of the crime of mass kidnap and enslavement have an interest in it. (OMMISSION) It is true that a minority of Africans collaborated with the slave trade and prospered as a result; but that should not undermine the overall truth that the rape of Africa was the responsibility of the European nations that established and promoted the trade.
    Immaterial to the question of whether, and where, jurisdiction exists to hear such a claim. The issue of the claim of African nations and their people for damages as a result of European colonialism is also distinct from the claims of modern American blacks in relation to the practice of slavery in the United States.


    This is only part of the long article, with various sections ommitted, as I saw fit. To read the complete arguments, and to give the author a more fair interpretation, one should locate the complete copy. If there are some questions that could be answered by the ommissions, I will refer to my copy and try to answer them if possible.
    A discussion of the possible mechanics for such a claim has no relevance to the underlying merits of such a claim.

    You have played debate games, but you have never yet stated clearly and unequivocally WHY and HOW American blacks have some "entitlement" to compensation for an act legal at the time, perpetrated against their sixth and seventh generation ancestors - assuming that they are in fact descendants of slaves held in the United States.
    When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

    Comment


    • #77
      I have made my attempt, Michael with that article with which you presented some good counter-arguments.

      I will have to go back and find some more material to state my claims of which I already made here.
      A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

      Comment


      • #78
        People who live in glass houses...

        Shouldn't throw strawmen.

        Originally posted by MrFun


        Point Number Seven Counter-Point

        Has there been psychological evidence to indicate that Jews have suffered from receiving reparations from the Holocaust?
        Not all Jews have been given "reparations" - or even a claim they were "entitled" to reparations. In fact, it is a deliberate distortion of the issue to refer to reparations for holocaust victims in the same vein as slavery.

        Specifically, Jews were compensated for their own property and bank accounts seized, their own forced employment as slave labor, etc. You do not have a situation where someone in the year 2100 says "I'm a Jew, and one of my ancestors was probably killed in the holocaust, so I'm entitled to money"


        Has there been psychological evidence that Japanese-Americans have suffered from receiving reparations from having their property and businesses stolen?
        The reparations in this case were a fixed cash settlement in a class action, payable only to those individuals who were interned. No descendents were paid, nor was an entire race or class, on the basis of their race or class affiliation. Only specific individuals who could prove they personally were interred were eligible to participate in the class settlement. Again, a totally different, and incomparable situation.

        You having your property seized is a world of difference from the notion that you ought to have money because you can't succeed because people weren't nice to your great-great-great-great-granddaddy.

        In other words -- where is the author's psychological research or evidence?
        In other words, where is yours? You cite "counter-examples" which are irrelevant.
        When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

        Comment


        • #79
          My examples were not irrelevant. I never said that all Jews got reparations either -- I said Jews. I should have said a number of Jews.

          The counter-examples I provided are relevant, because I would like to know if there is any psychological evidence of these people suffering from the issues of reparations in which those minority groups were involved. That is what I ask for, since the author claims blacks would suffer psychologically from the reparations issues.
          A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

          Comment


          • #80
            No - they are not relevant.

            If I sue you for damages for the unlawful destruction of my property, that can not be used as a generalized basis, one way or another, for discussing the psychological condition of the white race in the United States six generations from now.

            "These people suffering" in one case, means specific individuals who had specific wrongs done to them individually in their own lifetimes - in the absurd attempt to extend that, you are now talking about every member of a race based on wrongs done to some of their ancestors well over 100 years ago.

            The two are not comparable.

            Whether the "psycholigical" argument is valid is meaningless, because you have yet to clear the hurdle of showing there is a legally valid claim by any of these people, against anyone or anything.

            And the "I wouldn't have wealthy individuals pay" argument is more bull**** - where do you think "governments" get the money from their "budgets?" Not only from the wealthy, but from every taxpayer.
            When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

            Comment


            • #81
              I am 100% against any Slavery Reparations. The past is the past. I did not enslave anyone, nor are there any living US slaves. None of my ancestors were slave owners save for my great-great-great grandfather who bought slaves then gave them their freedom and offered them work on his farm for pay, food, and a home of their own. Furthermore, many of the black people who were slaves more than a century ago were sold as captives by other african tribes. Beyond that, does this mean I can sue England for my ancestors being indentured servants? It is attitudes like Al Sharpton's and the abomination of Louis "Traitor to the US" Farakahn (if I did not spell his name right - oh well) that keeps racial issues alive as a means of segregation in the USA.

              Comment


              • #82
                MrFun - slave reparations are immoral. You're not only forcing people who never had anything to do with slavery to pay others who had only a tangential connection to slavery, you're forcing people who had ancestors die in a war resulting in the "freedom" of those slaves to pay the other benefactors of that war - the descendants of slaves.

                Imagine telling American soldiers who fought WWII their children must now provide "reparations" to the children of people victimized by the Nazis.

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                • #83
                  None of my ancestors were slave owners save for my great-great-great grandfather who bought slaves then gave them their freedom and offered them work on his farm for pay, food, and a home of their own.
                  Hmm...maybe whites should get "reparations" from blacks for what your ancestor did.

                  Comment


                  • #84
                    The Constitution of the United States forbids both ex post facto laws and bills of attainder and corruption of blood. No 1928 finding by any court can retroactively create a basis for action stemming from acts which ended 63 years earlier, and no heirs may be held liable for criminal acts of their ancestors. (Michael's partial quote)

                    What source did you go to for this information? Are the words, "ex post facto laws", "bills of attainder" and "corruption of blood" in the Constitution itself??

                    I need to read more about those specific laws, and then find material where there are arguments to explain how slavery reparations can be legal under these laws.
                    A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

                    Comment


                    • #85
                      What source did you go to for this information? Are the words, "ex post facto laws", "bills of attainder" and "corruption of blood" in the Constitution itself??
                      I know the first two terms are in the Constitution, but I don't think the third is. Reparations are unconstitutional since they would constitute "ex post facto" legislation - a law after the fact to punish someone for legal conduct committed before the law's passage. But since when have most Americans paid much attention to the Constitution?

                      Comment


                      • #86
                        What article(s) are those legal terms or words under??
                        A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

                        Comment


                        • #87
                          art 1 sect 9

                          Comment


                          • #88
                            Article 1 Section 9

                            Clause 1: The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

                            Clause 2: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

                            Clause 3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

                            Clause 4: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. (See Note 7)

                            Clause 5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

                            Clause 6: No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

                            Clause 7: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

                            Clause 8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

                            ---

                            See bolded part.
                            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

                            Comment


                            • #89
                              Thank you for your help on this you guys. I have copied the text Imran posted, and transferred it to a new word processor document so I can save it, and refer to this later.

                              As Socrates once stated, "wisdom begins when a man finds out that he does not know what he thinks he knows."
                              A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

                              Comment


                              • #90
                                This whole reparations for slavery idea is complete absurdity! And IMO, ANYONE who would supprot such a pursuit is a fool! I never owned a slave. None of my ancestors ever owned slaves. No one alive today ever was a slave. Expecting the American public to pay for something that we never had anything to do with is the ultimate in stupidity. But, just consider the source!
                                I'm on your case. I'm in your face. I'll beat you & your father back in place. Step off sucker, understand!?!? Don't you know??? I"M THE MAN!!!

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