Reply #18: I have mixed feelings.

[Kerrytravelers]

In regards to African-American reparations:

Would this be federal or state payments? Would it be cash, or as stated above in another post, vouchers, education tuition, tax credits or loans for school and homes? Possibly investments chosen by each recipient? How would worth be determined? If this is to be paid by the states,what would the parameters be as far as how to prove which ancestors were from what state? If it's a state issue, then does that mean people living in non-slave states are not responsible for paying? What if it could be proved that people now living in California had family that directly benefited from slave labor? How do we honor 40 Acres and a Mule in today's sense of money and investments?

In regards to Native Americans:

How would land be divided up? Would it be where each (for lack of a better word) tribe is originally from, or where they were (again, for lack of a better word) relocated? How do we put a price tag on the suffering and humiliation inflicted? And I will restate the same questions from the previous paragraph: Would this be federal or state payments? Would it be cash, or as stated above in another post, vouchers, education tuition, tax credits or loans for school and homes? Possibly investments chosen by each recipient? How would worth be determined? If this is to be paid by the states,what would the parameters be as far as how to prove which ancestors were from what state?


At this point in time, I have no answers to these questions. Then, the question that needs to be addressed is how this will affect race relations in America? If this happens, will there be other countries that we have wronged that will want reparations from our past sins? How much will this really cost us in the end, beyond the fiscal bottom line?

I have no idea. There are so many issues that need to be addressed and looked at from all angles. I'm not against, reparations. I'm not for them. I need fully answered questions and the means in which the answers were arrived before I can have any kind of honest opinion.

kt