John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations

[MARIO]

John Conyers: U.S. Owes Slavery Reparations

The left-wing Democrat who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if his party wins back Congress in November wants to hold full-blown congressional hearings on whether the government should pay black Americans reparations for slavery.

Michigan Rep. John Conyers has attracted attention in recent months for his House resolution calling for an impeachment investigation against President Bush.

But another Conyers cause célèbre is reparations, which he's been advocating since 1989, when he first introduced legislation to establish what he calls "The Commission to Study Reparations Proposals for African American Act" (H.R. 40).

In a press release posted to his official congressional Web site Conyers explains how he intends to handle the hot-button issue.

My bill does four things:

• It acknowledges the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery.

• It establishes a commission to study slavery, its subsequent racial and economic discrimination against freed slaves.

• It studies the impact of those forces on today's living African Americans.

• The commission would then make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to redress the harm inflicted on living African Americans.

Conyers says:

"I chose the number of the bill, 40, as a symbol of the forty acres and a mule that the United States initially promised freed slaves. This unfulfilled promise and the serious devastation that slavery had on African-American lives has never been officially recognized by the United States Government. ... "

He goes on:

"Just as we've discussed the Holocaust, and Japanese interment [sic] camps, and to some extent the devastation that the colonists inflicted upon the Indians, we must talk about slavery and its continued effects."

Though Conyers re-introduces his reparations resolution every year, would-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has never indicated whether she'd back the controversial proposal.

newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/9/232714.shtml?s=ic

[FightingFalcon]

I will literally die before I pay a fucking dollar because of something that people completely unrelated to me did.

Fuck that shit.....I owe you NOTHING bitch.

My people (Irish and Italians) suffered discrimination too. We never owned slaves. I hate the Brits....I'm not gonna pay anything cause some Anglo-Saxon colonists decided to enslave an entire race of people.

I hate this issue...its the epitome of what is wrong with this country. No one taking responsibility and instead passing the blame onto someone else....

Slavery has nothing to do with the plight of blacks in this country. Get over it...it was 140 years ago. Jesus Christ.....

[101ABN]

I support reparations in the amount of $1,000,000 per person for any living person who was ever held as a slave.

No one who was born free has any claim to the entitlement.

[AmericanPride]

Now - I would certainly support compensation for the discrimination and crimes that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement - not the Civil War or before! Heck - I really wouldn't mind my Hispanic relatives paying my African relatives - b/c I'd inherit the money either way. Haha.

But seriously - why not ask for compensation for something a little closer to modernity; i.e. suing every southern state government for the Jim Crow laws and the abuse of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?

[FightingFalcon]

Fuck that - I did nothing wrong. I wasn't even ALIVE during the Jim Crow laws.

You wanna talk about discrimination, how about you go study Irish and Italian-American History.

For someone so worried about national identity and dropping the hyphens before "American"....I can't believe that you would advocate going back 50 years and making someone (e.g. myself) pay for something (e.g. discrimination) that I never took part of to someone (e.g. you) who never suffered discrimination.

Complete BS. No other term for it.

[MARIO]

I owe you NOTHING bitch.

lol...James, since you're there in D.C., you should wait for Conyers near the Capitol building with a sign saying EXACTLY that.

[MARIO]

But seriously - why not ask for compensation for something a little closer to modernity; i.e. suing every southern state government for the Jim Crow laws and the abuse of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?

It may give their cause more credence, but I still don't believe the overwhelming majority of Americans alive today had any influence in those policies either.

Conyers needs to get a life.

[MrDoublel]

"No one taking responsibility and instead passing the blame onto someone else...."

That's the whole thing in a nutshell James. Personnal esponsibility is anathema to the libs. Everything is someone elses fault. Why work for a living if I can get a check for sitting on my fat lazy ass doin' nuthin' all day? The dems want you to be a ward of the state that way they can control you. And then you get these racsist assholes that get elected so they can perpetuate the welfare state.

Ever read Starship Troopers? I kind of like the idea of having to have a franchise in order to vote or hold puplic office...especially the hold office part. The idea that you had to have served the community before you can hold office has a nice ring to it.

[FightingFalcon]

mario said:

I owe you NOTHING bitch.

lol...James, since you're there in D.C., you should wait for Conyers near the Capitol building with a sign saying EXACTLY that.

I'm only a year away from commissioning....I'd rather not do anything that might upset that

As much as I would love to tho....

I hate being held responsible (or people TRY to hold me responsible) because of what other people do/did.

I'm responsible for what *I* do. No one else. I don't care about anyone else.

The ONLY exception to that is the military - I'm obviousyl responsible for those under my command.

But in my private life...no way. Don't try to bring that shit here.

[FightingFalcon]

sfcdoublel said:

"No one taking responsibility and instead passing the blame onto someone else...."

That's the whole thing in a nutshell James. Personnal esponsibility is anathema to the libs. Everything is someone elses fault. Why work for a living if I can get a check for sitting on my fat lazy ass doin' nuthin' all day? The dems want you to be a ward of the state that way they can control you. And then you get these racsist assholes that get elected so they can perpetuate the welfare state.

Liberals would never admit it but I'm convinced that that is their plan. They love big government and taking care of other people who "can't take care of themselves". Bull shit. Get off your ass and work for a living. Stop giving me these stories about how you were "dealt a bad hand". Just a nice way of putting "I'm lazy and don't do shit".

I almost (almost) feel bad for the people, though. They've been brainwashed to believe that their problems have been caused by society. Instead of empowering people, liberals make them feel like nothing is their fault. It's all the fault of society. BS. No one has to be a slave to the federal government - you CHOOSE to be that way.

Ever read Starship Troopers? I kind of like the idea of having to have a franchise in order to vote or hold puplic office...especially the hold office part. The idea that you had to have served the community before you can hold office has a nice ring to it.

Chris (AmericanPride) and I used to talk about ideas like this a lot.

The old FightingFalcon would readily approve of such an idea. It used to be common sense that only those who have served the Republic should have a say in how it's run. We'd have more responsible and dedicated officials/voters.

But now I believe that the right to vote is inherent and should never be taken away. Once the federal government decides who can and cannot vote...we start going down a path that I'd rather not go down. I just don't trust them.

[MrDoublel]

I agree that the right to vote should not be taken away...the right to run for office, IMHO, should have some prerequisites. Prior service to the community being formost.

[FightingFalcon]

sfcdoublel said:

I agree that the right to vote should not be taken away...the right to run for office, IMHO, should have some prerequisites. Prior service to the community being formost.

I would consider that. So long as the definition of service was broad, e.g. civilian-government job, police, military, fire, EMT, etc.

[jfree]

Tell Conyers that when Muslims make reperations to Africans for rounding them up and selling them to the highest bidder the US may consider it. That is one thing I never understood, how any African-American can run around like Farrakahn saying how evil white men are and how they enslaved black men and be Muslim at the same time. That's like being a Jewish Palestinian.

[MrDoublel]

If every group paid every one an injustice was commited against in the past then every one would owe someone. It's idiotic to try to make claims for something that happened over a century ago.