Thread by @tariqnasheed

0. Now that the #Reparations hearing farce is over, lets have a REAL discussion right now that will address the questions of reparations in 10 points (continued)

1. "I never owned slaves so I'm not responsible"

Slavery was sanctioned by the federal government, and all those UNDER the government profited from free Black labor. So the same government & its subjects owe Black people for the free labor that accumulated ALL the wealth today

2. "I'm Irish, so am I owed reparations?"

Irish indentured servants already received two forms of reparations. One was Freedom Dues (money & land). And the second, was all the tangible benefits that came with the first Affirmative Action program called white supremacy

3. "How would we determine who is qualified for reparations?'

Simple. Foundational Black Americans who can trace a direct ancestor to slavery. This is relatively easy. If your ancestor was enslaved, most likely you will find them or their descendants on the 1870 census

4. "Why am I responsible for the SINS of my forefathers?"

Your ancestors PROFITED for their "sins". And the PROFITS for those sins were passed down generationally to YOU. And those profits have been racially locked into the dominant society AWAY from the descendants of slaves

5. "How would we distribute payments for reparations?"

The same way you distribute payments to Native American tribes on a regular basis

6. What about immigrant groups who came over AFTER slavery, who were mistreated?"

They came here VOLUNTARILY & they have ZERO to do with the debt that's owed to Black Americans. Immigrant groups came here to enjoy the wealth that was ALREADY GENERATED FROM FREE BLACK LABOR

7. "There are no slaves alive today"....

In order to justify American slavery, a culture of vile anti-Black racism was created and placed into ALL AREAS of activity. That systematic culture has been passed down TODAY and it has magnified into genocidal proportions at this point

8. "Slavery was so long ago. Why are we worrying about ANCIENT history?"

One of the last Black American slaves who has verifiable documents that he was sold to plantation owners before the Civil War was a man named Sylvester Magee who died in 1971

9. "Why should my tax dollars pay for something I didn't do?"

I didnt put Japanese ppl in internment camps,but my tax dollars went to paying them. I didn't destroy the World Trade Center, but my tax dollars went to pay 9/11 victims. So tax dollars should be used to compensate us

10. “The Civil War was reparations.”

Northern whites started randomly killing Black people (the draft riots) when the Civil War was announced. And Union soldiers killed thousands of Black People AFTER the Civil War in a concentration camp in Natchez MS. So we need 3 payments

11. "Reparations talk will make white people uncomfortable"..

Guess what else is uncomfortable?
*Slavery
*Jim Crow
*Lynching
*Gentrification
*Racial mass incarceration
*state sanctioned police and white vigilante murders
So our compensation isn't contingent upon your "feelings"