Thread by @MattWalshBlog

There’s a hearing on reparations tomorrow. Here are some questions I hope they address:

1) What about black Americans whose families came to America after abolition? Do they get paid?

2) What about white Americans whose families came here after abolition? Do they have to pay?

3) What about Native Americans who owned slaves? What about black people who owned salves? Do their descendants pay or get paid?

4) What about black people who descend from the tribal chieftains in Africa who sold the slaves to white traders? Do they pay or get paid?

5) What about non-blacks whose ancestors were slaves in other countries? Jews in Egypt or whites on the Barbary coast, for example. Do they still have to pay?

6) What about someone whose great great great great grandfather was a slaveowner and great great great great grandmother a slave? Does he pay himself?

7) How do we know exactly who is descended from who?

8) Even if we could know, what about slave descendants who are wealthy today and slave owner descendants in poverty? Would the poor have to pay the rich?

9) Weren’t things like affirmative action already supposed to address this issue? Would someone who got into college from affirmative action still get paid? So they get reparations twice?

10) All of the above aside, how can is it even remotely morally justifiable to punish a person for the sins of their very distant ancestors, or to reward someone for the suffering of their very distant ancestors?