If HRC and M'oM don't support reparations, it isn't an issue in the primaries that Bernie doesn't

[Ken Burch]

(For the record, I personally DO support reparations.)

It would only be an issue if the other Dem candidates DID support it.

Voting for HRC or M'oM won't make reparations happen.

[restorefreedom]

1. have any campaigns put out statements of any kind?

i' e not heard a thing.

[Autumn]

3. This is what Bernie said when asked about it at the Iowa Brown & Black Forum,

http://fusion.net/video/255113/bernie-sanders-reparations-answer-iowa-forum/

“It's likelihood of getting through Congress is nil,” he told Fusion in an interview. “Second of all, I think it would be very divisive.

Hillary's response at the same Iowa Brown & Black Forum

“I think we should start studying what investments we need to make in communities to help individuals and families and communities move forward,” she said. “And I am absolutely committed to that.”

Hillary Oct 8, 2000 Manhattan Debate, Oct. 8, 2000 from a link provided to me by Recursion

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_Civil_Rights.htm

Q: Will you support reparations for African-Americans?
CLINTON: We have mental, emotional and psychological reparations to pay first. We have to admit that we haven’t always treated people in our own country fairly. We have some issues that we have to address when it comes to racial justice right now. I’m willing to work hard to be a strong advocate for Civil Rights and human rights here at home and around the world. I want to do everything I can to make sure that the programs and policies that have helped generations of African-Americans have a better life in this country continue. I think we should be focused on the present and on the future. We owe an apology to African-Americans for hundreds of years of slavery

[restorefreedom]

4. thanks, autumn. so they are basically on the same page.

bernie was just more succinct about it.

[Autumn]

6. Hillary IMO gave her usual non answer.

Here's where I'm at, it's a discussion that is fine to be had even though reparations will never happen. But it's not an honest discussion when only Bernie is singled out because he talks about "high unemployment among black youth, as well as high incarceration rates" while Hillary is given a pass.

[restorefreedom]

7. exactly. hers was typical doublespeak.

[grasswire]

10. precisely nt

[99th_Monkey]

2. You don't understand. Bernie is 'special'

He gets especially singled-out -- or perhaps targeted is more accurate -- by Hillary surrogates armed
with nasty accusatory gotcha questions, questions no one else is asked, questions designed to throw
him off-balance and make him look uncool, or 'racist' or 'sexist' or something despicable.

It's unfortunately the way some politicians operate.

[Recursion]

18. His supporters keep saying that... (nt)

[HassleCat]

5. No president could support reparations

The whole idea is basically nonsense. It would be incredibly complicated to figure out who got money, how much, etc. Of course, only the slave holding states would have to pay. And so on. Eventually, we could make sense of it all, but it's just a morass right now. No president is going to get bogged down there. The most you'll hear from any of the candidates is something like, "I'd be willing to talk about it." One of those "all issues on the table" kind of statements.

[Recursion]

8. The fact that it's not an issue in the primaries was Coates's entire point

It's not an issue liberal white politicians feel they can touch.

[Vattel]

9. That wasn't his main point. His main point was that Bernie,

although he claims to be a radical on issues of racial justice, doesn't support reparations.

[JI7]

13. i don't think he claims to be radical on racial justice

[Ken Burch]

11. Then there was no reason to single out Bernie in the article.

It's not as though the cause of reparations can be served by AA votes for HRC or M'oM.

And from what I've seen, reparations isn't currently even the top priority for AA voters(things like stopping institutional racism seem to be a lot more important.

[jeff47]

12. Which is why he called out all three candidates.....oh wait.... (nt)

[Recursion]

14. He's pretty harsh to Clinton in his longer piece

I don't think he is concerned enough about O'Malley to even bother.

[Ken Burch]

17. He waited a whole extra week to go after her, though.

And during that week, HRC's supporters used the first essay as a bludgeon.

[Backslash]

19. Yeah, that's really the issue here.

I think it was a good-faith criticism that deserved to be engaged with, but the timing was absolutely terrible. It coincided with a massive wave of Sanders hit pieces close to Iowa, and Clinton supporters picked it up as a bludgeon, so Sanders supporters understandably got a bit defensive.

That's how I see it, anyway.

[jfern]

16. Obama didn't touch it either

[artislife]

20. He can still do something about it, too. nt

[LittleBlue]

15. None of the three are politically suicidal

Calling for reparations would doom their campaign, as it would any other candidate. Ta Nehisi Coates is a joke.

[uponit7771]

21. HRC and MoM aren't claiming the improbable can happen with a historically gerrymandered ...

... GOP congress an that's ok with me as long as what they're pushing is followed up on.

[TheBlackAdder]

22. Even racists want health care and education, but you knew that!

.


Since slavery was legal up until 1865, the only claims would be illegal forms of it, which would be taken up with the estates of those who continued that practice. The issue is the institutional constructs of society, reinforced by Booker T. Washington that held things back. As a W.E.B. DuBois fan, I hold his more just and radical views.


Institutional racism will only be resolved though disruptions to the norms, not by passive change. Nothing large ever took place in this country without upheaval.


But, you knew that. And I really think people who raise this point really car--it's just another attack point.


If you were worried about this, you would pressure all in the system, not just one. People are OK with a complacent Obama, MoM, and HRC not doing anything. But, perhaps that's what you want, drive a racial issue into the campaign to force a Republican win, just like Gay Rights were used as a political hot button years back to throw elections to the conservatives.


If you really did support reparations, you'd help to push Sanders to a sweeping win to replace many down-ballot elections. Then with a more equal congress, reparations might be an issue at play. Make it a Trojan Horse issue that gets snuck in afterwards.


But, again, you really don't care about reparations, at least being pursued. It's all about the immediate win.


.
.

[Autumn]

23. I thinks that this issue is being used as a vehicle to paint Bernie as a racist.

INO.

[uponit7771]

24. nope, just duplicitous