im not against reparations in principal but i dont think theres a lot of good faith debate on the subject
obv the white woman in OP is just against reparations altogether because of the partisan implications and is just using her talking points as an arbitrary blockade
the issue i have w most reparations discussions is they misrepresent the reality of the situation. im not against compensation of those who were oppressed by the state, but like, the issue is that A. has to literally come from the state itself and B. has to actually be people oppressed by the state
i don't buy the theory that every single black person should receive reparations, just because it doesn't really make sense from a moral angle or an actual functional one. like are you telling me Jay-Z and Beyonce should receive reparations? If it's not based directly on if someone's family was here through slavery or if they faced civil oppression, it opens up a massive can of worms. Should mixed people? What % black do you need to receive it? Do they themselves have to be black? What if their grandparents are but they're functionally white? Is it just anyone who writes black on a census? How do you prove your family was here from slavery?
Other than that, I do think there's an argument to be had about priorities. Like yes reparations ""help"" people, but does it really help people more than like universal healthcare, waiving medical debt, etc? Shouldn't it make more sense to improve the actual fundamental living conditions for people instead of just giving them a check? This is the same reason UBI receives backlash. If people want a symbolic gesture of reparations checks I mean, I guess be my guest, but imo you should actually try to change the lives of people...and that requires actual material investment and policy. It doesn't sound as good on a voting stub tho

Personally speaking since I've done work in multiple community gardens throughout West Philly and North Philly, even if the reparations just endsup being funding towards those programs it'd definitely be useful to the grassroot organizations there. The community gardens I've worked at do more than just grow food and paint murals or whatever. They're marketplaces for the community where citizens make and sell clothes and various other goods, they created neighborhood watch teams that have gotten teenagers and formerly incarcerated adults out of harmful lifestyles, and even provide before and after care school programs for children that involve providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals for the children and struggling families.

More funding and support of these community garden initiatives via reparations is still a positive in my eyes even if in the grand scope of things is "small".

imo the best thing they could do in philly specifically is put actual genuine investment into inner city schooling and upgrading quality of life for govt housing like sec 8
the quality of life in inner city for familiies - which are predominantly black - is abysmal and worse than living in impoverished countries here. they need deep infrastructural reform and reinvestment

Realistically this is what reparations should go towards, especially if they taken into account the Philly police bombing an entire Black neighborhood in 1985. Hopefully this is something that the task force will bring up and use as further justification for the need of reparations that go towards actually rebuilding communities instead of just giving out checks.

Yes, the checks will definitely help families right now who are struggling with bills, so it'd be hard to convince some Black folk of long form means of reparations. But the reality is the long form reparations will stand to benefit more people now and into the future.

Are they recurring payments or a one off?

They should also clean up Kensington Ave while they're at it.

The fact that there is absolutely no way to get free d*** addiction treatment in this country is absolutely absurd and pathetic. It's a mental illness and it should be treated as such.

anyone against this level of reinvestment is either genuinely insane or just has never seen just how bad north philly is
deep infrastructural reform is needed deeply. the city would rather spend millions subsidizing sports stadiums. they were going to literally allow the proposed arena in chinatown to pay no taxes for 30 years. the level of corruption in this city in absurd and its due to it that money never gets put back into what's actually needed. let's spend another few ten million building a s***ty junction on i95 (12 years in construction) while another three schools close in the north

"anyone against this level of reinvestment is either genuinely insane or just has never seen just how bad north philly is"

Not saying that I am against what you are saying, but the reality is people who are poor and struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over their families' heads don't have the time for long term reinvestment.

Like if you tell a single parent with three kids that just lost their job and is facing eviction that reparation money is going towards rebuilding the neighborhood they live in, they're probably not gonna be all that excited about it even if they know in the long term it's a good thing. Poor people need money now.

Though I am for long term reinvestment that will go towards rebuilding schools, neighborhoods, and create more job I would not at all be shocked if the majority of people go with just taking the check now rather than it going towards building.

for clarity i meant that for people like the white woman in the OP not the peopleliving there, which is a different situation obviously

Convincing those kinda people is like talking to a brick wall most times. Majority of people unfortunately think the best way to fix impoverished communities is just sticking more police in the area because they only look at the crime going on and not the root causes of the crime.

Reality is you cannot stop all crime. However, if you provide a community with the infrastructure that will allow them to provide for and sustain themselves, then the need for people to commit crime just to get by will go down. People don't resort to robbing and selling d**** cause they want to, they do it cause there ain't much opportunity for them to get money legit, and the ways for them to make money legitimately just ain't giving enough to sustain them.

Odd thumbnail choice

K&A probably never getting clean, least not in our lifetimes

the chinatown arena is f***ed

but what's rlly rlly sad abt it is seeing ppl from north n sht supporting it bc "those chinese only give each other jobs, don't give anything to us". which may be true, chinese ppl in chinatown stick to themselves, but that's no reason to wish them suffering lol

F*** you d***head!

chinatowns have been f***ed everywhere in North America, its sad to see

Uhhhh??

lmaoo youngboul drawlin

Atlanta the new Simpsons

I might just start a reperations thread in politics because the topic has been interesting me lately

On principle, yea reperations should be paid for sure, though in practice would be some s*** in terms of how white people will react to higher taxes that it's almost not worth the effort. Almost.

Not from Philly but i’ll take my check in the mail

If you actually want to help the lower class catch up, then the payments should be done by total household income, or perhaps by neighborhood in general.
Deciding to give one race money out of another race’s pocket is transparently an unjust and petty attempt to grind a well nursed vendetta, and I think it’s really dishonest to pretend that it’s about helping the economy or poor people at all.