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City Council votes for study of reparations for Black residents

WBZ reports on the vote to establish a reparations commission.

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This is "pork". From the resolution:

Appointed by the Mayor, the Commission shall consist of fifteen (15) members. [...]:
a. One (1) representative from the NAACP Boston
b. One (1) representative from the New Democracy Coalition
c. One (1) representative from King Boston
d. One (1) representative from the UMass Boston Africana Studies Department
e. One (1) representative from Encuentro Diaspora Afro
f. Ten (10) members from a pool of applicants recommended by the above appointed
commissioners[...]
D. Compensation. Each member will be paid one hundred dollars ($100.00) per hour for their service, not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) per year. Members of the Commission are hereby designated special municipal employees.

That's $750k/year in taxpayer dollars to politically connected individuals.

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The irony is lost on you that these are the groups representing people who would receive the reparations being studied here. But - if we know you think this is "pork" I think I know where you stand on reparations.

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If government is going to spend 750K on this, eschew the window dressing, and buy somebody a house or condo with prime AirBnb value. At least that's a direct makeup call for the injustice of redlining. They can make money off of it now, and bequeath it to later generations.

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This is two or three cops. So… pretty good deal for this study.

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They won’t have to do real work or put life or limb in harm’s way.

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Sounds like Detail cops to me.

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…when you consider the purpose of reparations in the first place.

care to elaborate on “real work” and how that idea relates to reparation payments, if at all?

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What does reparations entail? Random white people must pay random black people? What if you are mixed? What if you are from Africa and just became a U.S. citizen with no family lineage liked to slavery? What if I’m white but my wife is black? Is it a wash? Does it mean black people get free stuff? I seriously have no idea so if someone can help me out. How would this help racial division in America? Are most black people comfortable with this, or are white elites calling the shots?

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"End zoning laws."

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You can either follow what the commission is doing and read what has been written on the subject, or you can just pop in here every time you see the word 'reparations' mentioned and complain - good luck with whichever you choose

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Thanks for the explanation. I finally understand!

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but i agree, it’s way more fun to pretend you are curious about the subject

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What does reparations entail?

Great question. We should form a committee to come up with an answer for that.

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Not a bad idea. As long as it’s not going to only benefit connected individuals then count me in. Anytime I ask someone for help understanding people get upset and talk down to me as I am inferior to their wealth of knowledge. Why so tight lipped? Makes me suspicious that it is anything good! Only black friends I converse with ever provide any kind of clarity. White folk on Uhub just tell me to read a book or something. All I want the white elitist Uhub subscriber definition, but sadly will never get it.

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Anytime I ask someone for help understanding people get upset and talk down to me as I am inferior to their wealth of knowledge.

If you are like nearly all of your political stripe, you don't so much "ask" as spew a firehose of assumptive "so are you saying" non-questions that are more about shutting down any discussion than they are at gaining information.

As, in fact, you did in this case. If you actually want to know, you have a few choices. One would be to simply ask "What are reparations?" without blowing a bunch of crap like "Random white people must pay random black people" and "Does it mean black people get free stuff?", and then listening to the answer. That's if you want to know generally what people mean when they talk about reparations, and if you're willing to act as an intelligent adult, which means understanding that every person you ask may have a different answer, and not losing your mind or attempting to discredit the concept because, gosh almighty, different people have different takes. Another choice would be reading the available information on the scope of this committee (whose charter, no doubt, is to try and answer the question within the scope of Boston) and then following their findings.

Any intelligent person acting in good faith would have been able to figure this out.

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Since there aren't any comments yet that are just unapologetically 100% pro-reparations without any whataboutism, let me make mine.

REPARATIONS FUCK YEAH

Very glad the city is doing this. It's long overdue. Hopefully more places will follow suit, and hopefully the process will be quick and to the point.

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What is reparations and what do you like about it? How does it foster racial equality?

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Read some of the many excellent sources already available, then once you have the basic principles down, come back and engage in real discussion.

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Unfortunately this type of response is all I ever get when I ask for clarity. I am begging to get schooled here, but all I ever get is elitist attitude who stick their noses in and and call me stupid. You want reparations, so I am asking YOU. You cannot answer me just like I knew. I don’t even think you know what it is. Anyway, thanks for responding so typically.

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I am begging to get schooled here

No you're not. You're saying "So what are reparations" which is not a question when you immediately follow it with "is it this thing, is it that thing, is it this strawman, is it that absurd idea" in a transparent attempt to launch a bunch of clay pigeons to shoot down. It isn't "elitist" to call you on your intellectually dishonest bullshit.

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No amount of money will cure liberal guilt.

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People who are actually trying to do something about a problem tend to sleep better at night.

...or, y'know, at least talk about it. Why do red hats always freak out and cower in fear any time anyone says the word "reparations"? The idea of reparations is living rent-free in someone's heads, and it ain't "liberals".

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