What I find ridiculous is that there has been persecution, killing, genocide, and war throughout human history. I think at some point every race and ethnicity has been treated badly, so I don't understand how one race or one group can claim to still understand or warrant reparations for something that happened so long ago.
The Japanese were rounded up during WWII, in America, and imprisoned for no crime other than being Japanese. That wasn't even 100 years ago. There are still people alive who had to endure that.
slightly different scenarios here. While the internment camps were bad, it's not like Japanese people were taken from Japan, sold into slavery, and beaten, dehumanized and racially isolated for generations.
The Irish were treated like shit when they emigrated here. So were the Chinese. Our country created legislation to persecute the Chinese that had come over during the 1800s.
They came here on their free will, weren't slaves, lynched, beaten, hunted, dehumanized and it wasn't made socially acceptable to call them ****** and coon and "boy".
If you go back to Europe, I'm sure virtually every person living in the United States has ancestors who were at some point persecuted because of their race or their religion.
which is related to people here, how?
I just find it ridiculous that anyone living today understands what their ancestors experienced over 100 years ago.
I find it ridiculous that you think that's actually what any of this is about.
Study the history of our country, and how we've treated different races. If you were white, you were accepted FAR sooner than if you weren't.
Hell, want proof? Look no further than the Miss America pageant just last week.
I find it absurd that anyone today is entitled to reparations for something that happened a long time ago. Wars have been fought, land has been won and lost, and races have been enslaved and freed. Humans are evil. They do evil things. Even today, evil is present in the world.
Reparations are a different subject and I think a very very VERY minority of people actually talk about it.
I don't get why people seem to be unable to accept any form of criticism without having to get defensive about things. Especially when, afaik, none of the people who have responded in this thread are black or experience institutional racism in the least.
It's OK to say that it was bad, and our country has had a history of playing favorites with different races. It won't take away anything from you to sit back and say "you know what? I accept that the events of 100 years ago have an impact today".