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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

If this happens, then it does set a precedent for every other oppressed race to demand reparation. Native Americans, Chinese, Irish who were treated deplorably when they came here, as well as the treatment of their indentured servitude. And it can go on and on and on.

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What states pay? Half werent even states when slavery was legal. How do you now prove who is a decendent and who isnt? Who is entitled? Who has to pay? Im sure some can prove their lines... some cannot. Bi-racial children were considered an embarrassment for so long... yet they existed. How do you find these? This proposal is so wraught with problems, its like trying to unravel an old afghan thats been patched and stitched without breakig any threads.

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We cant make up for the evils of our past. All we can do now is level the playing field and keep a vigilant watch to ensure it doesnt happen again.

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

An interesting argument about reparations is found in the link:

the average African-American today has been estimated, in genetic terms, to be approximately 20 percent white – and much of that 20 percent includes the genes of the white slaveholders who originally owned his great-grandparents.
By what logic do we pay reparations for slavery to those who, in all too many cases, are literally descendents of the actual slaveholders?


I see the reparations idea as divisive and racist. 

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife


It can be argued that Native Americans have had their own form of reparations by the allowance of casinos on tribal land.  Particularly the Pequot in Connecticut (Foxwoods Resort Casino) and the Seminoles in Florida (Hard Rock Casinos) are doing extremely well.

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Q. Did the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) create Indian gaming?
A. No. Gaming is a right of Indian nations. Large-scale Indian gaming, mainly in the form of bingo, predated IGRA by about 10 years. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 recognized Indian people’s right to run gaming when it ruled that states had no authority to regulate gaming on Indian land if such gaming is permitted outside the reservation for any other purpose (California v. Cabazon). Congress established the legal basis for this right when it passed IGRA in 1988.

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Q. Are Indians required to pay taxes?
A. Yes. All Indian people pay federal income, FICA and social security taxes. Only the small percentage of Indians who live and work on their own federally recognized reservations – not unlike soldiers and their families living on military installations – are exempt from paying state income and property taxes. However, they still pay taxes such as sales and all other special and excise taxes.

According to the National Indian Gaming Commission, Tribal government gaming operations generated 12.7 billion-dollars in revenue in 2001. Tribal government gaming creates jobs, increases economic activity and generates tax revenue both on and off the reservation. Consider the following: in San Diego county alone, tribal gaming has been responsible for the creation of more than 5,000 well-paying jobs, with a payroll of $44 million per year (and the associated payroll taxes and employee income taxes).

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Q. Are better economic development alternatives to gaming available to tribes?
A. Indian gaming is the first – and only – economic development tool that has ever worked on reservations. The majority of reservations are in remote, inconvenient locations on land that nobody else wanted. Before tribal government gaming, there had been little success with public or private sector economic development on reservations. The states have not proposed any specific or credible alternatives to Indian gaming as a meaningful source of tribal revenues and jobs. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission found that “no other economic development other than gaming has been found.” Moreover, tribal governments are using gaming proceeds to diversify and conduct other economic enterprises.

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A certain major fast-food corporate foundation gives scholarships to
students of all ethnic groups—except Native American, says Williams.

“Someone on their board said: ‘Indian children go to school free, and they
have all that money from gaming; they don’t need our help’. So we’ve been
summarily dismissed. This is a perfect example of a mainstream myth about
Indians causing harm.”

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As NAIHC reported last year, among 562 federally recognized tribes, of the
224 that have gone into gaming (operating 354 facilities), 90 (40 percent)
make less than 1 percent of the industry’s gross revenue. Two-thirds of the
gaming operations account for just 10 percent of the overall revenue with
annual gross revenue of $25 million or less. The remaining one-third
account for 90 percent of the revenue.

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Q. Will non-gaming tribes benefit from Indian gaming?
A. Yes. For the first time in United States history, the compacts negotiated between the California tribal governments and the state of California included a provision for revenue sharing with non-gaming tribes.

Q. How do tribes use the revenue generated from Indian gaming?
A. Gaming on Indian reservations is operated by tribes to fund governmental programs. IGRA requires that all revenues from tribal gaming operations be used solely for governmental or charitable purposes. Much like state governments determine the use of lottery revenues tribal governments determine how gaming proceeds are to be spent. Indian tribes are using gaming revenue to build houses, schools, roads and sewer and water systems; to fund the health care and education for their people; and to develop a strong, diverse economic base for the future.

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ORIGINAL: ThatDaveGuy69

I'm with HizGP.
My gramdmother was a Cherokee who survived the Trail of Tears.  Too bad for me she didn't leave a trail of paper (rim-shot!).  It's a damn tough thing to prove-up when the only person who knew her history is long-gone.

The blacks, Irish, Chinese, Mexicans, and everyone else who wants a big fat hand-out can all move to the back of the line.  The people who were here on this land long before it was a country may step right up, the cashier will see you now.

~Dave

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

An interesting argument about reparations is found in the link:

the average African-American today has been estimated, in genetic terms, to be approximately 20 percent white – and much of that 20 percent includes the genes of the white slaveholders who originally owned his great-grandparents.
By what logic do we pay reparations for slavery to those who, in all too many cases, are literally descendents of the actual slaveholders?


I see the reparations idea as divisive and racist. 

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I'm curious, are the Jews of Germany getting any repairations?

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

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Q. How do tribes use the revenue generated from Indian gaming?
A. Gaming on Indian reservations is operated by tribes to fund governmental programs. IGRA requires that all revenues from tribal gaming operations be used solely for governmental or charitable purposes. Much like state governments determine the use of lottery revenues tribal governments determine how gaming proceeds are to be spent. Indian tribes are using gaming revenue to build houses, schools, roads and sewer and water systems; to fund the health care and education for their people; and to develop a strong, diverse economic base for the future.

They arent getting rich hand over fist like some believe. But, still, its not reparation, its what they are entitled to do by law.

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As NAIHC reported last year, among 562 federally recognized tribes, of the
224 that have gone into gaming (operating 354 facilities), 90 (40 percent)
make less than 1 percent of the industry’s gross revenue. Two-thirds of the
gaming operations account for just 10 percent of the overall revenue with
annual gross revenue of $25 million or less. The remaining one-third
account for 90 percent of the revenue.

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Unlike gaming activities operated by non-tribal entities, the revenues derived from gaming by Indian tribes can be used only for specified purposes, namely: to fund tribal government operations or programs; to provide for the general welfare of the tribe and its members; to promote tribal economic development; to donate to charitable organizations; or to help fund operations of local government agencies.

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Jew

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ORIGINAL: LotusSong

I'm curious, are the Jews of Germany getting any repairations? If so.. how are you guys handeling it?

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So wouldn't it make sense that damages from a few hundreds years of slavery would carry on to several generations?

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ORIGINAL: WyldHrt

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So wouldn't it make sense that damages from a few hundreds years of slavery would carry on to several generations?

A few hundred years, Gracie? Unless England and Spain are planning to kick down about 2/3 of the money, this would be holding the government responsible for acts that occurred before there even was a United States.

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ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach

This is gonna sound as politically incorrect as what Soul had to say (nicely put, btw - bravo) - but hell, since when did that ever actually stop me?

As someone with a great deal of Native American heritage I look at it this way.  The blacks can  have their reperations right after the US government Actually gives back all the land blatantly stolen from various tribes, appologizes and makes reperations for the murders committed to steal property, acknowledges it's active role in attempted genocide and in the cases of several small tribes sucessful genocide, and acknowledges it active role in the attempt to completely wipe out the cultures of indigenous peoples.  Oh - and while they're at it, they can acknowledge that they've played a Huge roll in the high suicide rates, extreme poverty, high alcoholism rates, high drug abuse rates, and despondancy present in many tribes.

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What about the white people who were held as slaves in that same period?