When Slaveowners Got Reparations

The general arguments against your point is that the only reason you wanted to (presumably) legally immigrate to the U.S. is due the America's current economic condition. The thing is that America's present didn't come appear out of a vacuum. It was founded on the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of Native Americans. Not only did the Slave Trade and agricultural slavery in the South provide finance for America's industrialization but enslaved black folk also literally built Washington DC, all the railroads in the South, large portions of Northern infrastructure including Wall Street with nothing to gain from it. I'm African American and my ancestors didn't intern the Japanese, but my parents', grandparents', and great grandparents' taxes still paid their reparations in the 90s. Hell my great grandmother's grandmother was a slave and she spoke to me about her. That literally makes me two degrees of separation away. I'm glad you got to save up and immigrate to America, I'm sure that's quite the accomplishment, but some of us have been here for a bit and our history is here. Either own that or admit you don't really want to be an American (with all that comes with it), you just want to be wealthy, or say you just don't like African Americans, but don't hide behind being an immigrant.

/r/TrueReddit Thread Parent Link - nytimes.com