Should Christians and others take an active stand to stand up to the increasing monetary disparity between people, and the growing corporate elite. I say resoundingly, yes! The time has come to reinvent the " Social Gospel" to thwart greed as experienced from mega-corporations. Richard

Are we experiencing a new fear of new and different people which breeds nativism? I say resoundingly, yes! Richard

Dutch: Thanks. I am trying to stir some interest in justice. Richard

[QUOTE=rbchaddy2000;50681]I think that I made a mistake with the "resoundingly yes" phrase. Can I reask are these thoughtful social concerns? I think yes. Richard[/QUOTE]

Richard:
Just hang loose;
do your own thing;
and keep on truckin'

pbase.com/image/26652977  :D

[QUOTE=rbchaddy2000;47939]Should Christians and others support a monetary compensation to African Americans for past cahattel slavery, "Jim Crow", and continuinig prejudice such as Jena 6. I say resoundingly, yes. Richard[/QUOTE]

Richard: race is always an interesting topic here in the States.  After all, we fought our worst war over slavery-based-on-race.

I think a program of compensation has been done once before, or something close to it.  "Fourty acres and a mule," was a program shortly after the civil war to help newly freed slaves support themselves and compensate for their previous slavery.  I confess that I am not so sure about the second part of that statement (compensation for past wrongs), but something like it was tried back in the 19th century.

That said, I think the idea of compensation for a history of racism is fraught with problems, dangers, and potential injustice, in and of itself.

First and foremost, is the idea itself fundamentally just?  If we generally agree that the sins of the parents should not be visited upon the children, how could we visit the sins of the great-great grandparents on the heads of the present generation?  And, was it not the generation of the great-great grandparents who fought a civil war to free those slaves?  On the Union side, I believe nearly 500,000 men lost their lives.  How much more compensation is necessary than the death of 500,000 men?

Then we have the issue of whether or not the present generation of African Americans are deserving of compensation.  Who is?  And how much?  And for what?

And what about Hispanics?  Asians?  Catholics and Jews?  All oppressed minorities at one time.  What about a program for them?

And whose to pay?  My family didn't get here until the 1920's, and lived in Irish ghettos until my generation.  Are WE responsible?  If so, why?  If not, are we exempt from paying?

See the problem?   And, when almost no one is satisfied about the arrangements and resentment runs even deeper than it does today, what has been accomplished?

Jeez-Mareez, there are so many issues about this one that I think it is worse than the issue that it is trying to resolve.

Thoughts?