Reparations in the 21st century

How would reparations work?

First, it's imperative that it has to be about more than slavery, which is the mistake most white and black middle class Christians make when supporting that idea. If it were just slavery, that would leave out Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Megan Markle, the adoptive children of movie stars and the millions like Ilhan Omar who have immigrated from Africa and the Caribbean in the past 3-4 decades. And I do mean millions. Only 350,000 blacks came during slavery days--you can see more need to be added to the roster of the downtrodden and abused.

Second, it will start with something recent that most people will remember. Maybe it will even be "affirmative action" since it failed to set things right and caused blacks undo hardship with debts they couldn't pay off. Maybe it will be "fair housing" initiatives since the concept caused so much "white flight" and pulled middle class blacks out of neighborhoods that needed them.

Third, it will include obviously bad and racist people, and we'll be asked to provide compensation for those hurt by those who consciously worked against blacks, like maybe a (Democrat) senator, former member of the KKK.

Fourth, it will include legal (at the time) business practices, either defined or redefined. Like red-lining of banks to stall mortgages. And if you've invested in that bank, or its parent company, or even if you use its savings and checking account services, you'll be part of the system, and therefore, guilty. You'll need to pay up.

Fifth, it will include local government services, like schools, parks, transportation. Did the schools in your community fail black children at higher rates than whites? Law suits coming right up. Maybe even the families of the board members and teachers will be held responsible. There goes that nice pension teachers get.

Sixth, it will include nutrition and health. We will be asked to overlook lifestyle causes of health problems, at least as far as reparations are concerned. If McDonald's is deemed to have too many stores in black neighborhoods (black because of redlining by banks) and black children have more obesity related health problems, then Mickey D will have to pay up, and if you've invested, sorry. That McDonald's has provided more top level management jobs for blacks since the early 1980s and been more environmentally responsible than most corporations will not balance the ledger.

And there will be more. There are currently national, state and local task forces for each of these. Keep your eyes and ears open. Non-profits are extremely lucrative for those at the top getting donations from foundations and gullible church mission boards. It's sort of a reparation payment all by itself.

Christians—please reject further lockdowns and closing—for the children’s sake

At the K-12 level, the risk of Covid to children is low. The Wall St.  Journal’s Andrew Duehren and Alex Leary report today: The Trump administration is pressing the nation’s school systems to educate children in-person this fall, preparing to offer safety guidelines for reopening, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill search for an agreement to provide schools the federal aid they say they need to do so. Team Trump is encouraged by a recent statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics which notes the negative impact of lockdowns as well as the relatively small Covid risks faced by children. The organization says it “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.” The statement adds: Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation... Policy makers must also consider the mounting evidence regarding COVID-19 in children and adolescents...Although children and adolescents play a major role in amplifying influenza outbreaks, to date, this does not appear to be the case with SARS-CoV-2. Although many questions remain, the preponderance of evidence indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, children may be less likely to become infected and to spread infection. Policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within schools must be balanced with the known harms to children, adolescents, families, and the community by keeping children at home.

It seems a few times a week I see a reference on social media or a news story about priests and child sexual abuse. Especially now that there is a lot of attention directed at high profile Hollywood entertainers.  It's part of the toxic, anti-Christian atmosphere we live in (some of it, to be honest, promoted by anti-Catholic Christians), even though it is far more common for a child to be abused by a school teacher than a priest. The Roman Catholic church is a big target, but the prejudice affects all Christians.

"Based on key studies done in recent years, abuse by priests amounted to about 11,000 cases over a period of 50 years, or about 220 abuse cases per year. However, based on a major 2004 study by former Hofstra University Professor Charol Shakeshaft done for the US Dept. of Education (Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature ), there were 290,000 cases of child abuse in our public schools over a 10 year period, or about 29,000 cases of child abuse per year committed by public school employees, mostly teachers. In other words, for every one case of child abuse by a priest, there were 130 cases of child abuse by a public school employee. What’s surprising is that in spite of the fact abuse by public school employees occurs more than 100 times as often as priestly abuse, this is rarely, if ever, discussed in our media or newspapers. Why is this ?" https://afany.org/2016/05/01/child-abuse-huge-problem/

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/03/10/26abuse.h23.html

http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660375.pdf