Reparations -- Yes? (was Re: Joy In Horowitzville)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Justin Schwartz wrote:
>
>>Congress could appropriate the money and write checks to the 
>>individuals involved.
>
>What inidividuals? The possibility of big checks would probably 
>double the black population overnight - which would probably be a 
>good thing, but still, an administrative nightmare, no?
>
>I think the practical problems aren't just some detail, but emerge 
>from the whole notion of how race is defined. Just as the 
>"multiracial" category on the Census is leading us away from the 
>one-drop rule, reparations would lead us back to it.
>
>Doug

Since categories of races have always been historically & politically 
defined, as you acknowledge, reparations don't introduce a new 
element of complexity in political life.  Recall the era of Jim Crow 
& Passing.  Remember the plight of black Seminoles.  National & 
international debates on reparations will simply take away from the 
ideological power of naturalization.

Yoshie