I think that is one among several reasons why reparations might be problematic. In addition, as I told Charles, I am unhappy with the government classifying people racially, although I guess the point would be at least officially it would not be by race but by descent from someone who was held in slavery. But I don't want to get into the merits of the idea. I just wasnt to point out that practicalities are not an obstacle. The debate should be on whether reparations would be a good idea, not whether they could be implemented. They could. It wouldn't be hard and it wouldn't be particularly expensive from an administrative point of view. --jks
>
>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
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