With all the bailout packages being done for corporate America, it was only a matter of time before some people started asking why not a bailout for black people. Why can’t the government do a bailout package that includes reparations for slavery? I’m on record as being vehemently opposed to cash reparations, but for those who support, there seems to be a conversation growing out of the barbershop and into the streets. The fact of the matter is that plenty of other people have received reparations, including Japanese-Americans and Native Americans. It only makes sense to consider reparations for the sons and daughters of slavery.  The question has always been, what does that look like? Does it look like college and/or business grants? Does it look like a tax break? Maybe a little off your light and gas bill every month. No one seems to know what would make everyone happy. This may be a question president-elect Barack Obama has to address sooner or later. The larger question has always been about how America would raise money to pay reparations, but if they can bailout the big auto companies, some people figure black folks could use a bailout too. What do you think?

Should America use bailout money to pay reparations to black folks?  Tell us here.

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(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

An Obama/Biden White House would be a game changer: no one doubts that. How it would change the game, however, is another matter entirely. Some think it will be the start of some bold, post-racial American movement, where we forget about our past, run outside, all grab hands and have a Coke and smile.

Others see it as the beginning of a new kind of race politics: something that resembles old school ways, as liberal Whites embrace the New Normal and angry, scared White folks organize and push back. Me? I think that none of the marching or hand-holding will matter. No one likes change, and putting a Black man in the Oval Office is the kind of change that makes some White folks wake up sweating.

Obama is a prototype, in some ways, of the “no excuse” American and that scares a lot of people — Black and White.  I think if the interracial son of a single White mother can be elected to the highest office of the land, we will all have to file away the excuses and step up game up a little. Right? Just the fact that Obama has come this far means no more “White man holding me down” talk from some of us. Those days are over. No matter what happens after November, Obama’s proved that anyone can do anything they set their mind to. More than the race piece, Obama’s presidency would also be a thumb in the eye of some White folks who will suddenly see their skin privileges devalued. In Obama’s America, being Black or being White will not be enough. Being an American will be about substance, finally.

How would an Obama/Biden presidency change America? Tell us here.

Images courtesy of flickr.com.
 
(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)