Obama administration earmarks $12 million in reparations for Holocaust survivors By Mo Barnes <http://rollingout.com/author/maurice-barnes/> <https://twitter.com/theblogrebel> | October 7, 2015 7:43 AM EST | 109 [image: President Obama and reparations question(Photo Source: Official WHite House Photo and historical image)]
President Obama and reparations question(Photo Source: Official WHite House Photo and historical image) There can be no doubt that the Jews of Europe suffered great hardship and genocide under the regime of Adolf Hitler and his allies during World War II. Nazi concentration camp survivors were able to settle throughout the world and eventually founded the nation of Israel. But the Holocaust survivors in this country are still suffering with an estimated 150,000 age 65+ living below the poverty line. In response, the Obama administration last week approved $12 million in aid over the next five years to assist these survivors. This was part of an initiative backed by Vice President Joe Biden in 2013. Last year, the White House named Aviva Sufian as a special envoy for U.S. Holocaust survivor services. Many European countries have paid victims of the Holocaust; at the top of the list is Germany, which paid over $90 billion in reparations. In 2012, Germany gave an estimated 80,000 survivors in other countries a one-time payment of $3,250. This is not the first time America has paid restitution or reparations to the survivors of racial atrocities. In 1998, the United States pledged to pay $1.25 billion to Japanese-Americans and their heirs. That amount is in addition to the $1.65 billion previously paid out to 81,278 claimants. But when it comes to the United States paying reparations to Blacks who suffered oppression and genocide, there is no money forthcoming. Taking aside the argument that descendants of former slaves of the United States are more than deserving of economic justice, what about the 20thcentury Black Holocaust? There are, in fact, incidents where many of the survivors are still living: - The bombing and burning of “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921 - The burning and lynching of Rosewood, FL 1923 - Moore’s Ford Bridge Massacre 1947 - Church burnings that took place from 1954-2015 - Illegal and unconstitutional arrests of Blacks during the Civil Rights movement - Jim Crow laws enacted at the state and local levels and ignored at the federal level - The implications of the CIA linked crack epidemic in Black communities - Hurricane Katrina victims living below the poverty line The sad part about these tragedies is that this is just a short list of events that are deserving of restitution. What does it take for restitution or reparations for Blacks in the United States? On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 2:56:51 PM UTC-6, plainolamerican wrote: > > Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders caused a stir when hetold > Fusion > <http://fusion.net/video/255113/bernie-sanders-reparations-answer-iowa-forum/> > that > he does not support reparations for slavery on the grounds that such a > program would be “very divisive” and would never pass Congress. > > Ta-Nehisi Coates, a National Book Award winner and writer for The Atlantic > who wrote a widely read article > <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/> > in > 2014 making the case for reparations, was among those who took Sanders to > task > <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/bernie-sanders-reparations/424602/> > . > > Four years ago, though, Sanders did support a form of reparations—not for > descendants of African slaves and victims of other injustices against > African-Americans, but for Holocaust survivors and the families of those > who were killed. > > The Vermont senator joined 18 colleagues in co-sponsoring the Holocaust > Rail Justice Act, a bill <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s634> to > help survivors and families sue France’s national railway company, SNCF, > for reparations. > > A group of victims’ families called the Coalition for Holocaust Rail > Justice pushed for a decade to get the railway to pay because it carried > tens of thousands of Jews and other prisoners from France to German camps. > SNCF officials have apologized and argued that the Nazis forced the railway > to do it. > > The Sanders-sponsored bill never came up for a vote. But in 2014, France > agreed to send the U.S. State Department $60 million to be distributed to > American Holocaust survivors and victims’ families. After the deal was > announced, Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the lead sponsors of the Holocaust > Rail Justice Act, credited the bill > <https://www.schumer.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-announces-after-his-push-us-state-department-will-finally-accept-applications-for-restitution-from-holocaust-survivors-who-were-transported-to-concentration-camps-via-french-rail-company-sncf-during-wwii-beginning-next-week-a-total-of-60m-will-be-available-to-eligible-survivors-and-family-members-of-those-who-perished> > for > helping make the payments possible. > > Slavery reparations would present logistical hurdles that do not apply to > Holocaust reparations because of the relative timing of the historical > atrocities and the size of the receiving populations. Nevertheless, legal > and economic scholars have published a large body of work on how > reparations for African-Americans might be achieved. > > Experts like Duke University’s William Darity and the late Boris Bittker > of Yale University have studied the question for decades. Rep. John Conyers > (D-Mich.) has introduced bills in Congress for a quarter-century to > establish a commission to study how reparations might work in the United > States. > > <http://2912a.v.fwmrm.net/ad/l/1?s=f047&n=379215%3B379215&t=1456174308867484005&f=&r=379215&adid=13138274&reid=4342632&arid=0&auid=&cn=defaultClick&et=c&_cc=&tpos=&sr=0&cr=> > > The Sanders campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fusion. > > Sanders is not the only Democratic candidate who supports Holocaust > reparations without supporting reparations for atrocities that happened on > American soil. > > Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked about slavery > reparations at Fusion’s Iowa Brown & Black Forum > <http://fusion.net/series/demforum/>and did not give a direct answer. She > argued instead for more investment in underprivileged communities, citing a > proposal from the Congressional Black Caucus. > > Clinton, too, has a history of explicit support for Holocaust reparations. > During her husband’s administration, she was given an award by the World > Jewish Congress for helping obtain reparations from the Swiss and German > governments. > > Some advocates for Holocaust reparations said they felt that Clinton’s > contribution was overstated and that the award was political. Clinton > herself played down her role in winning the payments but was clear in her > support for the payments. > > During her 2000 Senate campaign, Clinton was asked > <http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4577330/clinton-reparations> about the > award, her position on Holocaust reparations, and whether she would endorse > slavery reparations. Without answering directly, she said that “we have > some mental and emotional and psychological reparations to pay first.” > > “We do owe … an apology to African-Americans for hundreds of years of > slavery,” she said, “but I think that the people I know and the people I > work with want us to stay focused on the future, keep our economy going, > keep providing good public education, quality affordable healthcare—do the > things that will enable people to have the best futures for themselves, and > that’s what I’m committed to doing.” > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. 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