Skulking

Most people alive today, and many companies still in business don't have history going back to slavery. How far back in time do you believe a person or institution needs to have before making reparations becomes necessary? Would you argue that black people in America today are treated equally in reality rather than just in words when necessary?

In an ideal world where nobody had ever been disenfranchised due to race I would agree with you. The point of reparations is to begin to make up for the generations of wrongs done to black people in America and try to balance the playing field. I realize that for many white people such as myself it can be hard to recognize the privilege we have had growing up in America because of the color of our skin. If you can look at another white family with more money and a nicer house, then you don't feel privileged, but the way you are treated for the color of your skin is undeniably different than the way a black person is treated in America, and that is your privilege. Working towards the ideal world where people aren't treated differently because of the color of their skin is something I fully embrace, but we aren't there yet, and behaving as if we are is only something we can do because or privilege allows us to ignore the mistreatment of others.

I'm not suggesting that you would do that, but they did address that in the announcement. They have decided to use the honor system on this and have asked that people respect what they are doing and not take advantage of it. That may be foolish of them, but I would hope that you have enough moral fortitude to not actually take advantage of this unless you are black.

Society in America doesn't recognize people as half black. It recognizes people as either black or not black and treats them accordingly. Are you suggesting that because one party may now use this as a soundbite to show discrimination against white people it is a bad idea?

Almost all groups have been discriminated against by another group at some point in history for some reason. But in America we have discriminated against black people on the basis of their skin color for 400 years. For most of that time the discrimination was not only legal, but was actually written into the laws. Are there other groups that have been discriminated against in America? Of course, but does that mean we shouldn't do anything to address the mistreatment of black people?

I understand that there aren't biological human races, but there certainly are societal human races, and we live in a world where people are treated differently based on how society views them based on skin color. It may be sad that hat is still the case, but it is the reality in which we live, and so it is a reality that must be faced and address rather than buried.

You will note that Rivendell is using the honor system for this to avoid the problems you are referencing. Doing so comes with it's own problems such as it can easily be taken advantage of, but they are hoping that people can be reasonable and decent.