In what ways have laws been used to enforce discrimination?These laws were intended against which race?
Affirmative action of the courts and prison systems which discriminates against Blacks and Hispanics, gives them 20% longer sentences, targets their neighborhoods, racially profiles, weakens minority neighborhoods electorally, created the culture of fatherless homes as a reaction to the Civil Rights Movement, fills prisons with low-level offenders for petty drug offenses, with illegal searches and in some states; where those crimes have been decriminalized anyways and disproportionately targets minority youths in instances where white youths would be dealt with informally. Which is masked by "Affirmative Action" which largely benefits white women and Jews anyways. There were also the Convict codes, which were used to put Blacks back on the plantation, the loitering laws, the Bloggs Act which targeted Blacks and Mexicans for marijuana until it was realized whites use it more, the sentences disparity between crack and cocaine at a 100 to 1 ratio, the lynch laws and various others.
Should the United States pay reparations to African Americans?
According to the United Nations, yes.UN panel says the U.S. owes reparations to African-AmericansBecause other European nations profited from the slave trade, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the UK must also be held financially accountable. The UK and France would have to forfeit all artifacts stolen in colonialism to their respective African nations and all foreign nations must cease mining the country for resources while the US begins military withdrawal from their bases throughout the continent. Belgium must renounce King Leopold and make reparations for his bloody and barbaric campaign in the Congo. The US must stop arming rebel factions in Africa and the Middle East to sow disharmony and justify military control. France must pay reparations to Haiti and begin re-forestation of the island after centuries of indebting Haitians to their former slave-masters/plundering them for lumber and rubber plants, and America must recognize and apologize for its role in the embargo against Haiti as well as overthrowing democratically elected leader Aristide.In the Americas, Europe and the US must work to protect constitutional rights of Diasporic African peoples in the USA, Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean while investing in their economic and political sovereignty. This means encouraging participation in the political processes (ends to voter blocking and gerrymandering, automatic voter registration, allowing former convicts who’ve served their time the right to vote, etc) as well as promoting educational/recreational and job-skill development in black communities, subsidies for black-owned businesses, and cops who are trained to work with communities to reduce crime, not increase arrests.The problem is most people won’t approve of this because they see reparative justice as a hand-out. Moreover classist violence against white Americans has over the course of American history made them so paranoid of black advancement they feel any move to benefit another community as a threat to their own, as illustrated in Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash. What needs to happen is holistic economic and political reform that benefits and supports all communities to thrive, and unfortunately this means those at the top of the privilege ladder will have to make accommodations.
There is no historical evidence that corporal punishment harmed society. Why is corporal punishment discouraged?
In our culture, the real change in attitude occurred after WWII and, to some degree in response to it. GIs brought many things home from the war. One of those was harsh discipline. In response to their experiences (Great Depression; World War) and all that that entailed, they were also committed to giving their children a better life than they had. Put those things together and you have an environment of extremes which then led those children to grow up way more sensitive than their parents and to be guided by that increased sensitivity when they parented their children. You end up with a cultural paradigm shift away from corporal punishment.I must disagree with your premise that no historical evidence exists. For at least a couple thousand years, young boys in many cultures were trained with corporal punishments resulting in them being well disciplined, tough minded, aggressive and frequently violent. The connection is largely anecdotal, but compellingly consistent.I, for one, can see the usefulness of corporal punishment, at times. It should be used sparingly and with the understanding that it may be effective, but also may teach things (behavior / relationships) that you don’t want to teach. I used to teach parenting skills and consistently told parents that it was okay to swat your child (think of a toddler putting themselves in danger), but only once per incident. Anything more was to satisfy the parent, not train the child. Welts, bruises, scrapes, etc. are not an indication of good parenting, in my view.