To start, I think you could have maybe been a touch more empathetic and tactful in your post, but that is neither here nor there.
I agree with your sentiment that there is absolutely no reason to pay reparations to African Americans whose ancestors may or may not have been slaves. That much I can side with you on. But to compare slavery to the relatively brief mistreatment of Japanese Americans in internment camps is ludicrous. We're talking about camps that took place for barely a decade versus roughly two hundred years of slavery. That's a big gap to fill. The lingering mistrust and hatred for the Japanese after WWII was more quickly dispelled as well. I say this only because (and whether this is a product of certain individuals in the black community or not is irrelevant as that would be a separate debate entirely) African Americans STILL more then a century after being freed are not on equal footing with the rest of the population in the U.S. I'm not a huge fan of 'chip-on-the-shoulder' routine some of the African American community so proudly display, but while I disagree with their attitude I'm forced to at least acknowledge their resentment. They have a legitimate gripe.
Two hundred years of pain and disrespect takes a long time to heal, even with time as the salve. I feel as long as we as a society acknowledge these misdeeds and prevent them from happening again, that things like reparations will become quickly forgotten and irrelevant. I am taking a lot of liberty here by making this assumption, but all any black man or woman truly wants is to be looked at as an American. To be considered equal. To be part of the big group the big picture. Not to be seen as separate as an African or the great-great-great grandchild of a slave.
The Seeker Of Truth
"It is by my will alone that thoughts acquire speed, lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by my will alone that I set my mind in motion."
-Master Mentat Pietr
This message last edited by The Seeker of Truth on 1/29/2003 at 1:11:14 PM.
