KJA, why not just take it as a step in the right direction?

Sometimes we can accept things on the level they are offered and suspend our cynicism for a moment and allow the "apologyy" to enter the social discourse.    Last time I check, there is still nothing wrong with being patient plus we made it this far without an official apology so I am assured the Sun will rise tomorrow even with one.  

Like I said take it for what it is a symbolic step in the right direction, one whose impact at the moment we may not be able to discern.  

An apology without reparations is meaningless. If you are going to admit that you did something wrong you need to rectify the mistake to the best of your ability.

I agree with "womanistmusings" that is just empty words - they need to back it up with substance. We have been victimized for too long to accept "symbolic" apologies as "rastaman" suggests!!! Aren't they still considering us to be 2/3 human according to the Constitution??? They dont care about reparations they just care about how it looks and another line on their lists of "accomplishments" FORGET THAT!!!

I think this is definitely the first step toward reparations. We can't ask for anything until they acknowledge the wrongdoing. Anyway I would love to see the over-funding of public schools, release of innocent prisoners and the safe return of FBI listed political exiles like Assata Shakur. Even more I'd like to see descendants of slavery not to have to pay taxes for like 200-300 years! I know it's out there but what do you all think??

Hm.

The real work DOES need to begin in the home: watch your kids and who they are hanging out with so they don't become involved in drug dealing and gangbanging. Don't let them wear gangbanger gear that glamorizes the "gangsta lifestyle" to school or anywhere else. Teach them self respect and the value of an education. In other words, truly successful people pull themselves up and out of the mire and into the light because of intestinal fortitude, not government apologies or ridiculous debates.

We need to stop figuring out who is to blame and start taking charge of our backyards or our kids will continue to kill each other and themselves because they figure that's all they have to live for.

Sorry that this apology is "too late" for you, brother. But if it hadn't of come at all I think you would have blogged about that, too.

I don't think forgiving taxes for descendants of slaves is a good idea at all.  Maybe free birth control is a better idea.

I don't think an apology solves or addresses any issues. there is no interest by writers like Mr. Adkins to move this country forward. Like so many people he wants to look backwards and complain & complain.

If this country has downtrodden so many people why do people stay? There are over 120 countries in the world. if this country has caused you all that bitterness, like any relationship it should be broken and you should move on. I personally couldn't live in a country where I felt so abused. if the country gave you zillions of dollars you'd still complain over historical events that cannot be changed. if you focused your energy on dealing with child having child and black on black crime if would at least be a positive use of effort. Whining never solved anything.

At the end of the day, and apology is just words. I understand the desire for responsibility to be taken, but what do you suggest for reparations? Forgiving taxes or cutting personal checks sure wouldn't help at all...if there were to be reparations then they should be put to good use in the communities. I understand that the enslavement of Africans was horrible, but there are other groups who suffered as well, Jews for example. They aren't asking for apologies and reparations from Germany. Not just that, but as a woman I don't expect anything from years of women being oppressed. We all need to let go of things that happened way before our time. I get the frustration, but instead of worrying about others making it up to you, you just need to worry about you and yours and do the best you can to further your people instead of hanging on to anger and excuses. Why are we even still talking about this and not focusing on current issues? Racism will always exist in the world, we can only do our best to promote tolerance. And that goes both ways...I grew up white in a black town, and let me tell you, my life was not made easy. The kids my age were taught from birth that I was bad just because I was white, and they truly hated me. But I came out ok, I have no resentment, and today I have friends and family of all races.

This article intrigues me.  Then I read Rastaman and Womanistmusings and MsX and Shemeioni.  At first I wanted to rage, but now I'd like to have a real discussion.

You get an apology from me, phrased like this, "I am sorry that slavery exists in our history and in our present."

Repairations would cause innocent individuals to pay individuals who have not been wronged.  Repairations is the single dumbest idea ever considered by a government.

I am white, I have never owned a slave, my ancestors never owned a slave.  I have never wronged a person based on their race.  I should pay???

If you feel strongly about slavery, do something about it!!!!!!!!  It exists today, all over the world and you whining B%$'s sit on this site and complain about something you have never faced.

Question:  Were white people the only people involved in the slave trade as it applies to the America's?

NO.  Slaves were bought, sold, owned and abused by all races and religions.  Know this, black slaves are owned today, all over the world.  Help them and stop suggesting that I owe you anything.

This whining, disgusting, entitlement discussion sickens me.

I agree that it is the whining that gets old. Rather then whine and complain about what happened..GROW UP and take responsibility for YOUR LIFE and your brothers life!

Again if those whining don't like their life then CHANGE it. if they don't like their neighborhood then CHANGE it. Whining just make people like me know that you really aren't interested in dealing with current issues on an adult level. You are childish and contribute nothing to the solutions, just to the problem. But then you don't want to hear that.

Ladie and Gentleman, lets make sure we keep the fact straight,not only did Jews receive reparations from Germany but from the United States as well. Hell, even the Japanese received reparations from the U.S.A. for boming Nagasaki and Hirosima. Still today Jewish agents hunt for Nazt Officers and collaborators of the holocaust. If Jewish authorities even think you were apart of this atrocity, your thrown in jail. Not one White man has every spendt one day in jail for enslaving Black people. For those who say quit the moaning and groning, it shows just how of much the mental conditioning of cultural self hatred has infiltrated your thinking. Jewish people will never let the world forget about the holocaust, but Black people want to push slavery under the rug as if it were meaningless. Oh yea, and one last thing, the reason why the current White society is responsible for the crimes committed by their fathers, is because you still benefit from the power and privilege their crimes created for you.  They didn't profit from slavery just for themselves, they did it for they children as well!

Apology for slavery accepted?

I think ... not.

Unless there was a full roll call taken of evey congressional representative, cabinet member and President SOON to record a vote that determines how sincerely America feels sorry for the way it exploited slaves, how legitimate would that expression of regret be?

For as long as I live, I'm going to have to try and be there for my young son and struggle to answer how slavery and racism and intolerance came to be and still plague him. His Pre-K intellect _ astounding as it is _ won't fully grasp some proclamation voted on anonymously by a bunch of f the United States Constitution. There are sub-divisions, parkways and schools named after him all over these parts.

Every day I park in a lot at the intersection of a street named after him.

None of US Jeffersons or Washingtons or Franklins or Adamses who probably descend from some of the "founding fathers" benefit at all from the birthrights. We can't claim the bloodlines, nor deny them.

So why, really, rehash that phase of our collective past now? To stir up a futile call for reparations?

Put this distraction to rest already.

What's done is done.

http://askyourdaddy.blogspot.com/

friscojim: i hear ya on the whining take. and i feel ya on the whole self empowerment- positivity lament. point taken. but how can one deny the bitter taste of an apology that is in my opinion, about 400 some odd years over due? i'm mean that's gotta just suck. imagine an 85 year old african american man receiving this apology today. it's possible his parents were probably born under segregation and his grandparents were probably born as slaves (unless grandpa was a white plantation owner who raped grandma). all of them had to deal with some bitter confederates that blamed his relatives for the demise of the south. then the north renege's on the 40 acre & a mule thing...talk about getting it from both sides. living through jim crowe, and being forced into a war here or there has probably gotta suck too. not to mention the whole 90 million of his ancestors that endured the african diaspora. your telling me that wouldn't wear on you or make you cynical over the years?  i mean judging by your very own postings, something so minute as whining seems to consume you with bitterness (you too justawhiteguy), and you're telling me that you could just up and trascend the whole "black" experience?

 one man's opinion, but if i was that 85 year old black man, i'd be a tad sensitive and disgusted with this formal apology. language has its limitations when it comes to something like and apology for slavery. don't you think that it could be perceived as distasteful? i mean white folks have been lying to black folks for a long time. i don't know if i'd take the apology as genuine.

 i'm not trying to sound like a sympathizer...just trying to be an empathizer. i don't mean any disrespect. i admire your candor.

friscojim: my bad on the grammatical errors. next time i'll go to the strunk & white store & my proof read on before publishing my post.

The apology was fine in its context.  Now, if they could just clean this place up along with the rest of the planet, I'd be more willing to accept it and even lend a hand.  I'm talking infrastructure, REAL justice, and actual PEACE.

Get over yourselves, blaming everything on whites. READ your history. As someone who grew up in South-eastern Africa , I know it was WEST AFRICANS who warred on and enslaved EAST AFRICANS and sold them to the Portuguese as trade for liqour and guns. Hmm, African tribes selling killing each other, making the captives as slaves, and selling them for alcohol and guns. Tell me really: how much has changed today?

The reparations paid to the Japanese were not for Hiroshima or Nagasaki but for the internment of Japanese-Americans and the confiscation of their property during World War II. Many of the victims of the the internment were still alive when the reparations were signed into law and distributed to the beneficiaries.

My humble opinion is that reparations won't solve anything and will further exacerbate racial tensions. How does one assign a monetary value to the impact of slavery and institutionalized discrimination on a people? How long should reparations be paid? Should people like Oprah and Tiger Woods receive a reparations check when they're wealthier than most white people? What about the white people who reject racism and have never practiced it but still have to pay for it? Should the U.S. bill the African nations whose tribes captured and sold their enemies to slave traders for their part in aiding and abetting slavery in order to help pay for reparations? How would we use our reparations checks? Would we use them to invest in our own businesses, home ownership or acquisition of stock to create wealth for ourselves and our families, or would we just spend the money and be no better off than before except we have more "stuff"? Would reparations bring reconciliation or resentment? We need to take a global view and consider the consequences of what we're asking. I for one am not willing to burn down the house I live in just to demonstrate my moral superiority over another. Humans have wronged one another since the dawn of time and I've never seen money right ancient wrongs or heal the wounds people carry in their hearts.

As a committed Christian, the Bible is my source for the answer to this difficult question. Reconciliation can only be achieved by forgiveness. We are to forgive even if those who have wronged us do not consider themselves in need of forgiveness. If those who have wronged us come to us in humility and repent, we are to show them the same grace that Christ showed us by forgiving us even while we were sinners.

Practically speaking, forgiveness is the only path forward. It wipes the slate clean and opens the door to dialogue and increased trust. Our common goal ought to be working as one to help America realize the ideals that make her a beacon to the rest of the world, not promoting retribution through reparations. I accept the House's apology and hope the Senate will follow suit and ask the President to sign it as a formal proclamation of our government's commitment to racial healing going forward. In God's economy, humility and repentance are priceless.

FriscoJim & Justawhiteguy answer me this: Why do white real estate agents still try to steer prospective black homebuyers into substandard neighborhoods under the guise of "you'll feel more comfortable there?" Why is it that when two job applicants have the exact same qualifications, education, grades, etc., but the one with the "Black sounding name", i.e. "Jamal"  is never considered for the job? Why is public school funding still unequal between black & white geographical areas, taxes you say? Black people pay taxes! Why are there "Urban Deserts" in our cities, places where the big supermarket chains won't build stores because the neighborhood is predominantly Black or Hispanic, despite the fact that these people have just as much money to spend as whites, but must suffer malnutrition because they do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, quality meats, etc. like white neighborhoods have access to? All these points have been researched, quantified, documented, studied, poked, prodded, analyzed, by white academia and white social organizations and white "think tanks" ad infinitum. I suppose they are "whining" too. Or are they just "knee-jerk" liberals with an agenda? Most Black people have been taught that just to be equal, we have to be twice as good as a white person, Jackie Robinson being a case in point. Did he exist 400 years ago?  I don't want a meaningless apology, I don't want reparations. I just want a level playing field. Don't give me a thing. Just make it so when I try my hardest, put forth my damnedest effort and sweat until I bleed that you won't somewhow change the rules in the middle of the game on me. You won revert to something like a "legacy fulfillment" or some other obstacle to keep me down. Overt racism may not be as prevalent as it once was, but Institutional racism is alive and well. We are here because we have a stake in this country's well being. Our slave labor built it. Can you deny that?  There is no such thing as an "innocent" white person in America. If the law says you are just as guilty for not preventing a crime as the person who perpetrated it, then all white people, past and present stand guilty. You go along with the status quo, when you know it to be wrong. You say you didn' participate in slavery, but you sure as hell benefited from it. Up unitl this very day. You benefit from Jim Crow til this day. You try like hell to keep Blacks and Hispanics out ot the building trades. I live in Chicago. There is a huge building boom in the Loop, our central business district. There is a forest of construction cranes across the sky. There is a skyscraper rising next to the building I work in. How many Blacks or Hispanics do I see working on this building? One Black man. I know there has to be many more qualified Black and Hispanic construction workers in the Chicago area, but the white contractors, union heads and stewards can't seem to find any. Instead, somebody's friend, cousin, neighbor got picked.  So, if you don't want to hear the whining, complaining and the like, work for equality and justice. That's what I'm asking for, Not some lame-ass apology. That you can keep.

I'm not sure how I feel about either the topic of "what does an apology really mean?" and "should the government pay reparations?", but i want to respond to some of the people that think that black people aren't owed anything because of legalized slavery, neo-slavery and Jim Crow.  Do some research about your favorite American company that has been around for three or more generations and I bet you find that in some way that company profitted either directly from slave or forced labor or maintained its stake in its industry because of companies that were directly profitting from cheap/free labor. I personnally believe that many of the "old money" families in this country probably should be sued by slave decendants. They have made money from these immoral tactics and maintained their wealth and power thru the years, benefitting generations of the white families, while blacks continued to be abused by the those in power (the power coming from the wealth and influence attained thru slavery.)

If I was black, i sure would be trying to trace my geneology for this purpose.  Not because I am sue happy and think that the money is going to change my life, and I deserve this (even though others won't be able to prove the same case and won't get a dime), but because if the wealthy dont' have all the money, they don't have all the power. It might help offset the unbalanced scale a little bit.

I am always impressed by Black people, that DESPITE the obstacles that were and still are maintained by wealthy/powerful white society, there are many that have triumphed and "beaten the system" so to speak. More and more blacks in government, more and more with considerable wealth.  But there are many that can't break the cycles, this is what leads me to the conclusion that there is still much work to be done, and as much as I try to rationalize otherwise, a debt is to be paid.

thanks folic pollen for your insight...it is unforunate we will never seem to agree with other regarding accountabilty! Interesting word, I truly believe black people have been accountable for their actions of late...but if you say something of truth, that goes against a brainwashed society, look at the wave of opposition, don't get me wrong, I want dissent...but show me how Iam wrong with facts not the same ole saying "stop your whining" ...because it is not whining if it is true!

From the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune, July 31, 2008:

The American Civil Liberties Union has reported that 1 out of 100 traffic stops in the State of Illinois, the police ask to search the vehicle. Called a 'consent search', 9 out of 10 times the drivers say OK. BUT the cops ask Black and Hispanic drivers more frequently to consent searches than they do whites. You are three times more likely if you are Black and twice as likely if you are Hispanicto be subjected to such a search during a traffic stop. Also, the police find contraband less often with Black and Hispanic motorists than they do with whites. The rates? 25% of the time, the police find contraband in white vehicles, 14% of the time in Black vehicles and 11% of the time in Hispanic vehicles. Friscojim and justa whiteguy, you better watch your selves if you are ever driving in Illinois. OOOPS, I forgot. They won't even stop you in the FIRST place!

I'd rather be a black American with slave ancestors than an African with free ancestors.  African-Americans have to deal with crime, broken homes, and passive racism.  Africans have to deal with 25% of their population having HIV, a genocide every few years, ubiquitous famine, and worms that burrow into your foot and grow three feet up your leg and have to be pulled out slowly over the course of a month or else the worm will die and kill you via sepsis.

I find it interesting when people mention slavery then confines their remarks to what has happened to Black Americans.  

Yes Black America did suffer, yes the affects are still felt in the ‘hoods… but that damage is nothing in comparison to what happened to, and is still happening in Africa.

So quick to claim the word as a hyphen … so slow to give Africa the respect it truly deserves. African-America’s fixation on what it seems to think was soley their plight is ridiculous. Everything about slavery was global. Every country involved lost & some lost much more than other. So why is Bono screaming for debt forgiveness in Africa while Al Sharpton just screams?

My black friends, please orient yourselves to something bigger than the USA. Do not for one second think any one of you deserve repatriations unless you are committed to donating every cent returned to the victims in Africa and Haiti... or should I say the victims that are Africa & Haiti.

Please, please, please use your righteous indignation to serve a master bigger than self. Don't ever think you'll win your local battle when the global war rages on & on & on.

JStuart: I'm guilty for the past and present crimes of the American white man against the American black man simply because I, too, am an American white man??? So, using that philosophy as my template, can I say that because a black man once broke into my car and robbed me (and got away with it) that I should hold each and every other black man in the United States responsible for it?  

to JStuart - Your comments are on point. No question there is institutional racism and active racism in this county. In Chicago and Texas and everywhere. My point is not to defend any process or attitude or behavior like that. That is absolutely wrong and everyone must continue to work to improve that. My point is this that complaining about what happened over 140 years ago is a lot of baggage to carry every day.

My daughter went through drug rehab and by the grace of God is alive today. As the minister at her rehab center used to say "GET OVER IT' You must live today and today only -the old "one day at a time" message. We spend way to much energy on that issue and not enough on your points of injustice today. Look at all the time spent on Adkin's article when we all could be doing a lot more for our neighbors and neighborhoods.

Whether the apology is a milestone or not, my interest is what purpose it serves in peoples minds. Does it make that unwarranted police stop feel a little better? are all those guys stiitng on the corner going to get off it and get to work? Will kids chose school over gangs? I think not. A cynic might say the congressman had a hidden agenda. Afterall,he's in a tight race. Does the possibility exsist he was altruistic in his intentions? Bottom line, for those looknig for reparations, it's going to be a long, long, wait. Being black, if we don't do for ourselves, no one else is going to.

I agree that whining never solves anything. The bigger point, that so many people want to gloss over, is that slavery STILL has an impact on people of color today. We are not bound by it in the same sense that our ancestors were, but the shackles still exist. It might be hard to recognize through the lily White lenses through which many people look, but it is still ever present. I don't spend my time complaining about slavery in 2008, I do however spend time trying to understand how the face of Black America, even a hundred years later, is still being effected by the years of lack of acknowledgment, degradation, disrespect, etc. I have a Ph.D., so I don't come from a place of sitting idle while I complain. I would be lying,if I didn't follow that up by saying that the effects of institutional racism, lack of mentors that look like me, and continuous glass ceilings that I am expected to break through do stem, to some degree, from slavery and Jim Crow. The playing field was never equal, and to assume that because time has passed all of a sudden things are equal is naive.

Freeze Tag: OK, be facietious and oversimplfy my points. You know what I am saying does not come down to just that. I suspect you are a much more intelligent person, or maybe you're speaking tongue-in-cheek. I just wish whites and blacks could switch places for, say, a year. Walk this country in my shoes, see it from my perspective, my history. America has always been a one-way mirror; we have to learn of your people. You have never had to learn ours, you've neve wanted to outside of what was thrust in your faces. That is the root of a lot of our frustration. The unwillingness of white America to even acknowledge that there is a lot more you can learn from us rather than just the stereotypical window dressing the media puts out there. The Rev. Jerimiah Wright controversey put a spotlight on how that generation of Blacks workshiped. In David Halberstam's book "The Fifties", in his chapter detailing Rosa Parks and the Montgomery, Ala. bus boycott, he also wrote about the beginning of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ministry. King Jr., being far more educated than his father, King Sr., was not a "fire and brimstone" Baptist minister. King Jr. spoke to the level of his parishioners. This what Rev. Wright was doing. His parishoners lived through the end of Jim Crow and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement that King Jr. helped begin. They have a confrontational mind-set that helped them weather that period. But did the National press pick up on that. Some did, but most just wanted to play up only the sensationalist sermons Rev. Wright gave, the ones that they knew would tarnish Barack Obama. I know you can 'read between the lines' Freeze Tag. Don't play the ignorant card.

Slave mentality exists today because of the previous generation promoting their woes to their children, instead of dismissing it as such "history".  Yes history exists, but blatently refering back to slavery when it has been over for 100 years is to be a slave to the history instead of a promoter of the future of black history.  A person who has lost a leg still remembers that the leg is gone everyday, but prepares for tomorrow by getting an artificial limb or using a wheelchair.  Sitting on the floor crying that their leg is lost does no good for their future, nor does wanting an apology from people who had nothing to do with them losing the leg.

Slave mentality exists today because of the previous generation promoting their woes to their children, instead of dismissing it as such "history".  Yes history exists, but blatently refering back to slavery when it has been over for 100 years is to be a slave to the history instead of a promoter of the future of black history.  A person who has lost a leg still remembers that the leg is gone everyday, but prepares for tomorrow by getting an artificial limb or using a wheelchair.  Sitting on the floor crying that their leg is lost does no good for their future, nor does wanting an apology from people who had nothing to do with them losing the leg.

Slave mentality exists today because of the previous generation promoting their woes to their children, instead of dismissing it as such "history".  Yes history exists, but blatently refering back to slavery when it has been over for 100 years is to be a slave to the history instead of a promoter of the future of black history.  A person who has lost a leg still remembers that the leg is gone everyday, but prepares for tomorrow by getting an artificial limb or using a wheelchair.  Sitting on the floor crying that their leg is lost does no good for their future, nor does wanting an apology from people who had nothing to do with them losing the leg.

To all my brothers and sisters that feel like this county owes them reparation for slavery becaused YOU...  now have an unfair life...GET REAL! Your life is what it is becasue that is what YOU made it. I did not not find one thing wrong with the apologgy that was given. For those that feel that it was just empty words and you want SUBSTANCE.. well my brother and sister, I disagree with you there. That is one of the main problems with the black race today... too many  want  something for nothing.. free hand outs. You say you want substance ,ok for what? Each day that YOU picked cotton...oh... for what your great great great grand parents did...well how many of our congressman/ women were slave owners that we should make them feel personally responsible? They are no more responsible for slavery  than YOU not being a slave. It's a part of history that we can't change... But we can learn from it and be a better race and not blame others for our failures and bad choices in life.  You want reparation? Ok.. How about some educational books, free classes on how to raise a family with mother and father living at home, birth control, classes on how to stop black on black violence, drug addiction, How to get a job and not depend on the govenment to take care of you.... I think you get the picture.  I think that is the best reparation they can give us. Something that well HELP us to be better people. If we can learn something from our ancestors, let's teach our families about morals and values like they had...Love, Respect and God.. tha's what we need!

If Jesus forgave us of our sins without asking for reparation, why can't we accept an apology from our government?

To JStuart:  I am really sorry that you feel that there are no "innocent" white people and that white people still benefit from slavery.  I do not feel like I have ever benefitted from slavery.  My family was never in the slave trade/ownership business.  I also know that I have had a rough life and I have had to pull myself up by my bootstraps, so to speak.  I do not feel like I have ever treated Black people poorly.  HOWEVER, I am quite inexperienced, as I grew up in a town that was very very small and there were no Black people there.  I never met a Black person until I went to college.  I paid for my own college and I worked full time while attending.  It took me 6 years to get a BA since I worked full time.  I know this blog is disjointed, and I do not know the point I am trying to make, other than the fact that I do not feel like I personally am guilty of anything.  I do, however, feel that there are many white people who ARE guilty of continued prejudice and "shutting people out" based on their names, etc.  I also know that there are Black people who are prejudiced against whites and would do anything that they could to eradicate whites.  I think that the two groups (whites who are extremely prejudiced and Blacks who are extremely prejudiced) are a minority.  But I am not certain about that last statement since I don't have much experience in the area.  

I would like to know about the grocery store thing...don't remember who mentioned it, but I think it is awful that certain businesses won't build in certain neighborhoods.  However, I might be scared to go into a certain neighborhood...should I be?  Would it be dangerous for me to walk alone in the south side of Chicago?  If so, then there is clearly prejudice and poor treatment of whites by Blacks as well.  I hope you understand what I am saying.  I am not very "worldy."

The idea of reparations must never have to be placed on a barameter that asks who deserves them. The fact is that slavery was wrong. The United States benefitted tremendously from having free labor. Slavery made this country what it is today. The exporting of cotton and tabacco and the products that were extracted from slavery made U.S. goods valuable to an international market.

Now the argument becomes why should the government pay reparations to people who never labored unjustly in servitude as a slave. After all, no one who was actually a slave is alive today. The way I see it, had the U.S. government been more expedient in their promises at the time of slavery (starting with 40 acres and a mule) black people wouldn't have this arguement today. But this country has shucked and jived it's way out of even legitimately recognizing the horror of slavery until July 2008, let alone an honest discussion on how to make amends for it's sins. That's 143 years of avoiding a problem. Can you imagine putting off a bill collector for 143 years! Honestly, blacks have not been aggressive enough in demanding that the government do right by their ancestors who built them a nation. But it was important to focus on Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement. I honestly don't think reparations will ever come to pass. Most white AMericans will let this country burn to the ground befor they ever will agree to pay one red cent in reparations. But the best way we can continue to honor their legacy is to fight the fight they weren't able to. The slaves should be held in the same esteem we hold the so-called founding fathers of this nation. The wealth and prestige this nation holds was built on the backs of slaves. We collectively spit on their graves when we argue that their sacrifice isn't worth fighting for.

The fact that it was my great great great great granddaddy who actually did the work and not me is inconsequential. You should have paid him when he was alive. If Paris Hilton's grandfather died and left her a big chunk of money, who am I to argue even if I don't think much of Paris Hilton. The fact is she is the rightful heir to his labor. If I book a room at a Hilton Hotel and sleep comfortably in their bed, when the bill comes I can't camplain that Paris may get some of the loot. Yet some of you want to make me feel guilty for what my family earned over 100 years ago. To argue against reparations would be to either a) argue the validity of the value of slave labor which frankly can't be denied or b) argue the tragedy of slavery and it's harm to the human beings who had to participate which now, thanks to the house, can't be denied either. Doing whatever you can do to correct a wrong you have knowingly committed is always the right thing to do, period.

And to Justawhiteguy, I could really give a damn about what  sickens you. Slavery ought to sicken you. Injustice ought to sicken you. 50 bullets in Sean Bell ought to sicken you. The fact that this nation got away with the endless abuse of fellow human beings freely for so many years ought to sicken you. Not an honest discussion on the validity of an apology from congress. Your weak arguement that people all over the world were involved in slavery reminds me of the kid that snitches on the friend when he gets caught doing something wrong and says "well he did it too." Most of us christians believe in something called a judgement day where you stand before Lord and have to admit your sins. On that day, there will be no blaming or telling on others for what you've done wrong. America can take that lesson and stop telling me about what Africa and Europe did and finally take responsibility for their part in the African holocaust. Your self righteousness reaks of your ignorance when you don't even know how much slave labor made the life you lead today possible. Don't be so ungrateful.

JStuart;

Thank you for your response. I've been checking back periodically to see if you had anything to say. Again, thank you. Your insights on Rev. Wright were refreshing to me and put the man's work into perspective. I, too, wish that whites and blacks and gays and straights and men and women could swap places for a year, then reconvene to compare notes and insights of their individual and collective experiences. I think the world could benefit greatly from such a thing, even if it's an impossible wish to make.

I was raised in a household that used words like "***" and "***" to describe a man. When "The Wiz" first aired on television we weren't allowed to watch it because "there are niggers in it". My first girlfriend in middle school was black and she wasn't welcome at my grandmother's funeral. Since leaving home at 18 (I'm now 36) I've focused on UNLEARNING all of the disgusting influences that I was raised with. I'm still unlearning. It's a lifelong process that takes brains, conviction of spirit and a lot of intestinal fortitude to accomplish successfully. Maybe in this way I can be perceived as a man who is doing his part to counterbalance the sins of his fore fathers.

Thanks again for your response. I do admit to being ignorant about a lot of things, but I'M TRYING.

First, to JellyBelly: Being white, you could probably walk through most Black neighborhoods in Chicago with no fear of getting molested. In some of the rougher area, the denizens would probably think you were looking for drugs, and therefore, it wouldn't be in their self-interest to mess with you like that. Right now, the near South Side (close to the central business district) that 10 years ago was still what we here in Chicago call the 'low end' has become increasingly gentrified, as it is in close proximity to Lake Michigan, has a lot of vacant lots, and since Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics, the powers that be here are making a concerted effort to expand that particular area's geographic appeal. Believe me, there are neighborhoods here you could go into before I could. I realize that you personally, may have never done a Black person wrong; what I was saying (venting) was my frustration at those whites who, everytime a Black person brings up the injusice and inequality America has served up to not just Blacks, but Hispanics, Asians, gays, women, etc. it's described as WHINING. Well, like I posted earlier, walk a year in my shoes and see if you don't want to get your whine on too.

FreezeTag: I feel you. I just turned 50 this year, so I a lot closer to what was happening in the '60. I remember my uncles and older cousins feeling the pride and the rage of the period, especially the ones who served in Vietnam and how they were treated when they came home. i was lucky in a sense from them beacause I was raised with bronze spoon in my mouth; I gone to private school my whole life, so I was always one of the only Blacks in my classroom or school. I've seen and been the target of some ugly things at the hands of white people, but by the same token, I've met some white people who are and will be friends for life. The drunken college debates I had with my white classmates will stay with me forever, because, well, en vino veritas, the wine speaks the truth. My parents didn't raise me to be racist, my mother used to tell me a n****r screw me as quick as any man, but that white people did not have my best interest at heart, so play it all close to the vest. Like most things in life, she was proven right and she was proven wrong. The best thing you can do is to TRY. Just don't let the small minds discourage you. I guess this is one of the reasons the whole Barack Obama thing is so important. Win or lose, he's has put the discussion of race in America on the front burner where we can all smell the coffee!

Reparations? What, a larger stimulus check to blow at the mall or the Benz dealership?

I'm too cynical and terrified by the goings-on in our own literal and figurative communities to care about an apology for a situation that has put African descendants -- like myself -- in a country where education and hard work almost gurantee that we can, like most Americans and other Westerners, live better than 99.9% of the people in the rest of the world.

And quite frankly, this victim-obsession is getting tired. That's why when really bad things happen to us, like when one of us is unarmed and gets shot and killed anyway by a mixed race group of cops on the night before his wedding or when a group of boys intimidate a white boy with a gun for haning a noose on a tree (which, in itself, was the initial threat) and get charged for attempted murder NOBODY LISTENS.  For Christ's sake, a white man can't even call a beaurocratic nuisance a "black hole," a long-accepted scientific entity and metaphor for elusive material misplacement without black people freaking out. This, in the year a man of 50% African descent represents the Democratic ticket for the POTUS!

Jews, Arabs, Asians, hell, even white Catholics .. .there isn't a group on this planet who hasn't been violated for being who they are. Most recently, it was our turn. Do we live in it another 143 years or become the respected community we have the choice to be by educating our children, planning our families, working our asses off and stop killing each other! THAT would be the kind of priceless reparation that wouldn't require any bills signed or checks mailed and one that would last a lot longer than a new car, an equity loan or a tax break.

Some of you people would make our ancestors cringe. Want reparations? Earn them yourself and stop making the rest of us look so damned pathetic!!!!

@ JStuart: Great post!! Great healthy outlook on life in general, being a black American man in particular.

Posted By: theoriginal MissZ (August 2, 2008 at 5:37 PM)

Slave mentality exists today because of the previous generation promoting their woes to their children, instead of dismissing it as such "history".

Funny how no one has a problem with the Jewish community telling the stories of their suffering and triumphs,  from Biblical Times, to the Holocaust...but African Americans should dismiss our history as merely....history.  This is why we have a genaration of young people who didn't even know who the little rock nine were.

We are the only ethnic people who are continuously asked to dismiss our history...and who do... which is why African American children believe that the only black heroes we had were Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Harriet Tubman...and they know next to nothing about these people.    Goddamn shame, isn't it??  Goddamn shame that Black people are expected not to pass down our history from generation to generation.  Well, not me.  I've already started with my four year old son.  Soon as my two year old is old enough, I'll start with him.

And no one should apologize for slavery, or the lives lost during Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights movement...because no one IS sorry for these atrocities.  

Apologies should never be offered when they are are not geniune.  

Well I think that the House of representatives has enough foresight to know that we may be electing the first Black president in a few months. And since he has a good chance of winning, they are trying to make us believe that this is a heartfelt gesture, when it is obviously an empty one. They are scared to death that Obama will take things out on white america. I think that it's hilarious that they would even air such a thing. Why don't they find out my where great (4x) grandmother, who was sold down the river, had all of her children and where they are. They can't give us back our families so they can keep their apologies and other purely political moves that don't help us one bit. WHAT THE HECK DOES AN APOLOGY DO FOR ME? Let's just get Obama elected, because obviously "experience" means the country goes further down hill. I'm glad he doesn't have any experience, that means he's not set in Washington's sordid ways.

I don't apologize for anything. Tuff!

My family came to this country from Scotland at the turn of the 20th centrury. They worked hard to create a life for themselves and their children. It was a work ethic that has been passed along to generation after generation in our family. The bottom line is this: You don't deserve anything from my family and you will not get anything from my family. Not now, not ever.

I'm with Pharakook.  I don't want a dime of my tax dollars going towards reparations.  I'm a first generation American.  My dad and his family came to America from Austria when he was about 6.  I don't expect people to call me Austrian-American because I don't have dual citizenship.  My dad's family were all naturalized, my dad doing so about 20 years later after everyone else.  But I was born here.  Just like many of you, and that makes me AMERICAN.  An American that never enslaved anyone (except maybe my sister when we had to clean our room).  The difference between slave owners and ***...*** ARE STILL ALIVE.  If you do a crime with no statute of limitations and you get caught, you'll pay the price.  What is the statue of limitations on slavery?  The best part about being an un-enslaved American is that we all have the freedom to pick up and leave.  Here's how:  

Pick a country.

Save your money.  

Get a passport and visa.

Pop smoke.

Maybe those that want reparations should seek them from their African ancestors that sold them in the first place.

I guess the guys with the swastikas on their arms that killed the Jewish is a banned word.  Anyhow, they're still alive, and should be hunted down if they're still alive and in hiding.  

I do not know which book you rteading guys but please recheck your sources " Africans selling more than 50 millions individuals for slavery ??"".

Olivia James go back to school and have respect for the poeple who suffered from this, if it was another story i will accuse you denying the massive implications of European nation in slavery not to exclude Arabs who enslaved more than  circa 17 millions individuals.

But the European Scale of enslavement was far more important and the the thousands of individuals who were saled of exchanged by africans is marginal compared to what Eurpeans did.

so stop serving that B******** excuses here of african selling there brothers

And this is not whining !!!

Yes, we want an apology, some government cheese, reparations, and a memorial for the slaves on the mall for their great sacrifice.  Slavery, the ultimate inhumanity to man and woman.  

let us rejoice that we are free.  God bless America and all her citizens. America is our

MFSB.

Please stop with the slavery thing. It wasn't my idea, honest. My parents weren't slave owners, my grandparents weren't slave owners, i don't think any of my ancestors were slave owners. Even if they were, why am i being blamed. I have no control over what they did. Plus, You weren't a slave, your parents weren't slaves, and your grandparents weren't slaves, so why are you crying?