Reparations. For what? This country was barely populated when slaves were brought from Africa. Are you going to hunt down every descendant of slaves, many of whom took on the names of their owners families and have thousands upon thousands of descendants? Are you going to pay each of them $1, which would probably be the case if you sued the families that were responsible for owning slaves?
My family didnt own slaves. My Mothers family came from Sweden after the Civil War and they fought hard to have their homestead on the hard, cold prairie. They worked the land themselves, sometimes fighting blistering snowstorms to stay alive. My Fathers family came here in 1950 from Greece. They were given asylum because the Nazis destroyed their farm.
It wasnt easy for ANY of our ancestors. Should we get reparations? For how hard it was? Just because African Americans were BROUGHT here, it wasnt the fault of our modern Society. Thats just how it was back then. We righted ourselves by fighting the Civil War. Does anybody think how it was for a Mother to lose her children to a battle fighting for the rights of someone she considered less than an equal? What they fought for.. what they all believed in.. was the right for all men to be equal. No shame can be found in that.
Bound on those rights, is Society as we see it today. How can African Americans ask for reparation when their lot has become better? Based on the history of civil rights, their lot is way better/ Through the deaths of many people that believed in equal rights as Abe Lincoln expressed it, or as Martin Luther King expressed it, their lot in life is better.. and things are so much more equal. How can people classify themselves as African Americans when they werent BORN in Africa, nor do they have a contact with Africa. They are Americans, cuz they were born here. They continue to SEGREGATE themselves by calling themselves other than American. How can they expect to progress if they keep bringing attention to their differences? They keep saying that America has to pay attention to their differences, celebrate those differences, yet they keep asking America to integrate with them. You either want one or the other. Its okay if you want black colleges, black channels BET, black Ms. America pageants.. but then dont turn around and ask people to IGNORE their caucasion differences, and get upset cuz people want to have Ms. White America pageants, white only clubs, things like that.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Do you know how UPSET the NAACP would be if white people formed a union and had a Ms. White USA? How upset people would be if someone formed a WHITE ONLY channel? Well, think about it like that.
Were all Americans, those of us that were born here. I like the fact that some of us continue to bring our traditions and cultures to the fore, but for the most part.. we are AMERICANS.. and we are all the same.. and we all are lucky to live here and we should be proud.. and should be become one.. AMERICANS.