<p>^Yes…what do you mean by this poetsheart?</p>
<p>My knickers are nowhere near being tied, btw. :)</p>
<p>So, if the idea of reparations were to be approved, decendants from slaves (documented florida lineage) would be paid. Ok, does that mean the money only comes from Florida citizens who have documented lineage to prove their ancestors participated in slavery? If an American of African ancestry is entitled to reparations because his ancestor was a Florida slave , then doesn’t it follow that the reparation[financial apology] only come from decendants of those (of all color) that participated?</p>
<p>I agree with you poetsheart. Let’s fix what’s broke, not break it again.</p>
<p>I’m surprised, Razor, that you find my desire for full social and political equality so difficult to understand. It means the end of racism, and all its demoralizing social ramifications. It means, not just a change of the laws of the land, but the hearts of people of the land, also.</p>
<p>Yes, yes, yes—of course we’ve come a long way toward that end. But not yet all the way. That’s all I’m saying.</p>
<p>
I don’t find your desire difficult to understand. I hope most people would agree with that desire. I just didn’t understand what you meant. You used big words that could mean many things. It was the detail that was missing. I am not sure you have added any details but maybe what you mean is not something that can be specified.</p>
<p>Would this mean all racism or only that practiced by the majority races?</p>
<p>Of all places, I hear the Hawaiian Islands can be quite unpleasant for whites, for example.</p>
<p>^no, you’re trying to split hairs and you’re trivializing a situation. </p>
<p>They are talking about racism by the STATE. The government has never institutionalized racism against the majority, because in a democracy that’s impossible. So if reparations would be paid, it would be paid by the state of Florida because the state of Florida sanctioned slavery.</p>
<p>No hair-splitting or trivializing is underway be me.</p>
<p>I am interested in seeing what the public reaction (what this board’s reaction is, anyway) is to paying reparations. I have suggested several reparation starting points, or end points (depending on the individual’s opinion) to this discussion.</p>
<p>Question for the discussion:</p>
<p>The apology focuses on slavery, not on later discriminatory state practices as egregious as those may have been. Therefore, damages (reparations) for slavery should be calculated how?</p>
<p>I can’t answer that for you parent2noles, as I don’t believe reparations should be paid. And given that reparations are not even a point of serious national debate (not even among black people :rolleyes:), a discussion about the how’s and why for’s are about as useful as a two legged stool.</p>
<p>As many have who have read through this string have probably guessed, this is an exceedingly complex subject fraught with all sorts of emotions. I do believe all Americans should directly confront their prejudices and resolve them in a constructive manner and then leave them for history classes.</p>
<p>I don’t understand this concept of reparations. Public apology by decendents of slave owners to decendents of slaves…really now. A descendent does not carry his forebearers malice or pain in their DNA. My great grandparents were exterminated in Nazi Germany but I do not hold the decendents of Nazis responsible. They weren’t even born!
Also, how do the descendents of slaves not have social equality? Maybe it is just where I have lived (near major metropolitan areas) but I have never witnessed social inequality.</p>