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Ofcourse we look forward but you cant forget what your ancestors went through! Do we just forget?........
We don't 'just forget'. Between slavery and the holocaust, along with all of the other horrific genocides we have borne witness to, we learn from it and use that knowledge to prevent the same from occurring again.
No one says to forget. I would never ask a Jewish person, Rawandan, Bosnian, Serb, etc., to 'just forget'. The pain is very real. My friend's grandparents had tattoos on their arms...they were the lucky ones to be here to show us the remnants of the atrocity bestowed upon them. One of the grandchildren, now grown, does business in Germany. He realises that not all Germans were/are Nazis. Another friend's family was wiped out. They have nothing of their ancestry -- more in line with the slaves who were brought here over 140 years ago. Despite starting here with nothing other than their names, they have become very successful. My former employer told me a story: he attended med school in the mid west in the 1950's. His room mate asked to feel his head. "Why?" he asked. His room mate, a midwesterner, told him flat out, "I've never met a Jew and I heard you all have horns."
Ignorance and perception are constants no matter what color, what ethnicity. People who hold onto the hurt of the past and use that as their excuse as to why they aren't doing well, 3 generations or more removed from the incident, are just as ignorant as the man looking for a Jew's horns.
People feel badly about slavery, have spent the past 40 years post civil rights movement learning about this injustice in greater detail while affording greater opportunities to minority groups in an effort to 'right the wrong'. Our current President was by no means a wealthy man growing up, yet he went on to attend an Ivy League school. We see more African American doctors, lawyers, politicians, accountants, etc....did they achieve this success by sitting back and licking ancient wounds, or by moving forward and taking advantage of any opportunity given them?
Americans have given the ancestors of slaves and other oppressed minority groups a unique form of reparations: affirmative action.
My neighbor, a surgeon in a prestigious NYC hospital, is a well-educated, interesting and articulate individual. Had he sat back on the stoop of the apartment house he grew up in, lamenting the evils of whitey and slavery as opposed to taking whatever hand up was offered, his life would be a much different one. He would be a phenomenal mentor for young men growing up in the projects. Too bad some of these fellows would rather keep it real. No apology issued by the government will change that.
When many leftist politicians are open about reparations; it's not really a conspiracy is it? Do you suffer from Liberal White Guilt?
What part of common decency do you have a problem with? Should we act like a civilized society, or go your route? ie Paranoid, angry and attacking everything they can't relate to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonrise
So, anyone that disagrees with you on this position is either a racist, bigot or plain fool?
More of your everyday garden variety type, nothing to special.
Location: Pittsburgh but I'm ready to relocate......
727 posts, read 1,891,044 times
Reputation: 403
Bottom Line for me is, Black slaves and descendants of black slaves should be apologized to for the unjustices we face(d) in America. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for Us or our ancestors,BE Clear! I'm not even asking for reperations even though we were promised reperations and deserve them. Reperations for me would be an acknowledgement and apology for the past. Also equal rights and an equal playing field for ALL disadvantaged people of color. I definitely think that innercity schools should be improved. We as blacks help build america and its crying shame that people are riled up over an "apology".......Feel lucky its only an apology and not monetary reperations!
What part of common decency do you have a problem with? Should we act like a civilized society, or go your route? ie Paranoid, angry and attacking everything they can't relate to.
More of your everyday garden variety type, nothing to special.
Apparently facetiousness is a lost art. I have no problem with an apology, per say. Slavery was an horrific time in American history; I didn't realize that this was a revelation to most people. However, I'm not naive enough to see what then end result is. Are you in favor of reparations and do you suffer from LWG?
Bottom Line for me is, Black slaves and descendants of black slaves should be apologized to for the unjustices we face(d) in America. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for Us or our ancestors,BE Clear! I'm not even asking for reperations even though we were promised reperations and deserve them. Reperations for me would be an acknowledgement and apology for the past. Also equal rights and an equal playing field for ALL disadvantaged people of color. I definitely think that innercity schools should be improved. We as blacks help build america and its crying shame that people are riled up over an "apology".......Feel lucky its only an apology and not monetary reperations!
What injustice did you face in America.
The schools in Washington DC, y'know, "inner city" gets tons more money then any other school district in the nation. Personal responsibility is waaay more important then money.
When do we ever "get over" our pasts? I live in DC and literally everywhere I go I bump into shines and monuments for former presidents and war heroes, which, by the way, I think is absolutely fine.
I consider myself to be a pretty successful African American. I am college educated, employed, live in an extremely nice area of town, pay taxes, and I have never been in any sort of legal trouble. I say this because I have been reading/seeing these threads about how to fix "Black America," and to be honest I am quite sick of it. I can say that my entire (Black) family (both immediate and extended) is college educated.
On the topic at hand, I have been doing genealogy research, and I am pretty stunned by how little I can find. Someone mentioned knowing that their family came from Sicily, quite honestly, you are very lucky to know that. I can only go as far back as my great great grandfather. This person was a slave, and that is really all I know. This is how slavery affects the current generation. It leaves us with a hole. I feel as though I can't honor the lives of my ancestors because I simply don't know who they are. I don't want or need reparations, but I think an apology to those lost souls is the least the government can do.
Last edited by 17th Street; 06-22-2009 at 12:31 PM..
Location: Pittsburgh but I'm ready to relocate......
727 posts, read 1,891,044 times
Reputation: 403
Quote:
Originally Posted by 17th Street
When do we ever "get over" our pasts? I live in DC and literally everywhere I go I bump into shines and monuments for former presidents and war heroes, which, by the way, I think is absolutely fine.
I consider myself to be a pretty successful African American. I am college educated, employed, live in an extremely nice area of town, pay taxes, and I have never been in any sort of legal trouble. I say this because I have been reading/seeing these threads about how to fix "Black America," and to be honest I am quite sick of it. I can say that my entire (Black) family (both immediate and extended) is college educated.
On the topic at hand, I have been doing genealogy research, and I am pretty stunned by how little I can find. Someone mentioned knowing that their family came from Sicily, quite honestly, you are very lucky to know that. I can only go as far back as my great great grandfather. This person was a slave, and that is really all I know. This is how slavery affects the current generation. It leaves us with a hole. I feel as though I can't honor the lives of my ancestors because I simply don't know who they are. I don't want or need reparations, and I think an apology to those lost souls is the least the government can do.
Bottom Line for me is, Black slaves and descendants of black slaves should be apologized to for the unjustices we face(d) in America. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for Us or our ancestors,BE Clear! I'm not even asking for reperations even though we were promised reperations and deserve them. Reperations for me would be an acknowledgement and apology for the past. Also equal rights and an equal playing field for ALL disadvantaged people of color. I definitely think that innercity schools should be improved. We as blacks help build america and its crying shame that people are riled up over an "apology".......Feel lucky its only an apology and not monetary reperations!
Affirmative Action = reverse discrimination. Eliminate affirmative action and let ALL citizens compete on an equal field. Eliminate the box for race on tests, eliminate the names and use a non gender specific identifier -- like a SSN -- for tests and applications in order to have a truly non-biased way to score students and potential applicants.
Inner city schools -- a large part of the problem is that the parents. If the parents have little regard for education, Johnny isn't going to, either. White, black, yellow, red Johnnys need to parental involvement in their education. Once we have parental involvement, we will start to see education take place. People will be less reluctant to see money placed into schools where children ARE performing and learning.
I'd pay as much to the Chinese railroad workers. Let us all figure that sum out.
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However, I'm not naive enough to see what then end result is. Are you in favor of reparations and do you suffer from LWG?
