Quote Originally Posted by Anubis10012007
ouch. Well here is the difference. Slavery was still going on after the Constitution was ratified. The same constitution that was ratified in the 18th century is still the supreme document of the land. This is why I FEEL that reparations should handed out because this was in my book, recent. 200 years is not a long time really.
even if we go by your guidelines, who pays? i suppose the simple answer is "the government". the problem is that the government doesn't magically make money appear, it comes from the people. now i don't know about you, but my family emigrated far too late to get in on the slave owning craze. should we only penalize those whose families owned slaves? maybe we should go after the descendants of arab slave traders or the great great great great grandchildren of those who sold their enemies into slavery as a result of inter-tribal warfare. before you go handing out money you must first lay blame and that blame is spread out across the globe.

no, that whole "sins of the fathers visited upon the sons" shtick is a bit too biblical, don't you think? different eras give rise to different atrocities and today's business as usual may be tomorrow's great evil. the present gives us enough to make up for without being forced to atone for the mistakes of the past.