Quote Originally Posted by Maggz
Funny how you guys keep saying "its the past, its the past"..when the PAST is the cause for the poverty that many African Americans are experiencing today. It was THEIR ancestors who leveled the land in America, the east would be all forest if it wasn't for their labor.
My ancestors cleared their own land, without any help - in New England, and upstate New York, during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. This is a fact (I have proof), and they didn't own slaves.

They were beaten, starved, abused, neglected, and forced to work until they basically collapsed of heat exaustion, or getting beaten to death.
Slave owners were more likely to do this to white indentured servants - because after the period of slavery, they would be let free. The black slaves were treated better, because they were (usually) held for life. Does it make sense to destroy a valuable asset? It probably happened, but not as frequently as books like "Roots" would have you believe.

Such brutallity can't be ignored, doesnt matter if your ancestors were the ones who did that shit..it was THEIR ancestors who suffered it. They were FORECEFULLY brought to this country and FORECEFULLY put to work with NO pay , they were treated like animals if not worse.
The slaves' own people sold them into slavery - shouldn't they be held responsible as well?

And now we're going to ignore it? Now we have the "THEY'RE HERE SO THEY'RE HERE" attitude..when it was THEM who had to live in the ghettos because of discrimination and being ostricized over the years..and we're going to just ignore it? Just because it was the PAST? They deserve reperations without a question.
It was not "THEM", as in people that are alive today -- it was some of their ancestors.

What about people of mixed races? What do you propose we do for them, make them pay reparations to themselves?