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. They were beaten, starved, abused, neglected, and forced to work until they basically collapsed of heat exaustion, or getting beaten to death. 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.
Not quite sure where you got the idea that we're saying we should ignore slavery, I'm sure I've never said that, nor have I seen people say it in this thread. But the thing is, it does matter if my ancestors didn't do it. I ask again, why should I pay for someone else's ancestors?

I'm not saying that we should just abandon social programs, or that it's all good for black people in the US. Believe you me, I grew up in Oakland, I've seen what people of all ethnicities have to suffer through every day. All I'm saying is that reparations aren't the solution. They'd just to cause further discontent, and we'd still have prejudice and racism. Throwing money at a problem doesn't solve it. Instead, investing more in our urban areas, investing more in transportation networks, schools, hospitals, universities, urban renewal, and violence-prevention programs, we'd be doing infinitely more good than just handing out $1,000* in cash to every black person in the country.

*$1,000 just an example, I don't even think supporters of reparations know how much they'd want.