News-Record.com

"quitting time!!" -gwtw

Mr. Millar, "All that aside, this issue is not about slavery." Of course it's about slavery and it's residue! You started your letter off referring to apologies for slavery. And there's quite a big difference between coming to America shackled and in the cargo hold of a ship as opposed as coming as an indentured servant. Unfortunately, Ellis Island wasn't there for us at the time. It's amazing how someone who comes from a group that has had a head start since 1619, can castigate people who have always been assumed to be inferior because of the color of their skin. After all, that's why we were made slaves, wasn't it? Our skin color was different from yours and we were assumed to be heathens. Why not just admit that you feel that African Americans are a bane to Western Civilization? Mr. Buckyreeds does.

conundrum... being of the same skin color as you, I hope you are at work right now.

"Why not just admit that you feel that African Americans are a bane to Western Civilization?"

Do you do yoga? I ask because that's a pretty big stretch right there.

As a caucasian woman whose ancestry can be traced to the more recent hejira from Sicily to the deeper lines of Iroquois and 17th century English adventurers, I offer this. I acknowledge that slavery in all forms is wrong and reprehensible. I acknowledge that great suffering occured to individuals who were forcibly removed from their homes, transported in abhorrent conditions and sold as product. I affirm that the institution of slavery as it occured in the United States of America and as it continues to occur on this earth is an embarrassment and an abomination.

I acknowledge that there have been systemic and multigenerational effects stemming from this morally unjustifiable practice. I recognize that there have been changes and some progress made to rid our society of practices that were legal and/or socially acceptable but were unjust. I also recognize that this process is not complete.

I regret that the history of the human race is marked by instances of human beings mistreating other human beings. As a citizen of a country that purports to recognize equality among inhabitants, the fact that this dehumanization was raised to the level of a legal institution is incredible.

I cannot change the past nor can I offer hope for the future. I affirm at this time, that in this, the present moment I will treat all beings with respect and kindness.

"All that aside, this issue is not about slavery; it is about how much money this group can extract from the public trough."

When in doubt follow the money.

Oh the love just flows from the ones who can't say how they really feel....the ones who claim they are NOT racist, but have preconceived notions about black people, Hispanics and others. I can just tell how sincere those who say, Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, like I did" really are. The same ones who want to tell the poor single mom that she must take the fetus to term. The same ones who portray every recipient of government assistance as "leeches", while defending coporate welfare. The same ones who receive government benefits such as VA and FHA loans, and GI bill educations, but feel that the WIC program is a "giveaway" program.
Oh, and let's not forget the "Religious" people who post with piety, only to say things like "follow the money".
Yes, it's a simple black and white world for the simple minded.

ZhaK- wonderful post.

Kudos to Zhak. I enjoyed that very much, thank you.

I have known hapless millionaires, happy paupers, senseless celebrities and sensational nobodies. I have friends who have been to the mountaintop and seen the view, only to have it ruin them for the rest of their lives.

Money, success and adoration are transient. The sole determinant of satisfaction is character, and you don't need money to buy it.

I agree with all the ZhaK said and the issue is not just slavery but the prejudice and discrimination that ran rampant through the civil rights era. I also think most everyone will agree that subtle (and not so subtle) forms of prejudice and discrimination still exist today and probably always will. However, this should not be a stereotype laid on all whites as I feel most really try not to treat minorities differently (although I’m sure most of us do subconsciously in one way or another). I try very hard not to stereotype minorities or any other group different from myself.

However, that being said, I would be dishonest if I said I haven’t met more than a few people who felt their minority status gave them a right of entitlement and sought out preferential treatment or blamed the consequences of their behavior on racism when I knew it not to be true. I have encountered this many times in a workplace situation. I think if everyone is honest with themselves, they have seen this type of victim/entitlement behavior and recognized it as unjustified.

I would also add that this was a small percent of the minorities in the workplace I personally worked with. However, this small percent encourages the stereotypes laid on the rest of minority people who strive to overcome past injustices.

As I see things, what is most important is the here and now. How we treat one another on a daily basis, whether we know them or not, is the measure of our character. Although that is a two-way street, we have no control over the behaviors of others, only our own. If someone wants to blame me for the transgressions of my ancestors rather than interact with me personally, the only thing I can do is not get caught up in that way of thinking.

Every Sunday, during silent confession at my church, I ask God to forgive me if I have hurt someone. And I ask for guidance in interacting with people so I don't do or say hurtful things. I ask this not only for my interaction with white folks, but for any other human I come in contact with. I fail sometimes when the human in me wins out over the Christ in me. But I keep trying.

I can do nothing to change the past. My efforts are to change the present and the future. I want my grandchildren to know the harmony of a society filled with love for one another rather than hate, violence and blame. This is what I pray for daily.

Like I said, follow the money:

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/03/26/slavery.reparations/

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200011/13_williamsb_reparations/

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_reparations.htm

Even Africa has caught on, they want reparations AND all of their worldwide debt cancelled:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/424984.stm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13785355/

Dan,

The BBC article you posted was rather interesting. I find it odd that no African countries that participated in the slave trade were mentioned as having made a formal apology either.

Zhak,
Your post is truly thoughtful. Thanks.

I vote for having 50% of the reparation bill paid by the descendants of the Africans who sold their fellow countrymen into slavery, and the other 50% paid for by guilt ridden white American liberals.

"However, that being said, I would be dishonest if I said I haven’t met more than a few people who felt their minority status gave them a right of entitlement and sought out preferential treatment or blamed the consequences of their behavior on racism when I knew it not to be true."

LastVOR,
You are absolutely on target. They are like the ones who oppose ANYTHING remotely contrite toward those who have been wronged by racism in this country. Both groups are dispicable and operate at the fringe of civilized discourse.

Dan,
Glad to see some mainstream posts from you. Much more credible.

Bishop, I found it ironic that slavery is still practiced in Africa yet the Africans want reparations for slavery.

Notice they also want ships and aircraft available for anyone who wants to repatriate to Africa. I don't think they will find many takers from the US, but I'll support any who do want to go.

Zhak writes, "I affirm at this time, that in this, the present moment I will treat all beings with respect and kindness."

That's crazy. Even if you limit "beings" to human beings and the better sort of mammals and fowl, it makes no sense to treat them all with respect. Many beings, for instance, are lazy nitwits, and who respects a lazy nitwit? Others are homocidal maniacs, and treating them kindly is just asking for trouble.

As for reparations for slavery, it's an idea whose stupidity hardly needs to be pointed out. What seems interesting to me is that no one has made a case for reparations for segregation, where a logical (if not persuasive) argument can be made that people still living were subjected to injustices that cost them money.

Brian--

Even though I don't agree with you, I respect you as a living being.

With kindness,

ZhaK

Good one. But what if (hypothetically speaking, OF COURSE) I were a lazy nitwit or a homicidal maniac or a prawn?

Brian,

I don't know if you'll come back and read this but I hope that you do.

Could I treat you with respect and kindness if you actually were a lazy nitwit, etc? Well, yes. Because there is a difference between one's behaviors and ones being. Naturally, I distance myself from behaviors that are dangerous or unsavory or harmful. These are expressions of dissatisfaction and suffering. The expression is not you, the dissatisfaction is not you. The first is your choice and the second naturally arises from living in a physical plane that is fraught with hardship.

You are a being that happens to be in a living condition with many challenges. So am I. So is the snake hanging out in my greenhouse. So is the hawk currently perching on the dead limb outside my window. So is the nut job living in an asylum. So is the other nut job living on the street.

When I turn on my heart, I don't automatically turn off my head. I don't have to participate in the snake's life and perhaps have my ankle bitten. I don't have to fulfill the homicidal maniac's delusions by offering to be a victim.

Being kind and being a patsy are not the same thing.

Respectfully,

ZhaK

ZhaK,you separate behavior from being. I don't. I'm more of an existentialist on this one: you are what you do. If you kill someone, you're a murderer. If you refuse to think or work, you're a lazy nitwit. Neither, in my book, is deserving of respect. This view, of course, depends on a distinctively human set of traits: the scorpion in the anecdote will always sting the frog ("it's in my nature"), but humans, in my view, have moral imperatives that they can follow or not: their choice.

You posit a pristine "you" that I flatly don't believe in. You say my "expression" IS my "choice," but it's "not me." If it's not "me," then who's making the "choice"? (What does this pristine "me" do anyway? Sit around and remain pure and uncorrupted whatever what my choices are?) My answer is that I am choosing--that my self and my choices are coexistent--and that I should be judged for my choices where they impact the rest of the world.

Hi Brian.

You ask an interesting question. Who is making the choice? You certainly don't see a pristine untouchable, I don't know, entity and neither do I. You seem to see a self that is choosing and the choices define the self. This is very neat and practical; a closed and logical system. As you say, an existential view.

So where do the moral imperatives come from?

ZhaK