Oooooooooh, breaking news...

[j2k4]

It develops that the Reverend Al Sharpton's great-grandfather was a slave in the service of a forebear of one Strom Thurmond, deceased U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina.

I smell a civil suit.

[Alien5]

you shouldn't be allowed to do that after the person is dead. it should be the choice of the victim, not his great grandson.

[Busyman™]

It develops that the Reverend Al Sharpton's great-grandfather was a slave in the service of a forebear of one Strom Thurmond, deceased U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina.

I smell a civil suit.

Interesting but..er....uh....civil suit for what?

[j2k4]

It develops that the Reverend Al Sharpton's great-grandfather was a slave in the service of a forebear of one Strom Thurmond, deceased U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina.

I smell a civil suit.

Interesting but..er....uh....civil suit for what?

Isn't Reverend Sharpie a big advocate of reparations?

He's got an ideal test case, wouldn't you say?

Wouldn't he love to be the one who opened the floodgates?

[Busyman™]

Interesting but..er....uh....civil suit for what?

Isn't Reverend Sharpie a big advocate of reparations?

He's got an ideal test case, wouldn't you say?

Wouldn't he love to be the one who opened the floodgates?

I say you can't have reparations and affirmative action.

We are kinda (wayyyyyyy) past the point of reparations anyway.

[Mr JP Fugley]

Isn't Reverend Sharpie a big advocate of reparations?

He's got an ideal test case, wouldn't you say?

Wouldn't he love to be the one who opened the floodgates?

I say you can't have reparations and affirmative action.

We are kinda (wayyyyyyy) past the point of reparations anyway.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/5/5a/200px-Johnmcginley4x18.jpg

[j2k4]

Isn't Reverend Sharpie a big advocate of reparations?

He's got an ideal test case, wouldn't you say?

Wouldn't he love to be the one who opened the floodgates?

I say you can't have reparations and affirmative action.

We are kinda (wayyyyyyy) past the point of reparations anyway.

I'm glad to hear you say that.

I'm wondering how others will feel, after a bit of time has passed.

It might end up being a positive thing, who knows?

[Busyman™]

I say you can't have reparations and affirmative action.

We are kinda (wayyyyyyy) past the point of reparations anyway.

I'm glad to hear you say that.

I'm wondering how others will feel, after a bit of time has passed.

It might end up being a positive thing, who knows?

When I say that I mean you can't both at the same time.

Either reparations are a band-aid fix OR affirmative action is.

Doing both is ridiculous. I believe reparations should have been made though a long time ago. Hell other groups have had some sort of reparations but black folk have had to not only go through slavery but then slog it out for equal rights for decades.

That kinda thing will kinda put a people, as whole, at a disadvantage for future generations.

One can't say, "Okay now you have equal rights" and then expect everything to be "righted". I think reparations would have been great ages ago (40 acres and a mule?:unsure: ) + plus the equal rights but reparations now, as in a big paycheck, doesn't right the ship and talk of it should be put to bed. It comes down to a simple hand out where it's not a person trying to work or anything. It's just giving money. You'll have many that will do something responsible with it and then there'll be many that will smoke it up. Fuck that.

I won't back away from affirmative action though like folks like Clarence Thomas have. One can't say in a land founded with institutional racism that everything's cool now.

The conundrum is when is it done?

[GepperRankins]

at the risk of being called racist... americans should shut the fuck up about slavery already. nobody alive today is accountable for anything to do with it. so it should be treated like everything else past :dabs:

[Snee]

What gepper said, but imagine I said it with a lot more diplomacy.

Social reforms, equal rights, and justice ftw.

But giving someone something on the basis that his or hers ancestors were subjected to something over a hundred years ago, or something like that...it doesn't seem right.

There are injustices committed every day, to people who live now.

[Mr JP Fugley]

at the risk of being called racist... americans should shut the fuck up about slavery already. nobody alive today is accountable for anything to do with it. so it should be treated like everything else past :dabs:

I agree. As I posted elsewhere I do not feel responsible for things which happened decades or centuries before I was born.

I know some people take the "sins of the Father" position. However surely it is better to learn from mistakes and move on. What happens in the present and future is the important thing. That's not to say forget what happened, just to accept that it did happen and move on from it.

Can I use the Irish peace process as an example of that. There is no way it could or can work without those involved saying "Enough is enough, let us build a better future. Let us not prevent that happening by dwelling on the past".