JackBNimble, you are taking what was a very simple statement and clouding it up beyond recognition. Was legal slavery practiced in a large percentage of the country at some point in the past? (after 1790 or whatever?) The answer is yes; end of story. If you are arguing that there never were slaves, (and thus there is no one to compensate), you will have to wait until someone rewrites the history books.

Quote Originally Posted by IDCrewDawg
don't feel there is any need to financially compensate a racial group of people for something that happened more than 2 generations before. There is not a single American "trapped in their current situation" as a result of something the US government did to their ancestors three generations ago.
Granted, you are probably right on this. However, one thing still confuses me. You agree there was some wrongdoing on the part of the American Government in endorsing slavery, or allowing its practice. You say financial compensation is innapropriate. What then should 'we' do? If the answer is nothing, then again I disagree with that attitude. If it isn't, what do you propose 'we' do? My 'plan' for repaying the affected parties is in my first or second post here, I won't bore you with it again.

One thing people have evaded directly talking about is the idea of apologizing. This technically is not what the board is about, but I would be very interested in knowing others opinions on this.