I know i am going to get boo'd for this but... Yes, white peeps shipped them over here and so on, but back peopled didnt necessarily do anything to discourage the Euorpeans from coming to africa and taking them. I know damn well that if it was either go be a slave or fighting for me and my people i would stand and fight. Why should i have to pay now for something my ancestors didnt even participate in. Why should any afircan americans today get something because their great great great great uncle had to pick cotton. Its just a way to call foul and try and get something for nothing Just like in 25th hour "Slavery ended 180 years ago, get over it".

LMFAO!! I don't think so. They already own sports and music.

no, aside from the fact the reparations were considered to be symbolic, even if they were not who would be the recipients and by what criterion would they be determined? Slavery was repudiated in this country through a brutal civil war that ended four generations ago. Presumably a direct relationship to a person held as chattel would have to be established: Given the frequent mixing of racial blood before and since, that could be deeply complicated. Might it be perversely necessary to resort to the insidious standard of the "one drop of blood" by which racial distinctions once were determined? A horrific thought! Consider as well how reparations for blacks invariably would be extended. Would not American Indians have a claim for their own reparations? How about the Irish, who for years encountered NINA ("No Irish Need Apply") codes or in the pre-Civil War South frequently were assigned the most dangerous jobs because their indentured lives were less valuable than those of slaves? Jews certainly suffered from wide discrimination -- wouldn't reparations for them be fitting? And Chinese were discriminated against viciously. And Italians. And so forth. Reperations have never been paid to any of them except the JApanese after the war and that was paid directly to those who were detained. Even if reparations were due to blacks, I think it is a little late now and the window of opportunity to pay directly to slaves is closed. Lastly, can anyone really think that since the end of slavery that blacks lives have been limited due to the enslavement of their ancestors? IF so how would a monetary sum erase that memory of slavery or make ones chances better? No it would seem to me that black elites, lawyaers like Cochran who would spearhead such a case, which would only come to fruition through a lengthy lawsuit against the Federal Government would be the ones who would more than likely benefit the most from it as they would of course receive a percentage of the winnings for their work. The rest would of course be divied out and taxed and how it would even be divied out would require a dept. of reparations or something be developed. I'm half Irish, I don't hold it against America that my ancestors died of Malaria digging ditches slaves were too good to dig. I'm 1/4 Cherokee, I don't hold it against America that my people were rounded up and marched across America to reservations. Do I ask for anything? No, I'm glad I have the opportunities I do...I think we all should be glad we are on a pretty level playing field in this day and age.