Perhaps you have heard the great debate in the news media about the possible reimbursement and restitution for all African-Americans who have ancestors who were slaves. After some 15 generations this turns out to be quite a large number of people, in fact it is over 40 million. If the United States government were forced to get of let's say $75,000 to over 40 million people it would actually bankrupt our country, not that Social Security won't do that same thing in the near future anyway, but nevertheless it would bankrupt the nation.

Additionally, how can one group of people such as African Americans demand reimbursement and restitution when other nationalities were also exploited in the early days of America. Consider the Irish and the Chinese while building the railroad or the time before the Industrial Revolution when people work to the bone; both adults and children for very little food. Recently in a coffee shop conversation I heard a white gentleman arguing with a black gentleman over this very issue. The white gentleman stated:

What about all the crime being caused by black Americans in the inner city, I have to pay more in taxes for police and prisons and my car was broken into, I do not see anybody trying to reimburse me for that. I want my tax dollars back. So there is your Black Mirror. And if anyone calls me a racist for pointing out facts; then I call the Black Chamber of Commerce racist for having an all Black Club, excluding whites. This is a Black Racist issue, demanding repayment for slavery and those involved need to get a life and grow up. They are not helping America; they are tearing it down. Plato would have laughed at the insanity of all this.

Now then, those were not the exact words of the white gentleman as this debate got quite heated and went on for about 30 minutes nevertheless that was the gist of the argument and it is something to philosophically think about. The black gentleman was completely serious about wanting his $75,000 reimbursement. He said it was owed to him and he demanded restitution. Perhaps we should all consider this in 2006.