Sometimes a person with a brain has to cry foul:
I do now!
I do not even want to enumerate the number of times Black people have tried to put some onus on me because my ancestors owned slaves.
1) These were my ancestors! Why are you ignorantly trying to place some dumbass guilty trip on me for what they did? I am not looking at the actions of your ancestors and blaming you for them!
2) You want me to feel some obligation for your enslavement. On its face it is so much bullshit. I did not enslave you. My ancestors may have, but keeep in mind you were often sold into captivity by African people.
3) Do I owe you anything? F**k no! Proof: I could provide many examples but do the following(FYI: all of these directions are from memory, but are close enough): a) go to Gettysburg, b) stand where Lincoln gave his address, c) face South, d) walk three rows of graves down, e) walk on row East. You will be standing in front of the grave of Edmond Heath, 19 years old when he died. This was his third major battle and the second time he was wounded. He was one of my ancestors. Reparations? PAID IN FUCKING FULL!
4) Every time I hear about an African-American and they talk about “them”, it bothers me. Take Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (a man that I totally admire by the way). He is alaesys talking about the Blsck people and their enslavement by the whites, as it is him (and all Blacks) versus Whitey. Problem is, he is half White; thus fully one-half of his ancestry are slave-owners. They are equally important to his history: they are equally important to his genetic background. The fact that he wishes to dismiss or denigrate that background does not change a thing. Just like one of his guest who chose to say she was a product of rape (like unfortunately too true), she seemed to be unwilling to realize she is also a descendant of a rapist.
Maybe, instead of pointing fingers, crying foul, wanting something for past crime, or trying to find more reason to separate us we, instead, realize the past is the past (interesting but not germane to now) and we must go forward. Whether the reality is anywhere near the concept, South Africa is way, way ahead of us in that!
