...and just how do you feel that the "sins of the past" have not been acknowledged in America? Because we have racists still? Well hello, wake up and smell the coffee, you will ALWAYS have racists.
And as long as there are racists, true Americans have an obligation to our country and to the folks the ancestors of whom paid in their own sweat and blood for the right to be here, to confront them as opposed to casually accept them as a fact of life.
It is a rare American who has the wherewithal to see that history is analogic, a continuum, attached sequentially and seamlessly to the present. Many Americans, too many, tend to dismiss the horror of slavery with an "it was horrible. but..." You have just done it here. "Slavery was horrible," you said. Then you said "But to say I still owe..." There really are no "buts" here, and yet Americans keep on "butting."
We have a bunch of folks from whom everything was taken and what we are doing is demanding that they have something. Rather than say "slavery was horrible, but...," as Americans our attitude should be
"slavery was horrible. Now you gotta get up and overcome it. We will get out of your way as you try. We will even make sure no dang barbarian tries to stop you as they have repeatedly done in the past. Nevertheless you have to overcome it. Since you are Americans like we are, we are gonna stick near you to make sure you get through."
There is a solidarity of American countrymen that stretches through time. Americans of the past have left many present Americans cultureless and empty. We owe it to our dang country to fix the mess. But instead of doing our duty, we take this posture:
"American blacks sleep with the elephant. They generally do their best to get along with the elephant, and the elephant tries to get along with them. And they both have a general bond, and even affection for each other.
And the world goes round and round, as long as you always remember NOT to piss off the elephant..."
Blacks have to live within this general sentiment day-after-day. It is impossible for them to generally embrace America in such circumstances. And no country can long survive on this premise. The elephant is going to die as sure as the rising sun.
And besides, if you have indeed read your Bible, then you know that the sons are not to be held liable for the sins of the father.
No one is talking about eternal judgment here. We are talking about how best to deal with the damage done to our country by our countrymen of the past. Your attitude regarding America is most typical. Instead of taking as an obligation to repair the damage extant in your country (especially since you benefit of that damage), you wish to avoid blame. I didn't cause the damage either. My ancestors are relative newcomers to America and owned no slave or anything of the sort. Nevertheless my eyes are opened enough to see I have lots of brothers who are destroyed by an official American system, remnants of which exist even to this day. Because of that system these brothers see me as part of an elephant they can never trust. I have an obligation to them, not because I myself have done anything, but because I benefit of their ancestors' suffering and also because, after all, they are my own countrymen. Christ would certainly have me do no less than this. But maybe He has some plan for you.
First you say we do not acknowledge it, then you say, "You just say stuff like "I know slavery was bad, ...
Which is no acknowledgment at all. Slavery was not just bad. It was not just "horrible." Slavery was just plain wrong, our country is in a very real sense founded upon it and millions of our countrymen suffer from it today.
I say slavery was horrible, there is no way I can imagine how a slave felt, no way. But...
There are no dang "buts." And that you can't imagine how a slave felt means nothing. Blacks yet live today who must contend with the baggage of those days and the society that grew from those days right up to modern times. To pay reparations, we must set a cultural standard, an American standard and then eagerly welcome blacks into it, diligently protecting them when they are attacked by the likes of Trent friggin' Lott and his diabolical CCC.
It won't cost us a dime, it makes our country stronger by making blacks part of the elephant and it effects some serious reparations, much more so than throwing around cash.
to say I still owe a descendent of slaves something for that is not right IMO. As far as I can tell, African American has the same rights as I do today.
Very well then. I guess the thing is fixed then.
If at this point African Americans still remain broken BECAUSE of slavery, then I suggest either they insist on being broken, or that you have made cripples out of them in order to keep your control over them.
Riiight. And now we see your sensibility here is really something like this: "Slavery was horrible, but blacks insist on being broken, or you have made cripples out of them in order to keep your control over them...."
It could be that slavery was just wrong and America inflicted this wrong on a people who are broken because of it. Jefferson mentioned this and he feared America was being built as a moral house of cards that was destined to implode. He was right and I see clearly that he was right. God is not going to allow our moral insensitivity here to go on forever.
So...what do you want? What will ever satisfy the debt?
To pay reparations, we must set a cultural standard, an American standard, and then eagerly welcome blacks into it, diligently protecting them when they are attacked by the likes of Trent friggin' Lott and his diabolical CCC.
I suggest it CANNOT be satisfied.....EXCEPT by the forgiveness of the debt by the African American people. Only THEN can there be healing.
You keep claiming there is no dang debt. You're like a sinner unwilling to admit his need for Christ. Well, without repentance, there is no forgiveness. |
