Enjoying this little shoot out, GUEST? I sure am...

Dems and Repubs got this line drawn in the sand and throwing stuff at each other over stuff that you weren't even talking about.

Well, the Repubs do have a point. It isn't fair to say they have the market captured on racism because you don't have to look to far to see that racism is so part of the American cultur and society that the only issue should be, like... ahhh, what can we do to deal with it?

Well, I think a good start would be for America's primarilly white government to apologize for slavery. That would be a good start. It was wrong. While there is Lincoln's "Emancipation Declaration" (irregardless of his motives), there's the 16th Amendment, There is the Civil Rights Act, but NO APOLOGY. Hmmmmmmm? Like what's so difficult for America to say "We're sorry, we screwed up?"

Okay, once over that hump, there is this issue of "reparations". Now, lots of folks say, "Hey, why should I pay fir saomething that my great, great granddaddy did. I didn't do it!"

Why? Because every American citizen is now benefiting from the bounty of a country build on the backs of slave laborers and black people who after their *so called* emancipation continued to build the infastructure of the country while being paid wages that insured only that they would die young and never *enjoy* the fruits of the labor.

Let's face it, black folks have gotten the short end of the stick since 1619 and they are still getting the short end of the stick. The few crumbs that are thrown out thru the poorly funded social programs have only perpetuated the cycle, insuring *survival* but not real *opportunity*. "Affirmative Action" is just the tip of the iceburg of what really needs to be done to fix 383 years of oppression, discrimination and degradation.

The PR sacrificing of Trent Lott does not alter the racist character of Congress or the White House in the slightest. I does absolutely nothing except remind the other racist folks in our governemnt to be more careful not to *get caught*.

Problem is, that a lot of these folks will think, "Hey, I'm no racist. I don't say things like Trent Lott said" and feel purdy darned smug about it. Well, there are so many folks who don't evn begin to understand the racism they carry within themselves. Yeah, it's real easy to say, "Pull, yourselves up by your bootstaps, just like my daddy did." not fully realizing that the system was set up to provide the bootstraps for some daddys but not others.

Then there are those who will point out black folks who have been successful and say, "Well, if Condi Rice can do it, then all black folk can do it." To those folk I'd just suggest they ride thru just about any inner city, thru the projects, visit the schools and then come back and tell ol' Bobert what you think.

This is a good thread, GUEST, and probably will do some wandering but it is a subject that there are some folks around this joint have really not considered other than from the perspective of *self*.

Bobert