Let's revisit the "R" situation, shall we?

[CatWoman]

"R" meaning Reparations.

A friend sent me this article today: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?m...

I was particulary struck by the closing statements:

Many whites who grew up middle class in the suburbs like to think we got where we are today on merit -- hard work, intelligence, pluck and maybe a little luck. We wonder why non-white parents didn't just work hard, buy a home and pass on the appreciated value like our parents did. We tend to be blind to how the playing field has been -- and continues to be -- tilted to our advantage.

Racism doesn't just come dressed in white sheets or voiced by skinheads, but lies in institutions that, like the FHA, have quietly and often invisibly channeled America's wealth, power, and status disproportionately to white people, giving us a head start in life. As Ohio State University law professor John A. Powell observes: "The slick thing about whiteness is that whites are getting the spoils of a racist system without themselves being personally racist."

OK -- most of you who are against reparations base your objections on the fact that there are no living slaves alive today, nor their immediate offspring. Many of you balk at the mere suggestion of reparations, adding that even though your ancestors may have been slave owners, it has nothing to do with you (you know who you are from the other reparation threads we have participated in).

So my question is, as many whites continually benefit and reap rewards from this country's countless racist policies, don't I have the right to be compensated as one of a race who has suffered from these policies?