# When will blacks let the past go? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 24, 2001, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954 "2001-06-24T07:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/1 "2001-06-24T07:09:47Z")
I saw a glimps of some guy on t.v. insisting that African Americans be given restitution for slavery:rolleyes: My question is, when will blacks let go of the past? It’s been what…136 years? How long until they can let this (admitedly painful) part of our history be put to rest? 500 years? 10,000 years? Will there ever be a time when African Americans (and I hate that term,BTW. It’s divisive) don’t use the slavery issue to inflict victim status upon themselves? Not sure where this belongs, so I’m starting it here in GD. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/2 "2001-06-24T07:26:33Z")
Notice the fact that southerners use the confederate flag as a symbol of southern pride. For blacks to let it go I think everyone else has to too:) ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/3 "2001-06-24T07:51:19Z")
I don’t think that 136 years is an accurate accounting. I seem to remember the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and '60s and think the timing is more within the past 40-50 years. We still have millions of citizens alive from that era, as well as their descendents, who are well-versed on the injustices afforded upon them. Do you think that Rosa Park’s grandchildren (if she has them) think of the era as you do? I don’t believe reparations are justified. Many of us have grandparents who fled whatever scourge was being inflicted upon them in the ‘old country’ and have no reason to pay toward what they had no part of. Newly arrived citizens from Asia and Africa (and from wherever) certainly have no part in this and as such, should not have to pay for American injustice of the past. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/4 "2001-06-24T08:18:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by straykat23 \* > **I don’t think that 136 years is an accurate accounting. I seem to remember the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and '60s and think the timing is more within the past 40-50 years.** I didn’t realize slavery was legal in the 1950’s. That’s the issue the guy was whining about. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/5 "2001-06-24T08:47:43Z")
The thing is some white people still whine about slavery not existing. To pick on blacks for this is simply being racist. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/6 "2001-06-24T08:54:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sterra \* > \*\*The thing is some white people still whine about slavery not existing. \*\* 😕 I’ve never heard anyone state they want slavery legal! What are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/7 "2001-06-24T09:18:25Z")
Ever heard of the KKK? The news covers blacks talking about reparations because people get irritated by that. They don’t cover the white people who say it because they want outrage, not people getting uncomfortable. If the majority of people were black you would see a white person whining about how the war hurt “their way of life”. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/8 "2001-06-24T09:27:44Z")
As long as black people percieve past history as being relevant to their disadvantages in todays society then they will continue to feel aggrieved. Yes if you are black you can get along very nicely but its also true to say that there are few blacks at the apex of large powerful corporations, or in the highest political offices. Incarceration rates for blacks are higher, even when the offences are directly compared with white offenders the incarceration rates are higher. Maybe when they feel more in control of US national policy they will not feel like victims. I’m not justifying the way they feel, its just that many still feel they have little voice or power and look for reasons behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/9 "2001-06-24T09:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > \*\* > I didn’t realize slavery was legal in the 1950’s. That’s the issue the guy was whining about. \*\* _Whining?_ Black people couldn’t vote until 1870, and it took the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure their right to vote. From [http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/civil\_war\_ammendments.htm](http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/civil_war_ammendments.htm) > [@](#): > > Soon, southern states started passing laws to make it harder for Blacks to vote. Some states passed laws that required people to pay a poll tax before voting. Others required people to pass a reading or writing test before voting. Since most Blacks had been slaves their whole lives, they had little money to pay a poll tax and did not know how to read or write. Some people were still trying to take away the civil rights of African Americans. Take into further account [Plessy v. Fergueson](http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/plessy_v__ferguson.htm): > [@](#): > > It was sixty-four years before the “separate but equal” law, started by Plessy v. Ferguson, was finally ruled against by the United States Supreme Court. In the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, it was ruled that separate was not equal in the public school system of Topeka, Kansas. After the Brown vs. Board of Education case, across the United States, it became illegal for Blacks and Whites to be required to go to separate schools. Some Whites were against this and thought that Blacks should still go to separate schools. Parents who were against it sometimes wouldn’t send their children to school, if they knew Blacks were attending that school. This is similar to Ruby Bridges or the Central Nine. Until 1954, though, it was still legal to require black people to have separate schools, restrooms, drinking fountains, and neighborhoods in the United States. Let it go? _PLEASE._ From the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the 13th amendment in 1865, blacks had to wait 100 years for the right to vote without harassment and 99 years for Plessy v. Fergueson to be slapped down so they would not have to live under seperate but equal status. They have only had the freedom to vote for 36 years, and still live under oppression from bigots. To say that they need to let the past go means it truly must become the past. There is far too much bigotry against races, religions, and orientations to think that the bigotry will stop and acceptance will be given freely by all. Until then, I think to forget the past is to give the chance for history to repeat itself. So… no, slavery was not legal in the 1950’s. But, with seperate but equal status and blacks being underpaid, and kept out of good jobs for so long, it wasn’t much different than slavery. The only difference of the time was that they had a pittance to show for their work. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/10 "2001-06-24T10:11:02Z")
Yeah… the best way to unite everyone is to constantly dredge up past prejudices… that’s it. My solution is very simple… have all the people alive who own slaves give money to all the people alive who have been slaves. Simple, clear-cut, and it doesn’t punish anyone underserving of punishment, and it doesn’t compensate anyone undeserving of compensation. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/11 "2001-06-24T11:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*Yeah… the best way to unite everyone is to constantly dredge up past prejudices… that’s it. > > My solution is very simple… have all the people alive who own slaves give money to all the people alive who have been slaves. Simple, clear-cut, and it doesn’t punish anyone underserving of punishment, and it doesn’t compensate anyone undeserving of compensation. \*\* Past prejudices? I think they are very much in the present tense. To deny that there is not prejudice one would have to live in an ivory tower and ignore reality. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/12 "2001-06-24T11:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Past prejudices? I think they are very much in the present tense. My apologies. I assumed you had read the OP, and as such would have known that the past prejudices I was referring to was “slavery”. But if you wish to make the argument that slavery is still a common, legal practice in the United States, go nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/13 "2001-06-24T11:41:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > My apologies. I assumed you had read the OP, and as such would have known that the past prejudices I was referring to was “slavery”. > > But if you wish to make the argument that slavery is still a common, legal practice in the United States, go nuts. \*\* Spare me, SPOOFE. I’ve experienced and seen the way black people are treated in the inner city as well as in the South. They may not be slaves anymore, but they are often treated as such. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/14 "2001-06-24T11:52:45Z")
I will let go of the past as soon as I receive my 40 acres and my mule! O.K., I think that reparations for slavery now is undoable and perhaps a little silly. But whining about the “past” is not what most black people are doing. The right here and now is bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/15 "2001-06-24T12:31:37Z")
Maybe they can start to try and let go of the past when white Americans stop trying to forget it. It’s good to forgive, but not to forget. — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/16 "2001-06-24T13:27:30Z")
Well, I think history shows that no group ever “lets go” entirely. I’m Jewish, and Jews are doing pretty well in the US, but I’m still reminded now and then about how we were enslaved in Egypt - and that was like 1000s of years ago. And I would not be surprised if, in 100 years, people are still talking alot about the Nazi holocaust. Now, the next question is whether folks _should_ let go of stuff like that. I agree that it does have a sort of whiny quality to it, and to outsiders (or even to insiders), it can get old real fast. On the other hand, there is some value in remembering past wrongs, although people sometimes take this too far. Reminds me of the story of two old Jewish guys, sitting in Palm beach. One is reading the New York times, the other is reading white supremacist literature. “Why are you reading that white supremacist literature?” asks one. The reply: “I’m sick of hearing about the holocaust and how we’re oppressed. I’d rather read that we control the world.” ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/17 "2001-06-24T14:10:26Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by pkbites \* Will there ever be a time when African Americans (and I hate that term, BTW. It’s divisive) [/QUOTE} How so? Are Irish-Americans like myself closet seperatists? Did the Polish-American Liberation Front knock over a few banks that I didn’t hear about? Do you also consider “Italian American” to be a divisive term? > [@](#): > > don’t use the slavery issue to inflict victim status upon themselves? Absolutely right. When my black friends can’t get a cab to stop for them, they immediately blame slavery. When my black friend was employed as a tester for a fair housing organization in Philly, and would be turned down for mortgages or rentals that a white colleague with the exact same credentials would be offered, he blamed slavery. When black and interracial couples moved into Southwest Philly in the early- and mid-90’s, only to find their all-white neighbors protesting against them, the couples blamed slavery. (My favorite part of that story? The neighborhood organized their protests in their parish hall.) 'Cause it’s all slavery that made blacks “victims”. It couldn’t possibly be the racist schmucks who are alive today. Sua ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/18 "2001-06-24T15:49:30Z")
**Hastur** said, > [@](#): > > I’ve experienced and seen the way black people are treated in the inner city as well as in the South. \ Is this a blanket condemnation of the “South”? Where, exactly, is the “South”? Are you saying that “up north” blacks are only mistreated in the inner cities while in the South they are mistreated everywhere? Is there some geographical point beyond which prejucdice is universal? And on the other side of that point, prejudice is non-existent except in the inner cities? Personally, I have seen prejudiced people all over the United States—I don’t believe that ignorance, hatred, superstition and envy are geographically isolated. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/19 "2001-06-24T16:04:42Z")
No one ever lets go of their past. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954/20 "2001-06-24T16:05:07Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* \*\* [QUOTE] \*Originally posted by pkbites \* Will there ever be a time when African Americans (and I hate that term, BTW. It’s divisive) [/QUOTE} Do you also consider “Italian American” to be a divisive term? \*\*[/QUOTE] Yes I do. Hyphenated-Americanism is divisive regardless of what the ethnic background is. My father in law and his siblings were all born in Italy, not one of them refers to themselves as that. What for? They’re Americans, just Americans. This is the **UNITED** States. We should also be united as a people. Being proud of ones heritage is a good thing, using it to seperate yourself from your fellow citizen I think is bad. As far as the problems that blacks face today, those are things that need to be delt with. But how can we effectively deal with them if we also have to deal with something that is over a century old? I say stop picking at the scab of the long ago past and let’s deal with the present. Current racism would exist even if slavery never did. Let’s deal with it as a current problem. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-blacks-let-the-past-go/69954.md?page=2)