George W. Bush’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Was a Slave Trader

[branford]

197. This discussion is futile.

I am only responsible for my own actions, not that of my ancestors, distant or otherwise, and certainly not all whites, and great number of whom would not even consider me part of the classic white collective due to my Jewish ethnicity and religion.

More importantly, I actively oppose racism and prejudice by ensuring that our laws and institutional policies do not permit discrimination on the basis of race (and other protected categories), to the extent consistent with equally important constitutional rights like freedom of speech and religion, and when appropriate, punishing those particular individuals actually guilty of discrimination in violation of such laws, whether with civil liability in matters like housing and employment, or criminally with sentence enhancements in circumstances such as assault or murder. I do not, and will not, oppose racism by punishing or dispossessing one group and directly rewarding another based solely on their colors of the skin, for it would simply reinforce and justify the fundamental injustice of racial and other discrimination which I unreservedly oppose and the Constitution largely forbids.

Insulting me with accusations that I employing "conservative memes" and otherwise disparaging my character because I do not believe that the descendants of those who engaged in slavery do not bear some corruption of blood requiring punishment or remediation, no less anyone, whites or otherwise, who never directly benefited from the slave trade or owning slaves, and were actual victims of American state-sponsored and other institutional racism after slavery ended, is ludicrous and offensive.

Simply, the polls overwhelming demonstrate that the vast majority of Americans, including numerous members of the Democratic Party, do not support the types of reparative or redisributive schemes you appear to advocate, based on notions of collective white guilt and responsibility or anything else. The fact that the issue is totally absent from the Democratic Platform also truly speaks volumes.

Of course, you may believe both this majority and the Democratic Party are wrong, ignorant, or worse, and proceed to explain your reasons why, but that does not change the fact that race based reparations were and are universally an extremely unpopular idea. If you believe such opposition is a "conservative meme," the Democratic Party is far more conservative that I could ever imagined, and I cannot understand how you can associate with such individuals on a regular basis, particularly here on DU. You must be seething with rage and sorrow reading the reactions to the OP (and a similar thread today about purported family slave wealth of Benedict Cumberbatch) among Democrats even more liberal than myself that has more often than not ranged from astonishment and bewilderment to stern and unyielding opposition.