From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Sat Sep 07 2002 - 11:11:23 MDT
From: <Dehede011@aol.com>
> As long as we are going to account for historic injustices as seen through
the eyes of those that say they have been treated unjustly I have a
question. Would you pay reparations before or after you returned to the
American Indian all the land that was unjustly taken from them. ...
> So, I think you can see my concern. If you bring up the subject of the
one reparation I think it is incumbent upon you to explain how you intend to
handle the other as they cannot be settled separately.
Some reparations (e.g., to the Japanese) already have been settled
separately.
The injuries inflicted on groups of people throughout history are
incalculable. I would suggest reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" (author Jared
Diamond) for one explanation, and perhaps the other book I mentioned -
Randall Robinson's "The Debt" - for another point of view (where Randall
also talks of Native American concerns). Maybe there's a balance in there
somewhere. For better or worse, what we've got now is the 2002 version of
United States of America, and we need to deal with where we are today and
IMO try to improve the lot of people who are still in the vicious loop of
poverty (owing to not-too-long-ago injustices) from the day they are born.
Americans (even though they were not "guilty") were quick to come to the aid
of the victims of 9/11 - and I hope someday that Americans (even though they
were not "guilty") will come around to legally redressing some of the wrongs
from the past that are still affecting many groups presently. That is all
I have to say on the subject.
Olga
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:16:49 MST