[NotchJohnson]

This used to be laughed at but is coming closer to reality. Little by little, and eventualy they will get their teeth in some company and it will really start to roll. Neal laughs but I feel it is just a matter of time, like national health care.

[sgtbono2002]

I agree 100% ,sooner or later some dingbat Judge will let them win a judgement and then the avalanche will start. What should be done is a counter suit making people who bring up suits like this pay big time if they lose. The lawyers bringing this crap up should have to pay when they lose too.

[Poohbah]

This used to be laughed at but is coming closer to reality. Little by little, and eventualy they will get their teeth in some company and it will really start to roll. Neal laughs but I feel it is just a matter of time, like national health care.

On the day that reparations come to be enforced, the revolution will start...and it will be an extremely bloody one.

[TomGuy]

If they were sincere, they would be suing the African tribes that sold slaves to Europeans, Americans, Arabs, and other Africans. But they are, as the title indicates, looking for a windfall.

So, how many generations can civilization go back for these kinds of things? The whole concept is ludicrous. Everyone alive could probably, if they had records, trace their heritage back to an 'evil' time. Heck, my parents went through the Great Depression--why can't I sue Oklahoma for all that dirt they allowed to get stirred up in the Great Dust Bowl. I still have a cough that I probably inherited (cough, cough--see! it's a bad cough). So what if I wasn't even born during that timeframe. I want reparations for my parents and grandparents living through the Depression!

[bobjam]

Could the descendants of people who came over from Europe as indentured servants (7 years of slavery) also claim a piece of that pie? How about the descendants of people who were harmed in the eradication of slavery (i.e. the Civil War)? What about the descendants of poor white southern farmers who were forced to live in poverty because the plantation with 200 slaves could push the prices of cotton, sugar and indigo down?

Next there will be law suits against US Steel and others by descendants of people who were forced to work in their factories under conditions characterized as "legalized slavery". It was Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto that pointed out in the 1850's that America's slaves were better off than America's factory workers.

[Always Right]

I personally believe that there should be SLAVE REPARATIONS. All slaves who are still alive should be able to collect reparations from their owners.

[Marauder]

I'd be OK with reparations if it could resolve two (2) issues:
1. Transport the descendants of the presumably unwilling slaves back to their country of origin, and;
2. Keep them there by revoke their U.S. citizenship, and never allow them to immigrate back to the U.S.

[crz]

There were 25,000 slaves in Barbados of which 21,700 were white slaves...WHITE SLAVES not indentured servants.-(the calender of state papers, Colonila series of 1701)

Doctor and William Stewart attendended an auction in St Marys Co Maryland in July of 1747. They purchased their brother, Alexander, for 9 pounds and 6 shillings from Mr. Benedict Calvert of Annapolis. Alexander was herded from Scotland to the Colony as a "Buckskin" slave.

"Buckskin" was the name for white slaves. Now you know the rest.

[prion]

You know, if my recent ancestors were slaves, I think I'd be really quiet about it. I mean, how embarrassing! There's a reason why Rule Britannia contains the line "Britons never will be slaves." Slavery means some other culture totally kicked your culture's ass.

[Restorer]

Perhaps the worst part is that these people can't do simple math. There are roughly 35M "black" Americans. 1 billion comes out to less than $30 each, yet many blacks think reparations will make them all rich.

For each black American to receive a million dollars, which undoubtedly many would view as chump change, somebody would have to come up with 35 quadrillion dollars (35 thousand trillion).

Even today's massive federal budget is still in the very low single digit trillions.

There is not enough money anywhere for them to receive what they think they're owed.

If they were willing to do so, they could get busy and create that much wealth. But, for obvious reasons, that ain't gonna happen.

[Little Ray]

I am in favor of reparations in the form of one-way tickets to Africa - recipients surrender their passports when they board they plane, and can never, ever, come back.

This, of course, is for "African-Americans" only.

As for Americans who just happen to be black, we're glad to have you!

[Maceman]

I am assuming that no black people could be allowed to sit on a jury in such a case, since they have a direct interest in the outcome of the litigation.