[AnotherUnixGeek]

An aside, perhaps, but just for the record, is Obama a descendent of slaves?

Go far back enough in history and it's pretty much a certainty that everyone on the planet has an ancestor who was enslaved or forced to labor for others. Similarly, everyone on the planet has had ancestors who've been raped, murdered, robbed, etc.

What all this has to do with those of us currently alive, and why some of us insist on using it to claim victim-power isn't clear, especially since everyone on the planet also has ancestors who've committed all of the same crimes.

[the invisib1e hand]

well, my point is a little bit less broad in scope. He's really not your average black guy, is he? He really can't identify with the experience of your average black American male, can he? This isn't even a real black man.

I guess I have to second the original question: who is this guy?

[purpleraine]

"Go far back enough in history and it's pretty much a certainty that everyone on the planet has an ancestor who was enslaved or forced to labor for others."

BINGO!

It's time for the candidates to dig out their copies of A Natiopn of Victims.

Until the leaders tell people to pull themselves up and stop whining, we'll have these whinefest campaigns.

[donna]

slave:

— ORIGIN Old French esclave, from Latin sclava ‘Slavonic captive’: the Slavonic peoples had been reduced to a servile state by conquest in the 9th century.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

“Go far back enough in history and it’s pretty much a certainty that everyone on the planet has an ancestor who was enslaved or forced to labor for others.”

I have at least one relative (GGGGGGGrandfather) who was an indentured servant. He was from Ireland.

[Millers Cave]

What all this has to do with those of us currently alive, and why some of us insist on using it to claim victim-power isn't clear, especially since everyone on the planet also has ancestors who've committed all of the same crimes.

To be fair, Condoleeza Rice's best friend was murdered when the Klan bombed a church in 1963.