Replies

"serve as a reminder that it should never happen again"

We need to be reminded?

It's a waste of time, money and energy, and isn't going to do anybody (other than those that will abuse it's supposed well-meaning intent) any good at all. It won't help a man be a good father, it won't help someone get a job, it won't help someone stay in school, it won't help someone stand on their own two feet.
It strikes me as terribly deceitful when slavery still exists today in other countries. Instead of spending on that memorial, how about a fund to expose, publicize, and end slavery elsewhere- so those slaves can enjoy the freedoms that black Americans do?

I'd also like to point out something very telling in your comments:
"I, as a white person, have never enslaved a black person and, indeed, my ancestors fought for the Union to free the slaves. That said..."
You see how it works? You say whites don't owe an apology, but then you qualify that by making an "I'm clean" comment. Why is that? Why is it necessary to say that you wouldn't have owned slaves, and why is it necessary to point out your ancestors fought with the Union?
I think you should think about why you said that.

It's a waste of time, money and energy, and isn't going to do anybody...any good at all. It won't help a man be a good father, it won't help someone get a job, it won't help someone stay in school, it won't help someone stand on their own two feet.

Do you feel the same way about the proposed memorial to victims of September 11? Will you be arguing against "wasting" any time, money and energy to erect a memorial in lower Manhattan? If not, what distinguishes the two proposed memorials in your mind?

I suppose your argument could be made about any monument or memorial. Why bother to put a headstone on a grave? It's a waste of time, money and energy...it won't help someone get a job, it won't help someone stay in school, etc. Why build the Washington Monument or a memorial to the victims of September 11? Why have a Memorial Day parade? Or Fourth of July fireworks? Or celebrate Easter, Passover, Ramadan? Humans erect monuments and celebrate holidays and rituals to remind ourselves of things--both good and bad--that have happened in our history. We use these monuments and ceremonies to remind ourselves and teach future generations the lessons learned from the events and people those monuments and rituals commemorate.

To extend the example of the tombstone, I can go visit many of my ancestors' graves because they are marked by a headstone or other memorial. In some ways, it gives me a sense of where I came from, who I am. For a lot of people whose ancestors were slaves, there are no marked graves, no history to trace, no memorial to visit with their families. Perhaps a physical memorial to their ancestors will provide them with a similar sense of their history and their heritage. What benefit is it to you to deny that to them? I think having a sense of who you are and where you came from can indeed help a man be a good father, help someone get a job, help someone stay in school, help someone stand on their own two feet.

Why did I mention that I have never owned slaves and that my ancestors fought to free American slaves? To bolster my arguement that white Americans as a whole do not owe black Americans as a whole an apology or reparations. Some argue that an apology and/or reparations are owed because the wealth created by slave labor has been passed along from the slave owners to their progeny, and my point was that not all white Americans are the progeny of slave owners.