From: lovegod@wam.umd.edu (Donald Andrew Agarrat)
Subject: Re: The past is done, what now?
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:57:33 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.173253.14635@gordian.com> mike@gordian.com (Michael A.  
Thomas) writes:
}   My take on this post was more along the lines of "When can
} we stop with the blame game, and get along onto the healing
} game".

First of all, this is no "game".  To answer the question, we can "play the  
healing game" by finally freeing the slaves ...

} To the point that one side of a dispute only expects
} abject and utter (and continuous) apology for past injustice
} is the point where nothing productive is being done to correct
} the situation.

Okay, whose fault is that?  If I'm telling you that something is wrong and all  
you say is "I'm sorry" and don't do anything to correct your mistake, am I then  
supposed to tell myself, "Well, he did apologize, even though he isn't doing  
anything to solve the problem he supposedly is apologizing for?"  Frankly, I  
don't want your apology.  Do something now.

} Indeed, IMHO, this is not even realistic since 
} people will not continue apologizing forever. At some point
} the conclusion is drawn that the person/group is just whining for
} the sake of whining, not asking for a fair shake in future dealings.

You are standing on such shaky ground.  You could probably say this if on the  
whole my people were sitting in glass penthouse offices somewhere with  
Dialogica furniture saying, "You know, those White people really did us a  
disservice with slavery ..."  We are HARDLY bestowed that luxury ... The luxury  
of equality ...

}   Does this say that we should in any way excuse past injustice?
} Of course not. But, like it or not, the past is the past. The
} only hope that we have in the present is to learn something from
} it by not repeating its mistakes.

No, you're repeating the same mistakes.  You actually are perpertuating the  
same OLD mistakes that have never died.  Which is worse?

}   A contemporary example of what I see as this blame tendancy is 
} the conflict in the mid-east. Is there any real chance of peace 
} there without some amount of "turning the other cheek"? I can't see
} it, can you? Does turning the other cheek imply that you condone 
} atrocities? Not necessarily. At some point in the interest of
} peace we must give people a chance, the benifit of the doubt, 
} to get along with life. This of course is conditional with
} a person/groups remorse of the past injustices. Even there it may
} not be very deep, but *somebody* has to extend the olive branch.
} Things cannot get better until this happens.

What's happening in the Middle East is a completely different situation  
altogether.  You need to stay focused if you want to convincingly prove your  
point ...

}   In the case of the Holocaust, how long should Jews go on hating 
} Germans? Forever? Certainly they should hate the Nazi's in perpetuity,
} but what about the current crop? Shouldn't it depend far more on
} their current deeds rather than their ancestors?

That depends.  Have the descendants merely perpetrated the deeds of their  
ancestors?

}   As far as Africans go (and slavery in general), this is without 
} question the most shameful part of European exploitation in the 
} New World. The smug hypocricy of it is disgusting (condoning it here,
} while they acted enlightened and above it at home). There can be no
} excuses made for their behavior. Nobody deserves the sub-human treatment
} that Africans and some Native Americans endured. 

You mean "they" as in "your" ancestors ... 

}   But what do we do today? The past is gone, bar the lesson of 
} "never again". There is nothing that can be done to change history.
} Our only option is making the present and future better, and trying
} to live with what the past has bestowed us.

I don't believe anyone can change history.  The fact is Whites owe Blacks so  
much that they can NEVER repay them.  NEVER!  And to sit here and listen to you  
try to justify your complacency in this subject turns my stomach!

Donald - Nigger Stompin' African!