I didn't make the original comments, but I want to reply to this: << I ask, because it looks like you are trying to say that it is not known=20 whether now living Afro-Americans have ancestors that were slaves or not.>> My impression was that the original post affirmed that Afro Americans living= =20 today did not themselves suffer slavery. I don't think anyone would affirm=20 the above comment, but you never know... =20 << And that the white majority in power is not historically responsible for=20 that slavery.>> Depends on what you mean by "not historically responsible." If you mean,=20 "Did not themselves keep slaves," of course not. The "white majority" (neve= r=20 mind that this includes Presbyterians of English descent, both Irish and=20 Italian Catholics, Jews -- all groups so diametrically opposed to one anothe= r=20 historically that's it's a terrible misnomer to call them all "white.") that= =20 is now in power didn't themselves hold slaves, no. =20 But I would agree that they (we? -- I'm Puerto Rican -- and us PRs are a=20 mixture of Spaniard, African and Indian...am I "white." It's reductive and=20 racist to call non-blacks "whites") are responsible for fixing the way the=20 past still exists in the present...=20 =20 <<But I hope I=E2=80=99m reading you wrongly. =20 That you=E2=80=99re really saying something to the effect that there must b= e a=20 limitation to the use of the =E2=80=98white guilt=E2=80=99 argument. That n= ot every colored=20 person is an ancestor to a slave, and even if they were it is history, we=20 now have such an equal society there really is no need historic arguments a= t=20 all. =20 I would disagree with a lot of that second reading as well. But I could at=20 least understand it. =20 /TLM >> Yeah, I think it's a mistake to minimize the extent of racism in our society= =20 today. =20 But it's a mistake to exaggerate it as well. Jim