Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Because there is no number. The premise is flawed. This is just such a nonproductive outlook to have. How far back do any of us have to go before we find our ancestors living in tyranny or serfdom or slavery. For many of us, not too many generations I bet. What does it have to do with our lives, today? If you go looking for a reason to be a victim, to find justifications for your problems, you'll never get past them.

Let's say I discovered that my great great grandfather was a slave. Let's say I somehow got paid $250,000 for that. What could I do with that money? If I'm careful, I could live on it for four or five years, maybe a few more, likely a lot less, then it's gone, and where am I? Right where I was to begin with.



>> How far back do any of us have to go before we find our ancestors living in tyranny or serfdom or slavery.

Nice way of trying to distract from the main issue. We are talking about a very specific case. Blacks right now are still suffering from systematic oppression against them for hundreds of year. To ignore that and pretend that it is no big deal because it has happened before doesn't mean that we should not try to fix the problem. Frankly is disgusting the way you are dismissive of the current state of black people which is a direct consequence of hundreds of years of oppression which was not even that long ago.

>>Because there is no number

Sure there is, to claim otherwise is moronic. People are simply unwilling to pay. Affirmative action is a small price and still prcks like you think it is too much. Racist prck.


The "how for do we have to go back" false equivalency is utterly ridiculous. We're not talking about the oppression of the Britons by the Romans here. We're talking about systematic oppression and viscious discrimination that was committed by the still-existing state and federal governments within the lifetime of people still living. Rosa Parks died in 2005. George H. W. Bush, who is still alive and kicking, is about 5 years older than MLK would have been today. Many TV shows I watched on Nick-at-Nite growing up (Dyk Van Dyke, Get Smart) were contemporaneous with violent school desegregation. The young people that were the subject of the showdown at the University of Alabama between the National Guard and Governor Wallace were just 7 years older than my dad.


> The premise is flawed.

That was my point, yes.

> then it's gone, and where am I? Right where I was to begin with.

Much better to, say, send you to college and make sure you get employed so that it's easier for you to maintain a life of your own choosing, isn't it?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: