I'm replying to the original topic.
I'm not sure what my opinions is, I’m just going to give some thought
I personally never have owned slaves, but I have benefited from them having been used.
Gordon Marino said - - "Apologies are becoming all too easy to make today. But abuse is no argument against use."
Suppose, for example, that unbeknownst to me, a friend of mine robs a bank and makes off with $7 million. Clearly, I am neither responsible for the robbery nor am I in a position to apologize for it. However, if after telling me about the theft, my friend offers me a million dollars of the stolen loot, and I accept it, then I am no longer innocent of the robbery, despite the fact that I had nothing at all to do with the heist. It could be argued that white people have profited from our racist past, and this, relative to slavery, we are more like receivers of stolen goods than innocent bystanders who happen to bear a physical likeness to slave owners.
OR
Assume that when I accepted the gift of a million dollars, I had no reason to think that the money had been stolen. Years later I came to realize that the funds upon which I had built a comfortable and respectable life had been pilfered from the accounts of your great-grandparents. Would the fact that many years had gone by cover the crime to such a degree that I would not bear any responsibility to the descendants of my great-grandparents' victims who, thanks to my ancestors, now lead a distinctively unprivileged existence?
Individuals who benefit from a crime are mistaken in thinking that they have nothing to do with the crime. If responsibility does not extend from the robber to his childern, then the material benefits of his wrongdoing can be passed along with impunity to future generations.
something to think about.....
