Obama and reparations

That none of the locals you state outside of the US were founded on the ideals of freedom and equal rights.

That is what makes American slavery particularly aggregious(?).

Slavery and Jim Crow was bad. If you read some of my other posts, you will see that blacks were treated much worse than any other ethnicity in the U.S. While blacks were not allowed to serve in uniform with whites or play in major leagues we had American Indians like Jim Thorpe (pro baseball/football), Ira Hayes (US Marines WWII), Charles Curtis (US VP during the 1920s) and Will Rogers.

But what right does Obama have to speak about such issues? He is not connected with black slavery (except that he had two ancestors who held slaves).

I resent him speaking about such issues. He has no right -- he is nothing more than a pretender -- similar to the guy who played the crying American Indian in the 1970s pollution ad (who was actually an Italian American). Of course, the fake Ameican Indian was not such a big deal -- but Obama is likely to be our next president.

Even though his father was from Kenya and his mother's ancestors held slaves, the fact of the matter is that Barack's experience growing up in America was no different than many black males in American society. If you read his book, you would have known Barack experienced little racism growing up in Hawaii and when he lived overseas. However, when he finally moved to the mainland in the early 80's, he experienced a lot of racism from whites and blacks. What's extraordinary about his story was that he was able to overcome this, didn't let it hold him back and was able to go to college. After Barack was generally rejected by the white community , he gravitated toward the African American community...This experience is no different than blacks of mixed blood who were born in the deep South during slavery. American society at that time by default labeled all brown skinned mulattos as black. So his blood line is not the point, its how society viewed him.

Would have Rich people who of certain races be eligible for preferential programs in education, government contracting and hiring. Of course, this is exactly the state of current policy -- and has been the state for a long while.

It is disgusting to compare Obama's experience to someone like Clarence Thomas' experience. Some people don't like blacks and some (like Jeremiah Wright) don't like whites. To some extent, people of different races have had to deal with that fact (I sure have).

Poor, poor Obama. People did not like him because of his skin color. He only went to Columbia undergrad and Harvard Law School. He only was editor of his law review.

What legacy of slavery did he grow up with? Did his parents and grandparents have to use segregated facilities? Did they attend second class schools?

Did they refuse to let him attend Columbia when they found out his father was black? Did they not let him in Harvard law school?

How about this -- assuming you are white -- go to downtown Detroit or Washington, DC, one night -- see what kind of "rejection" you will get. Does that mean that you believe whites should get preferential treatment?

Why don't you read about the Duke University lacrosse case? You might find out that college campuses are militantly politically correct. The protesters in this case (who included the new black panther party) carried banners saying "castrate." Does this ever happen to blacks in America?

Crime is a far greater oppression than some kind of self perceived slight. There are not lynch mobs running around after blacks. There is no doubt that some people do not like blacks (it is probably more related to inner city issues than anything else) -- but giving one group better treatment than another