I think one of the aspects of slavery that should be discussed when we talk about what to do about the situation that African-Americans are in because of slavery is the sense of guilt from enslaving individuals. We talked about this briefly in class on Monday, but not to the extent that I think it should be. One of the issues raised is that most of our families didn't even arrive here until well after the slave trade was over, but does that exclude us from the blame?
In my German Literature class we recently had a discussion about who carries the burden of the Holocaust, should this be on the shoulders of every German? Some argued that this is something that should influence the daily lives of every German. I strongly disagree with this and feel that this is something that happened in the past and can not formally be dealt with now. I think that the situation with what we need to do with slavery is identical. I personally do not feel as though it is my responsibility to apologize for what happened so many years ago, and I do not think of it every time I see a black person. I fell as though this is something that happened so long ago that there isn't anything I can do about it in this time and why should I feel a burden or responsibility from this solely because I'm white. Even if I were direct decedents from slave owners, my opinion would not change. I did nothing role and should be accountable for it.
As far as actions being taken to resolve the issue that African-Americans have not had the same opportunities as white Americans, I see that there is a need to do something, but I do not agree that it should be race focused. I am strong opponent of Affirmative Action because I feel as though this takes away from the overall productivity of a company or firm. I think that if you are going to try to benefit a specific group to improve their socio-economic status it should target them on that scale only, not looking at their race or ethnicity. I think that is the only way that with time we can all reach a level playing field.
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I like your comparison, Anthony, though it leads me to draw the opposite conclusion. I think it's quite bizarre how Germans have attempted to minimize and in some cases expunge the memory of the Holocaust from their history. To this day, German textbooks often give smaller numbers of Jews exterminated by the Nazis than what is commonly accepted, and I don't think misinformation and ignorance is a particularly effective way of coming to terms with one's past. To invoke another example, do we here in America really want to be like the Turks with the Armenian genocide, putting our heads in the sand like ostriches and pretending the seeds of hatred and injustice have completely disappeared?
The title of your post reads "Guilt from slavery" and so I would like to say that making whites feel guilt is not the objective of those clamoring for racial justice. As a white man, I'd like to think that being motivated towards finding solutions and becoming an anti-racist ally myself is better than wallowing in self-pity, remorse, or guilt, which are three absolutely unproductive emotions. Furthermore, recognizing the importance of race-consciousness in navigating the waters of enduring inequality does not mean so-called "reverse discrimination" but insuring that we don't fall into a false "color-blindness" that is really a status-quo in favor of whiteness. Part of understanding white privilege is recognizing that we are not "neutral", but have a distinct racial identity, white, which is just as substantial as black. I think that when you say affirmative action takes away from a firm's productivity, you may unconsciously be falling into this trap. It is demonstrably true that hiring preferences in favor of whites continue to exist. Affirmative action programs seek to remove the impact of those preferences by making employers accountable for their aggregate hiring practices. Everyone likes to harp on quotas, but quotas are a rare, and really very expedient substitute for true affirmative action, which, in a nutshell, seeks to broaden applicant pools so that talent from all corners is called upon. How are firms made less productive by actively seeking out talent that has been previously ignored due to discrimination? The answer, of course, is that they are not, unless what you're really saying is you believe marginalized groups like women and people of color are themselves less productive, and thus drag down firms required to no longer exclude them..
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