Reparations for the sins of our ancestors?

Even if it WERE morally defensible that I owe reparations for the sins of my ancestors whom I never knew... even if that is stipulated... Can someone say with certainty that my ancestors owned slaves?

Can anyone say with certainly that a single ancestor of mine ever committed any act of racism, ever did anything that caused a black person to miss an opportunity for improvement, or suffer an indignity that contributed to depression and insularity and reduced a black person's desire to attempt to succeed?

Can ANYONE say ANYTHING like that about ANY of my ancestors?

I know that none of them ever handed down any wealth that ever made it onto my radar, let alone made it into my bank account. I know I never got a single job because my ancestors were in authority over that job, even centuries prior. What family history I do have is boring, impoverished, almost unpleasant to study.

My ONE ancestor of note was a distant uncle of six "greats", a man named Elias Howe, who is known for having invented the sewing machine. Uncle Elias sold the rights to Isaac Singer for a small amount of money, and died broke, handing down nothing, to nobody.

And I am distantly related to what passes for royalty in America. When the Mayflower and her sister ships arrived at Plymouth, the boat was launched and a group of passengers made their way to shore, but before they beached the boat, a little girl who couldn't contain her excitement jumped out into the shallow water and splashed her way to dry land. The first white English person to set foot on American soil was an adolescent girl named Mary Chilton. Add thirteen "greats" to the word grandmother, and that is what Mary is to me.

I put the "rat" in Aristocrat, where America is concerned.

But there is no money attached to that history, folks. Nobody ever owned slaves, nobody ever got rich on the backs of poor people (including black poor people), or even got rich at ALL, in my family.

So even if you STIPULATE that people of inherited wealth ultimately owe that to their ancestors who were racists, who owned slaves... that is not ME. Nor is it almost ALL of us.

Before you pay reparations, Democrats, be SURE you only collect that money from people who fit your stipulated model. And of course, I disagree with what I have stipulated here for the sake of discussion. I do NOT believe anyone owes a debt because of something done by an ancestor. If one was not involved in MAKING the decision to abuse someone else, one is not RESPONSIBLE for that decision.

And besides, the victims of that bad behavior are DEAD, just like the relative of yours who perpetrated the bad behavior. Whatever moral debts exist, GOD ALMIGHTY has already reconciled them. Nothing for us to get involved with long after the parties are dead and gone. Not relevant, and this generation is neither victim of those acts nor responsible for them.

This kind of moral simplicity used to be taught to young people. Nowadays, it's the OPPOSITE.