I would like to respond to Mr. Williams’ commentary in the DE on Nov. 14. You believe that African-Americans should be compensated for their treatment in the time of slavery. If you were truly interested in abolishing racism and making this country a better place to live then you would realize that monetary compensation is an idea that would do nothing to contribute to you overall goal. I doubt you will find anyone short of a white supremacist who doesn’t feel that slavery was wrong and terrible thing; however, hearing the descendants of the slaves complain and beg for compensation to the descendants of slave holders does nothing for the situation and only makes those whiners seem like greedy people who aren’t really interested in the plights of their ancestors but rather are only trying to better themselves without actually working for it.

If you gave any thought to the outrageous proposal you so fully support you would see that it is not only unintelligent but unattainable. First of all, if African- Americans want compensation for past atrocities then what is to stop Germans defeated in World War II from wanting compensation from the armed forces that defeated them? Why shouldn’t American troops involved in atrocities in the Vietnam War get compensation from the Vietnamese who tortured them? What is to stop the descendants of the Jewish men and women tortured during the Holocaust from wanting compensation form the descendants of the Germans who ran the concentration camps? The list goes on and on. The history of our world is riddled with incidents like slavery.

The Jewish community, for example, has done something much more constructive than complaining and further separating races in this troubled society. Almost every major city in the country has a Holocaust museum. Such museums serve to educate us so that we do not make the same mistake. It is my suggestion that, instead of following the unfeasible ideas of the unintelligent, you form your own opinion; they might not serve you as well as you’d like, but they will do much more good for society.

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