No to Reparations

I see a prominent African-American businessman wants blacks to receive fourteen trillion dollars in reparations for slavery. This is an odious notion and could be seen by some as an attempt at extortion. My progenitors were hiding from pogroms in Europe until long after all the slaves had been freed. I do not see Russia paying me anything because my ancestors lived under the yoke of murderous antisemitism. If the African-American community is going to receive that monumental sum, how about a few trillion to the Irish who faced merciless discrimination, and Catholics in general who were despised and discriminated against by the KKK, and those of German ancestry who faced persecution during World War I? What about Latino Americans who were treated awfully, do they not deserve their payday too? As a Jewish American, I know my family could not check into certain hotels, join various clubs, or go to universities beyond a strict and low quota number. Will Jews be paid? Actually, it is all ludicrous. We can not be trapped in our collective past, but have to move forward together as AMERICANS!