Condoleeza Rice,about slavery....

Highball

Stories Headlines Sources: Reuters | AP | AP U.S. | The New York Times | ABCNEWS.com Sunday September 9 1:13 PM ET Rice Says U.S. Blacks Should Not Be Paid for SlaveryBy Sue PlemingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of the most influential blacks in the Bush administration, said Sunday she did not think African-Americans should be compensated for the past wrongs of slavery.Rice said the United Nations conference on racism, which ended in Durban, South Africa, Saturday without U.S. participation, looked too much at the past by focusing on the issue of reparations for slavery and on finding ways to condemn Israel.Slavery ended in the United States 138 years ago with the stroke of Abraham Lincoln's pen and civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson have demanded that blacks be compensated for the injustices of slavery.Pressed on whether she agreed with Jackson, Rice told NBC's ''Meet the Press'' television program it was more important to focus on current problems than dwell on the past.``I would hope that we would spend our time thinking about how to deal with today. I would hope we would spend our time thinking about how to educate black children, particularly black children who are caught in poverty.``I would hope that we would spend our time, as the president has said, turning back the soft bigotry of low expectations against our children,'' she said.SLAVERY IS ``AMERICA'S BIRTH DEFECT''Calling slavery ``America's birth defect,'' Rice said she hoped all leaders -- blacks, whites and immigrants -- would try to grapple with the problems ahead.``I think reparations, given the fact that there is plenty of blame to go around for slavery, plenty of blame to go around among African and Arab states and plenty of blame to go around among Western states, we are better to look forward and not point fingers backward,'' she said.Many African nations at the Durban race conference wanted reparations for nearly four centuries of the slave trade but the final conference declaration fell far short of this demand, instead agreeing to fight racism ``wherever it can be found.''Rich nations strongly resisted African demands for an apology for the slave trade and other past injustices because of fears this could trigger a wave of lawsuits.Rice said slavery still existed in the world, such as in Sudan, and that the conference should have roundly condemned this rather than focusing on the past.``I think a lot of time was wasted on issues that were extraneous to the questions that should have been preeminent in the conference and that is how to acknowledge the past, but especially how to move on in the future,'' she said.Rice reiterated Washington's view that the United States had made the right decision to walk out of the Durban conference and said the meeting was ``hijacked'' by those bent on criticizing Israel.Secretary of State Colin Powell, the first African American to hold this key post, boycotted the conference altogether over the Israeli issue and ordered a low-level delegation to leave the meeting last Monday.``This conference spent far too much time in trying to condemn Israel and single it out. I think the United States made the right decision to leave,'' Rice said.''Arab and Islamic countries had demanded Israel should be branded as racist, language that did not find its way into the final statement when the conference ended Saturday This is one sharp lady,in my never-to-be-humble-0pinion......

beachmaster73

Highball....she is also the smartest person in the world when it comes to Russian nuclear weapons and keeping track of them. She was largely ignored by the Klinton administration when she kept warning of the possible proliferation of nuclear weapons by opportunistic Russians. We still are not certain of how much Russian nuclear weapons grade material has already been sold to various third world crazies. We will probably find out when a low grade nuc is detonated in New York City. Hopefully Bill and Hillary will be there. It's a very scary scenario but one that I think is perfectly reasonable given the incredibly poor job Klinton did in this area during his eight years. I do pray that someone doesn't nuc the Statue of Liberty but Klinton's eight years gave bad guys a lot of opportunity. And Condoleezza is our last line of defense. Beach

turbo

Reparations have been available, although disguised in the form of welfare, food programs, low income to all the descendants of all representative minorities in this country for years.In recent times the set aside programs have given more than fair advantages to those who have qualified under the laws passed by congress.Where will it end if the government caves in to the demands made by the decendants of slavery.Next thing you know it won't be enough to give illegal immigrants, legal statuts, we will have to make reparations for the decades of not paying them parity with skilled laborers.I say there is enough free programs available today, if you qualify, take advantage of them. There is no excuse for not graduating from high school, and if one really buckles down, he/she can go on to higher education, free. Jesse Jackson has collected millions from the government and thru corporate (shake downs) donations for education.Enough is enough..