But all that took place around 160 plus years ago, and was certainly not only out of my control but of my ken, until I did a lot of genealogical research.

People and events that my family retained absolutely no knowledge of.

So, should I have to pay reparations?

I’ve found half a dozen ancestors who fought in the Revolution—thankfully on the American side.

After the Revolution some applied for pensions, some applied for land bounties or tax remissions as compensation for their service, some did not.

Should that mean that I should merit, should inherit some sort of payment that was owed them and that they didn’t apply for or collect—with 250 or so years of compounded interest added?

And then another, on the numbers of Americans who neither descended from slaveholders nor from Union soldiers, but from people who arrived here after 1865 and were not involved in any way. Huge numbers of those moved into states above the Mason-Dixon line where there was also not legally-enforced segregation, and many of these immigrants were themselves discriminated against by groups already here.

https://notthebee.com/article/reuters-investigates-discovers-every-single-living-us-president-descended-from-slaveholders-except-for-one-bad-orange-man

That’s Biden, Obama, Bush II, Clinton, and Carter.
Go ahead with the gotcha questions, Mr Meeks.

And notice how FAST Reuters skips over that part, in order to get to the GOP.
I’ve embedded a few “context” [notes], ala Twitter.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-slavery-lawmakers/

Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.

Those lawmakers from the 117th session of Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include some of the most influential politicians in America: Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.

In addition, President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president – except Donald Trump – are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and – through his white mother’s side – Barack Obama. Trump’s ancestors came to America after slavery was abolished.

Two of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices – Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – also have direct ancestors who enslaved people.
…
Reuters found that at least 8% of Democrats in the last Congress and 28% of Republicans have such ancestors. The preponderance of Republicans reflects the party’s [current] strength in the South, where slavery was concentrated [under Democrats in the past].
…
The Reuters examination reveals how intimately tied America remains to the institution of slavery, including through the “people who make the laws that govern our country,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr, a professor at Harvard University who focuses on African and African American research and hosts the popular television genealogy show Finding Your Roots on PBS.

Gates said identifying those familial connections to slaveholders is “not another chapter in the blame game. We do not inherit guilt for our ancestors’ actions.”

[even though that’s the only reason Reuters published this report]

“It’s just to say: Look at how closely linked we are to the institution of slavery, and how it informed the lives of the ancestors of people who represent us in the United States Congress today,” Gates said. “This is a learning opportunity for each individual. It is also a learning opportunity for their constituency … and for the American people as a whole.”

In addition to the political leaders Reuters identified, “there are millions of Americans who are descendants of enslavers [who included Blacks and Native Americans] as well,” said Tony Burroughs, a genealogist who specializes in helping Black Americans trace their ancestries.

What’s unclear is how the proportion of leaders who descend from slaveholders compares to that of all Americans. Among scholars, there is no agreement on precisely how many Americans today have a forebear who enslaved people.

[thus the inanity of reparations, especially since some had ancestors on both sides of the freedom line; and many today had none on either side]

Good posts and discussions therein…

Updike was a force. Perhaps reading “The Maple Stories” would be a more suitable exploration than the Rabbit novels. Hemingway’s short stories have stuck with me better than his novels.

If I may say, I sure can hear Updike in Kesey’s second novel, “Sometimes a Great Notion.”