A clean slate according to senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham reparations are not a good idea because according to them that debt was paid in full when this country elected Barrack Obama as president well thanks gentlemen for clearing that up with us because we would have never known what you really think so let me clarify this as best I can slavery is a scar that America has tried to put a band aid on but never healed the institution of slavery in this country has had a lasting effect some four or five hundred years later black people in this country have never been given a fair shake a chance if you will at the American dream every time we have made any strides they come up with a loophole to pull us back down "40 acres and a mule" this term has been used for over a century yet it was never given all the blood, sweat and tears that have been shed so that people can be free and have equal opportunities to own businesses own land and have something of value to pass down through generations like other families who pass down wealth sadly most black people have very little if anything to leave to their loved ones when they pass on which in many ways lays the ground work for families to continue to struggle through generations let's break this down so that it can be understood my great, great grandmother was a slave my great grandmother was an orphan when her mother passed away at a young age and was raised by her aunt and my grandmother and grandfather worked the cotton fields for little to no money and did not even own the land nor had the opportunity to ever own the land unless some kindly older white person willed it to them that would be the only way that we could own land so my mother, aunts, and uncles all tilled fields in Mississippi present day I grew up in Chicago on the south side the Englewood neighborhood where opportunities are limited now my daughter is an adult and I have a grandson and I will give anything for him not to have to struggle like his lineage did so for anyone who is against reparations you have not walked in our shoes because if you had you would know that no one is looking for a handout only a hand up an opportunity to be successful in life and to take care of their families in the present as well as in the future