My Esmay ancestors came to this country in the 1700s. They lived in New York, where slavery was not allowed. My mother's ancestors emigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century, or were American Indian. No slaves for them. Some of my ancestors who fought for the Union are buried in Civil War battlefields.

None of my ancestors were rich. I left home at the age of 15, with literally nothing but a few changes of clothes and some books. I never looked back. My darling wife's parents emigrated here in the late 1960s, barely speaking the language, and worked for everything they had.

The rally in D.C. this weekend for reparations for slavery is a sick joke. D.C. Thornton, in his moving They Owe Us Nothing article, says it better than I can:

Get over it and get a life, damn it....given the hate-filled, divisive rhetoric espoused at Saturday's rally...I strongly oppose the reparations movement, as it only serves to salt the wounds of division between blacks and whites in America as opposed to healing them. Such divisiveness must be opposed, and to hell with those who are bent on keeping blacks shackled to a blinding mindset of hate and supremacy in the misguided quest for another government handout.

I'm tempted to say more, but that's enough I think.