White guilt.

[Aletheia]

The guilt of my "white" ancestors died when they did - much as the guilt of my German ancestors died with them. I am a completely different person than they are and see nothing of value in holding children accountable for the sins of the father, so to speak.

Much like in a typical romantic relationship, drudging up the past over and over again will deprive you of a future. This is especially true of societies claiming to be "progressive." Yes, white people in the past did some pretty horrible things - so did people of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin Descent (etc...). However,the "white race" does not carry such a burden alone, and given human nature, these tendencies will not go away, even if the white race ever does.

Take a look at the feuds in Middle Eastern countries. One man kills another, and the children of the deceased grow up to exact revenge. When they kill another, then the children of the deceased man grow to exact revenge. Repeat ad nauseum, and you have Group A always fighting Group B over the course of centuries. They have no future because they keep drudging up the past. If one of the original perpetrators had been Sunni and the victim Shiite, then the Shiites might be tempted to subjugate all Sunnis to "Sunni Guilt." It's ridiculous.

Much like a black person hates to be judged by their skin, it should come as no surprise that a white person hates being judged by their skin. You want racism to go away? Then try seeing the person as they really are without obscuring the view with who their ancestors were and the actions taken.

Let's not bring tradition into this or the fact that so much of the world believes the child should be responsible for the actions of the parent. On an atheist forum, we know full well that doing things because they are tradition is a thoughtless impulse capable of tragic consequences. We also know that majority opinion is no indicator of validity in an idea. Remember how much of the world is religious and squabbling over these nonsensical beliefs.

The world needs to learn how to let the past go. We can learn from our past, but we don't need to live there.