[tomp]

I'm not sure what the point of your comment is.

As for the article you've linked to, I don't think it's a bad idea to repair past injustice, but you need to do it in a good way. For example, I see denationalization (which happened after communist countries of E. Europe adopted capitalism) as something positive (if done in a transparent way). Likewise, if the US government decided to pay out all descendants of slaves, I'd be ok with it. But it has to be specific, intentional, for a specific cause. In contrast, racially biased college admissions are just that, racially biased.

[roguecoder]

I was responding to "I personally consider any institutionalized discrimination bad and immoral. Grants for black students are bad, IMO. On the other hand, grants for poor students (the majority of which will be black (in the US), but not all of them) are good." That would do nothing to reduce existing injustices and could make racial gaps worse, since white people would get a greater benefit from race-blind programs.

If you read the article, it describes how the racial injustices of this country weren't limited to slavery and didn't end with the civil war. There were ongoing government-sponsored, terrorism-enforced race-based programs that were targeted at people who are alive today. The article isn't calling for any specific response: he simply wants a committee to be convened to investigate possible reparations for the harm done.

[tomp]

> That would do nothing to reduce existing injustices and could make racial gaps worse,

I guess it depends on what you consider to be the greatest existing injustices. I personally think that the rich/poor gap is much more unjust, inexcusable and even dangerous for the future of the society than any race gaps. Also, I think that if the social gaps are made narrower, race gaps will by definition follow.

> since white people would get a greater benefit from race-blind programs.

Why is that bad? I see no reason why a black student coming from a rich family should have an easier time getting admitted to a good college than a white student coming from a poor family. Sure, it's less benefit "for the black", but wouldn't it be totally racism to demand higher test scores for admitting (poor) white students, just because they're white?