Georgetown Students Show Way Toward Answering American Slavery

Melisande Short-Colomb, a sophomore and descendant of the 272 slaves sold at Georgetown. The student body at Georgetown University agreed to pay the desendent of black slaves who were sold to support the university (Photo Credit: ABC News)

By Kevin C. Peterson

Suppose you’ve worked incredibly hard all your life to become a stunningly rich and successful American. You look around at all that you possess and feel a sense of accomplishment and extreme pride.

After all, you deserve it. You attended elite schools. You sought and applied yourself during internships. You worked to points of exhaustion during your first job and competitively rose up the corporate ladder.

Then you engaged the private sector on your own to become even more wealthy until you arrived at a place where you were among the very rich and privileged.

Now, imagine a weird scenario where you come under the fierce accusations from friends and family who were claiming that your wealth was achieved through theft. Those who once admired your entrepreneurial canniness are now saying that the lucre you’ve accumulated in your lifetime is the result of fraud. You are accused of stealing and that your possessions were dishonestly gotten.

All of this, of course, sends your whole world crashing as you realize that your accusers are right. You’ve lived a life of manipulation. You’ve stolen. You’ve lied. Now what do you do?