Reparations for slavery, once a fringe issue touted by a motley mix of black separatists, zealots and crackpots and that respected mainstream civil rights leaders shunned, have now been slammed onto the nation's public-policy plate. Leaders of the NAACP, the Urban League and the Congressional Black Caucus all agree that reparations have merit. Outside of President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, no other prominent black dares to publicly denounce reparations. Even some …showed first 75 words of 656 total…

…showed last 75 words of 656 total…projects, such as AIDS/HIV education and prevention, remedial education, job skills and training, drug and alcohol counseling and rehabilitation, computer access and literacy training. Such projects would boost the black poor, not gut public revenues and, most important, not finger all whites as culpable for slavery. The issue won't go away, but as long as most Americans are convinced that reparations are a terrible idea, a march won't do much to change their thinking.