Reparations

I see by the paper that some folks are calling for companies like Wachovia, whose predecesor companies may have, in the dark past, owned slaves, to pay reparations for these dasterdly deeds. I feel I may be in the same boat as Wachovia. Though I don't know for sure, I have an ancestor (my grandfather's great-grandfather, I think) who may have owned slaves. I don't feel any responsibility to pay those slaves' decendents for any of the indignities they may have suffered. I owe them the respect all people deserve, but that's all. I think Wachovia is in the same position.

By the way, does anyone else share my concern about whether you could ever trust a bank that can't even tell the truth about its name?