Should Blacks Be Given Reparations?

Yesterday in American Studies we discussed the whole concept of "reparations." I learned that reparations are not necessarily monetary. I found this subject very interesting and gave it some more thought.

My personal intake is that blacks should NOT be given monetary reparations. Would the point of giving them monetary reparations be to "pay off our guilt" (give them money to make us feel less guilty), or to actually help them? You see, the first possibility is to simply give them money so that we don't feel guilty anymore. Personally, I believe that this is an insincere way to apologize. For instance, if you get into a fight with your friend and really hurt his/her feelings, you don't just buy him/her a gift to make up for what you did wrong. The second possibility is to try to help the blacks in America by giving them reparations. Although this is good intent, I do not believe that it would end up working out as one may expect. Look at all of the welfare programs - I have not seen a ton of people benefit from these.

Slavery is a horrible aspect of our nation's history, and it should never be forgotten. But I believe that there are other ways to make it up to black Americans that don't involve giving them money. I have seen many benefits from affirmative action, for example. I also believe that slavery should be taught in schools and that museums should be made in recognition of slavery (like the Holocaust). This should raise people's awareness of the evil ways that blacks were treated and should hopefully stop the racism to a degree.

What do you think?