White Guilt

My fictional nemesis, The Right Rev. Dr. Louis Jesse Sharpton, has profited mightily from this concept. First, let's establish a definition for the term.
According to Shelby Steele, white guilt is "a form of self-congratulation, where whites initiate "compassionate policies" toward people of color, to showcase their innocence to racism.[3] Steele has put the term in the context of American history and society in his book White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (2006):
"Whites (and American institutions) must acknowledge historical racism to show themselves redeemed by it, but once they acknowledge it, they lose moral authority over everything having to do with race, equality, social justice, poverty and so on. [...] The authority they lose transfers to the 'victims' of historical racism and becomes their great power in society. This is why white guilt is quite literally the same thing as black power."[4] (My italics)
Look again at the portion of the quote that I italicized and boldened. Read it again. Now you understand why The Right Rev. Dr. Louis Jesse Sharpton loves the concept! Get some white people to feel guilty and you serve two purposes: You diminish their moral authority and you increase your own power. WOW!
I may have strayed somewhat from my intent but I wanted to highlight certain parts of the term. I also wanted for guilty white folks to take a logical look at the term. Now, let's get back to my original intent.
In my blog on Reverse Discrimination I touched on sin eating. The same philosophy applies to White Guilt. You, me, him, her, them, anyone. NOONE is responsible for the actions of the ancestors. Again...NOONE! Each of us is responsible only for our own actions. If you want to be involved with a certain group, organization, club or substrata of the population, that is your perogative. Because of an illness experienced by one of my sons, I am involved with the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am also a sponsor of nature and animals. I support these causes freely and willingly. My support is in no way related to guilt. I have not harmed nature or any animals; at least not knowingly. I have no guilt in these areas. I support these causes because I want to do so - and for no other reason.
Stop taking any action based on some ill-conceived, illogical, feel-good, phychobabble, liberal emotion that has no basis in fact. Take responsibility for your own transgressions and misdeeds. The responsibility for those of your ancestors ended when they drew their last breath.

[3]. ^ Will, George F.. "White Guilt, Deciphered", MSNBC, June 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-30">
[4]. ^ [1] Google books exerpt from Steele, Shelby, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era Chapter 4: Certain Knowledge, p 24, HarperCollins: 2006, accessed September 30, 2007