I demand reparations from Germans, Sweds and Russians.

I am Estonian, I am white, and my ancestors were slaves. For over 700 years Estonia, a tiny but mighty country in Northeastern Europe, was occupied by different foreign powers between 13th-20th Century. For hundreds of years during that period, my ancestors were slaved to the fields, and whipped in the barn by noblemen with german, swedish or russian descents.

Now, living in Seattle, I’m witnessing how different cities in California, Illinois and more, are paying or debating to pay reparations to the black Americans for slavery their ancestors were forced into many centuries ago. This begs a question, should Estonians start demanding reparations as well? After all, the foreign powers came to our land, and enslaved our people. Should we rise up, protest and riot on the streets, go on every news channel and shout angry remarks towards the ‘others’. Or should we accept it as part of our history, focus on building our society in a prosperous, peaceful way, and build good relationships with the foreign powers who once owned our land and us.

Learning about this in school, in history lesson, me and my friends, teachers or our parents never thought about an injustice. All we thought was wow, we survived all of that! How incredible that we are now an independent country, with our own language and culture. Not once, as a little girl, a teenager, or now an adult, did I think to blame anyone for our history. If we take this route, every single country, or ethnical group should either pay reparations or demand them from somebody. World history is not fair, it’s often painful or even unpleasant to read about, but it is the truth. It’s what happened in all parts of the world, and as humanity we need to learn from it and move on together.

I was lucky enough to get to travel the world from a very young age, and I can safely say, that now, living in the United States, this is one of the least racist countries in the world. But it might turn into one if one sides guilty consciousness will lead way to angry social warriors, threatening to widen the gap further than it has been. So maybe instead of reparations, political powers should focus on widening the history curriculums in schools. To offer a well-rounded perspective to these issues. Americas history is not unique in this sense. Conquering lands, occupying other countries, and yes, even slavery, happened almost everywhere.

I am not automatically racist, because I am white, and a black American is not automatically a victim because of the past. Just as I am not a victim, because my ancestors were chained and whipped in the barn. It was the way of all of our lands, it was part of all of our history.

It seems a little cynical to me that so much emphasis is put on to need to right the wrongs of the past, and completely ignore the real dark issue that still exists in todays societies. There are no protests, and outrage on the streets, or federal level political discussion about the millions of people still enslaved today. I am talking about the current slave auctions in Libya, where people are sold into horrific faith by their own ethnical groups. I’m talking about the children, as young as 4, sold into sex trade right here in the United States. In your city, even in your neighborhood. Or about the millions of labor slaves still on the fields all over the world.

We should leave the past in the past, and focus on working together to prevent people from being sold into slavery now, today, all over the world. Reading about my enslaved ancestors does nothing more to me than make me respect history. Driving down Aurora lane, here in Seattle, and seeing teenage children being sold on the street like meat, is what makes me want to shout from the rooftops.