Many arguments that focus on past incivility of slavery erroneously apply today's culture, values, beliefs and moral standards to those of a time of lesser civility exhibited by our forefathers, their governments and, yes, their churches, temples and synagogues. Along with slavery, consider the terrible fate of the aboriginal Indians delivered at the hands of our forefathers in less civil times. Even in the more recent days of the "civilization process," we and these institutions were shamefully comfortable with denying women the right to vote.

Do the American Indians and women who were denied the vote and their descendants also deserve restitution? No.

From an historical point of view, in "fairness," we would all, as descendants of ancestors who at one time in history experienced uncivil governmental treatment, be in the long-stretching "restitution line."

Recent restitution paid by our federal government to American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were placed in internment camps during World War II was totally unwarranted and should not be considered as precedent-setting, as the right to restitution was considered on the basis of present day culture, values, beliefs and moral standards, and applied to the mores of a peace-time environment.

Armond "Si" Simmons, Pell City, Ala.