No, the place to begin is with blacks. Everyone practiced slavery in older times. Slavery was simply an institution that was taken for granted as part of every society. Whites were the first to get rid of it, slowly, over a period of many centuries. Meanwhile, African blacks never even considered getting rid of it.
When the New World was being colonized, the idea of slavery, which had been dying in the white world, made an unfortunate comeback. The new lands seemed so vast that some felt slave labor was needed to develop such a huge land mass. But where could they get slaves? They had banned slavery in their own lands.
Africa turned out to be the place where slaves were a dime a dozen. Why? Because the Africans had never even considered getting rid of slavery. They practiced it with impunity, and it had never crossed their minds that there was anything wrong with it. So we bought slaves from there and brought them to America.
Eventually we realized our error and abolished slavery for good, but Africans would still be practicing slavery today if the European colonial powers hadn't stopped it. In fact, slavery is still practiced today, under the radar, in many African nations.
And, of course, black Americans today are net beneficiaries of slavery because they have the highest standard of living of any blacks on earth, thanks to the fact that they were brought here.
So just say no to reparations. Everyone on earth surely has both slaves and slave owners among their ancestors. It's ironic that the race that was the last to abolish slavery, and which would still be practicing it had others not forced them to abolish it, is the one demanding reparations for the practice.
Native Americans had slaves as well. When a warring tribe won a battle, the women and children were taken in as slaves.
How does that reperation work? They were slaves to the same race, different tribe. And it flip flopped too. Back and forth.