NAIROBI, KENYA -- The streets were nearly deserted in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi last Friday evening. After voting in the country's most important presidential and parliamentary elections in nearly a quarter-century, most people retreated to their homes. The brave went to their local bars to watch the results come in on national television. A handful of popular clubs were sprinkled with the normal crowd of young professionals, expatriates and Asians. Yet amid the prevailing silence in this normally bustling East African metropolis of 3 million, where mansions abut slums and Mercedes swerve among street kids, was a sense of anxiety at what the election results might bring.

Chances are that August 17, 2002 won't go down in history as a particularly pivotal day for the pro-reparations movement. Not only did the Millions for Reparations Rally -- held on a small patch of the Mall immediately in front of the nation's capital for seven hours -- fall well short of a million participants. The event also indicated why formal legal channels, rather than popular demonstrations or legislative action, may be the best way for the descendants of America's slaves to pursue compensation for centuries of slavery and discrimination in the United States.