- Moderator
- #341
You couldn't counter my argument properly, so you attribute something ridiculous to me. Your concession is duly noted.I imagine you support the human trafficking industry going on right now then....after all....when they are eventually freed life will be roses.They were ultimately freed into a free country which was much more civilized than anything in Africa, and the freed slaves didn't hate it so much that they stayed, even as they were little more than slaves at the start.They already knew how to farm.Look at it as us having to school them on how to grow food, live in a modern society, work for somebody... You know, all the things that they no longer know how to do. Sure things weren't always rosy, but my ancestors were serfs in the old country and were basically indentured servants. And what they endured laid the foundation for future generations. Funny thing though, you don't EVER hear me complaining about the people who enslaved my ancestors. And my pants are pulled all the way up.Slavery doesn't convey a very positive picture of your idea of civilization.
You taught them nothing.
Justifying human slavery is abhorant.
Your ancestors fled to a country that gave them freedom. The ancestors of many black Americans were taken to that same country and enslaved. Big difference.
Not justifying slavery, just pointing out that ultimately, bringing blacks over here as slaves was beneficial to their future generations. Maybe they should pay US reparations for putting up with them and trying to help them, instead of having sent them all back to Africa once they were freed.
And FYI, the Chinese are now teaching them how to grow food in Africa.
I can counter it, but the question is is it worth the time and effort?
Here we go, let's look at the points you made.
They were ultimately freed into a free country which was much more civilized than anything in Africa, and the freed slaves didn't hate it so much that they stayed, even as they were little more than slaves at the start.
This is a bit of false moral equivalency - much like comparing your ancester's lives as serfs to slavery.
African slavery was institutionalized by the American Revolution. It expanded rapidly as an economic force in the south. The Emancipation Proclomation of 1863 ostensibly freed them.
So, for well over a hundred years (since it started before we became a country) human beings of a specific racial make up were owned, bred and sold and forced into labor. It was against the law to educate them or teach them to read.
The "much more civilized" country they were released into was one that broke treaty after treaty and sent the native people's into substandard "civilized" exile on reservations...leading to the deaths of many. It was a "civilized" country that still employed child labor and experimented on the mentally disabled.
This same "civilized" country insured that after losing a war...after having slavery abolished...they were still able to retain slavery. It was just less obstrutive. Share cropping, Jim Crowe, etc. And when you release people from slavery...that you made it illegal to educate and that you continue to prevent the education of...it's not like they have many options. In fact they went from slavery to serfdom wouldn't you say? A double whammy.
You have a heritage...you know your ancestry. These people were robbed of theirs. When their families were split in the slave markets and children, husbands and wives seperated - they were robbed of their future generations too. Family ties become transient. This you seem to think is "beneficial".
For all this you think they should be "grateful"...because NOW....over a hundred years from the proclamation - they are finally equal citizens. Something they had to fight for and lose lives for and suffer degradation for. Why should they be grateful?
Many countries in Africa function just fine. They've established a decent middle class, good level of education, citizens who are happy to be citizens and proud of it and wish to live no where else.
So why should people be "grateful" for slavery?