The value of slavery?

[IM2]

I think reparations are a fine line. For instance not all states legalized slavery. Reparation should really be for survivors not descendents hundreds of years later.

Government programs designed to address racial inequality and discrimination really are a form of reparation and an attempt to address longstanding policies and attitudes that targeted blacks.

Really? Have you studied Cobell v Salazar so you can understand how you are paying Native American descendants now for things that happened because of the Dawes Act if 1887? There has been nothing that has addressed the economic damage specifically for blacks.

Your ancestors sold family members; you can't handle that? Tough.
You've had equal rights since the 1960s and you still can't live without going to the bar and getting a daily dose of under the panties satisfaction.
If you can't straighten out your act don't expect others to give you hand outs that you''ll simply spend on clothes and use to upgrade from BMWs to Roll Royces.

Since none of that happened you just show yourself to be another dumb white person.

none of what happened? -----I am not going to address the "selling family members"-------if it did happen----it was, likely, rare. But it is a fact that black African tribes did SELL other blacks for several thousand years. -----because black Africans are just as perverse as are "white" people and slavery was UBIQUITOUS thruout the world. It is also a fact that it is not a UNIQUELY black experience. It would be impossible to know WHERE TO BEGIN to try to compensate all the victims of injustice over the past 5000 years. Talk to a person from south east asia-------they are convinced that the BRITISH EMPIRE is still contaminating their blood and tea cups

These words you posted are not exactly facts.

 

[irosie91]

What would you estimate the value of slavery in the US to have been?
Specifically, if reparations were to be made for slavery, how much would you estimate the value of lost wages plus interest to be? Please be specific. What pay scale would you propose be used, and what amount of interest?
Who would you propose be paid reparations for slavery in the US?
And, who would you propose pay into the fund to be dispersed to those deemed recipients of said reparations?

Free housing provided by the master.
Free food provided by the master.
Free healthcare provided by the master.
Unfavorable working conditions.

There's some stupid folks currently fighting pretty hard to bring slavery back ...

.​

you are UNFORTUNATELY right------but it is not Trump and his minions----it is the "NOBLE SOCIALISTS" who actively and SELF RIGHTEOUSLY seek this miserable outcome. -------the first step towards disaster is big, giant, government subsidized housing. Such projects ----historically --descend into lairs of crime. HISTORY-------which is one of the reasons I do not INSIST on KEEPING FAMILIES BEING DETAINED at the southern border intact. "INTACT" where? -------giant hotels? Just stick anybody and everyone in some GIANT HOTEL with separate accommodations for families? -------idle non paying people? ----THINK CRIME

 

[IM2]

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade
By Dwayne Wong (Omowale)

There are many misconceptions about African history and nowhere is this more true than the topic of the slave trade. Very often I see comments by people who argue that Africans sold each other into slavery. There is some element of truth to this, but to speak of the slave trade solely as Africans selling each other t is a gross oversimplification of what was a complex historical event. This also seems to be an attempt to shift the burden of the slave trade on the victims of that very trade. In How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney mentions how the white author of a book on the slave trade admitted that he was encouraged by other scholars to blame the slave trade solely on the Africans. This narrative helps to lessen European guilt by making Africans seem just as or even more guilty of being involved in the slave trade. This piece is not an attempt to ignore the African role in the slave trade or to absolve those that were involved, but to to provide a more complete picture of the African involvement in slave trade.

In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. The problem with raiding for slaves was that it was extremely dangerous. For instance, the slave trader Nuno Tristão was killed during an ambush. Slave raiding proved to be an extremely dangerous way to obtain slaves, but buying slaves was much safer and took less effort on the part of the Europeans. Therefore, the first phase of the slave trade began not with a trade, but with a series of raids. This point is especially important because although the slave trade was on some levels based on a partnership between European buyers and African traders, the slave trade did not begin as such.

Moreover, the partnership between the traders and buyers was an uneasy one. The European slave traders often betrayed those who supplied them with slaves. A famous case of this was the African slave trader Daaga who was tricked and captured by slave traders. He was taken to Trinidad where he would eventually lead a mutiny. Another example is given by Anne Bailey in her book African Voices in the Atlantic Slave Trade. She mentions the story of Chief Ndorkutsu who had been providing captives to the European traders. Eventually some of the Ndorkutsu’s own relatives were tricked into boarding a slave ship and then taken as slaves to Cuba. In some cases, such as that of Madam Tinubu in Nigeria and Afonso of the Kongo Kingdom, those Africans that initially gave African captives to the Europeans came to resist the slave trade. Tinubu had a change of heart when she realized how inhumanely the slaves were treated. Afonso was almost assassinated by the Portuguese after he demanded an end to the slave trade in his kingdom.

Typically wars in West Africa were relatively short affairs that left a small number of causalities. The introduction of European weapons made these wars more drawn out and destructive affairs. Moreover, the only way Africans could acquire these firearms was through the trade of slaves. A king of Dahomey once requested that Europeans establish a firearms factory in his nation, but this request went ignored. Firearms became necessary for African nations to defend themselves both from African rivals as well as from European intrusion, but the only way to acquire these weapons was through the slave trade. This situation only benefited the competing European powers that were able to play Africans against each other.

Finally, the slave trade left a negative legacy on both sides of the Atlantic. The Africans that were brought to the Americas were forced to labor as slaves, while enduring some of the most inhumane treatment imaginable. Those who remained, however, were left to mourn the lost of their friends and relatives that were taken away. A handful of African traders and rulers may have gained some wealth from the slave trade, but overall it was a very negative event for Africa. There were African kingdoms, such as the Kongo Kingdom, that eventually fell due to the onslaught brought about by the slave trade. We often think of the negative impact that the slave trade had on those who were captured, but the slave trade was also devastating for those who escaped being captured as well.

Some Africans did play a role in the slave trade and the trade could not have been as large as it was without cooperation from Africans. With that being said, I think many people who have not properly studied the slave trade have a tendency to overstate how involved Africans were in a misguided attempt to shift the blame of the slave trade on Africans.

—

Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook.

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade | HuffPost

 

[irosie91]

I think reparations are a fine line. For instance not all states legalized slavery. Reparation should really be for survivors not descendents hundreds of years later.

Government programs designed to address racial inequality and discrimination really are a form of reparation and an attempt to address longstanding policies and attitudes that targeted blacks.

Really? Have you studied Cobell v Salazar so you can understand how you are paying Native American descendants now for things that happened because of the Dawes Act if 1887? There has been nothing that has addressed the economic damage specifically for blacks.

Your ancestors sold family members; you can't handle that? Tough.
You've had equal rights since the 1960s and you still can't live without going to the bar and getting a daily dose of under the panties satisfaction.
If you can't straighten out your act don't expect others to give you hand outs that you''ll simply spend on clothes and use to upgrade from BMWs to Roll Royces.

Since none of that happened you just show yourself to be another dumb white person.

none of what happened? -----I am not going to address the "selling family members"-------if it did happen----it was, likely, rare. But it is a fact that black African tribes did SELL other blacks for several thousand years. -----because black Africans are just as perverse as are "white" people and slavery was UBIQUITOUS thruout the world. It is also a fact that it is not a UNIQUELY black experience. It would be impossible to know WHERE TO BEGIN to try to compensate all the victims of injustice over the past 5000 years. Talk to a person from south east asia-------they are convinced that the BRITISH EMPIRE is still contaminating their blood and tea cups

These words you posted are not exactly facts.

Is that the best you can do? ----"not exactly fact...." ?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

My people first arrived here in 1920, I don't owe anything

 

[irosie91]

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade
By Dwayne Wong (Omowale)

There are many misconceptions about African history and nowhere is this more true than the topic of the slave trade. Very often I see comments by people who argue that Africans sold each other into slavery. There is some element of truth to this, but to speak of the slave trade solely as Africans selling each other t is a gross oversimplification of what was a complex historical event. This also seems to be an attempt to shift the burden of the slave trade on the victims of that very trade. In How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney mentions how the white author of a book on the slave trade admitted that he was encouraged by other scholars to blame the slave trade solely on the Africans. This narrative helps to lessen European guilt by making Africans seem just as or even more guilty of being involved in the slave trade. This piece is not an attempt to ignore the African role in the slave trade or to absolve those that were involved, but to to provide a more complete picture of the African involvement in slave trade.

In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. The problem with raiding for slaves was that it was extremely dangerous. For instance, the slave trader Nuno Tristão was killed during an ambush. Slave raiding proved to be an extremely dangerous way to obtain slaves, but buying slaves was much safer and took less effort on the part of the Europeans. Therefore, the first phase of the slave trade began not with a trade, but with a series of raids. This point is especially important because although the slave trade was on some levels based on a partnership between European buyers and African traders, the slave trade did not begin as such.

Moreover, the partnership between the traders and buyers was an uneasy one. The European slave traders often betrayed those who supplied them with slaves. A famous case of this was the African slave trader Daaga who was tricked and captured by slave traders. He was taken to Trinidad where he would eventually lead a mutiny. Another example is given by Anne Bailey in her book African Voices in the Atlantic Slave Trade. She mentions the story of Chief Ndorkutsu who had been providing captives to the European traders. Eventually some of the Ndorkutsu’s own relatives were tricked into boarding a slave ship and then taken as slaves to Cuba. In some cases, such as that of Madam Tinubu in Nigeria and Afonso of the Kongo Kingdom, those Africans that initially gave African captives to the Europeans came to resist the slave trade. Tinubu had a change of heart when she realized how inhumanely the slaves were treated. Afonso was almost assassinated by the Portuguese after he demanded an end to the slave trade in his kingdom.

Typically wars in West Africa were relatively short affairs that left a small number of causalities. The introduction of European weapons made these wars more drawn out and destructive affairs. Moreover, the only way Africans could acquire these firearms was through the trade of slaves. A king of Dahomey once requested that Europeans establish a firearms factory in his nation, but this request went ignored. Firearms became necessary for African nations to defend themselves both from African rivals as well as from European intrusion, but the only way to acquire these weapons was through the slave trade. This situation only benefited the competing European powers that were able to play Africans against each other.

Finally, the slave trade left a negative legacy on both sides of the Atlantic. The Africans that were brought to the Americas were forced to labor as slaves, while enduring some of the most inhumane treatment imaginable. Those who remained, however, were left to mourn the lost of their friends and relatives that were taken away. A handful of African traders and rulers may have gained some wealth from the slave trade, but overall it was a very negative event for Africa. There were African kingdoms, such as the Kongo Kingdom, that eventually fell due to the onslaught brought about by the slave trade. We often think of the negative impact that the slave trade had on those who were captured, but the slave trade was also devastating for those who escaped being captured as well.

Some Africans did play a role in the slave trade and the trade could not have been as large as it was without cooperation from Africans. With that being said, I think many people who have not properly studied the slave trade have a tendency to overstate how involved Africans were in a misguided attempt to shift the blame of the slave trade on Africans.

—

Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook.

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade | HuffPost

oh----ok ----the very BEST you could do "some people overstate how involved Africans were....." ? ----<<< really impressive. Your citation is silly---it dates the INCEPTION OF THE CONCEPT OF SLAVERY to
1444 AD<<<<<<<<< ROFLMAO

 

[BlackSand]

What would you estimate the value of slavery in the US to have been?
Specifically, if reparations were to be made for slavery, how much would you estimate the value of lost wages plus interest to be? Please be specific. What pay scale would you propose be used, and what amount of interest?
Who would you propose be paid reparations for slavery in the US?
And, who would you propose pay into the fund to be dispersed to those deemed recipients of said reparations?

Free housing provided by the master.
Free food provided by the master.
Free healthcare provided by the master.
Unfavorable working conditions.

There's some stupid folks currently fighting pretty hard to bring slavery back ...

.​

you are UNFORTUNATELY right------but it is not Trump and his minions----it is the "NOBLE SOCIALISTS" who actively and SELF RIGHTEOUSLY seek this miserable outcome. -------the first step towards disaster is big, giant, government subsidized housing. Such projects ----historically --descend into lairs of crime. HISTORY-------which is one of the reasons I do not INSIST on KEEPING FAMILIES BEING DETAINED at the southern border intact. "INTACT" where? -------giant hotels? Just stick anybody and everyone in some GIANT HOTEL with separate accommodations for families? -------idle non paying people? ----THINK CRIME

... You are either one of the slaves or one of the owners.

.​

 

[IM2]

Next time someone says, “But Africans sold themselves into slavery!”, send this article to them

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following except from pages 47-50 of Overturning the Culture of Violence, written by Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee and printed by Burning Spear Publications, debunks the cynical and anti-black argument that “Africans enslaved themselves.” This argument points to the presence of Africans who collaborated with the European slave masters and “sold” Africans to them in order to shift the responsibility for the slave trade off the shoulders of the European colonial slavemaster and onto the backs of the colonized and enslaved African.

Today, as the voice of the enslaved African community asserts itself in the world and lifts up the demand for reparations, the blame-shifting “African collaborator” argument can be seen gaining traction in universities and bourgeois historical publications, not as an historical argument but as a political defense against the legitimacy of the reparations demand. As an organization of white people working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party to organize white people in solidarity with the African struggle for liberation and reparations, we in the Uhuru Solidarity Movement find it timely to publish this excerpt here:

HUMAN BONDAGE: Page 47-50, Overturning the Culture of Violence

The terrible impact that slavery has had on the continent of Africa cannot be calculated: the destruction of magnificent civilizations, the break-up of family and kinship circles, the massive depopulation, forced impoverishment, famine and starvation, the ravishing of an environment which had been so conducive to human civilization for millennia. From open, educated, prosperous and democratic societies, African people now lived in sheer terror, never knowing when their village or town would be raided for human loot by these white invaders.

Some North American people cynically place the blame for the enslavement of African people on the shoulders of African collaborators who participated in the kidnapping of their own people. Impacted by the social destruction wreaked by invading Europeans, a tiny minority of the conquered people did find their own survival by participating in this treachery.

The setting up of collaborators among the colonized population has been a successful tool of domination in every instance of European colonialism around the world. Africa is no exception. Europeans attack societies in Africa, Asia, or the Americas, destroying their traditional economies and long-standing social relationships. A unilateral colonial economy, which starves the people and creates the dependency on the colonial power, is militarily enforced.

The European invader gets richer and richer through his bloodsucking relationship, and offers resources, guns and special status to a minority sector of the oppressed population. The selected “elite” or the colony can themselves become enslaved or carry out the will of white power. If they take any stand independent of the colonizer as have, say, Panama’s Noriega or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in today’s world, white power spares them none of its wrath.

This plan has worked well over the centuries. A few people in every colony have participated in the devious imperialist schemes of slavery, genocide, torture and exploitation of their own people, a collaboration which benefits no one more than the European or North American “mother” country.

The statement that “Africans enslaved their own people” separates out African people from other colonial subjects, all of whom have had their share of betrayal among their ranks. It is a statement of imperialism’s historic need to mobilize public opinion against African people.

Like the general white attitude toward the government-imposed drugs and dependent drug economy in today’s African communities, this statement lets the parasitic colonial economic system off the hook. It is an anti-black expression of unity with the oppression of African people, saying, “They did it to themselves.” Meanwhile all white people everywhere still benefit from the parasitic economic system which has as its foundation the enslavement and continued exploitation of African people.

Most Africans resisted enslavement with all of their energy. Rebellions on slave ships were common. According to one source, “Many deaths on slave journeys across the Atlantic derived from violence, brawls, and above all, rebellions. There was probably at least one insurrection every eight to ten journeys.”

For example, Africans successfully rebelled in 1532 aboard the Portueguese slave ship the Misericordia. The 109 Africans on board “rose and murdered all the crew except for the pilot and two seaman. Those survivors escaped in a longboat. But the Misericordia was never heard of again.”

Slave ship owners often three Africans off the ships just to collect the insurance money. One famous case was that of a ship owned by William Gregson and George Case (both former mayors of Liverpool, England). The captain threw 133 Africans into the sea because if Africans were to die naturally, the owners would lose money, but if the African people were “thrown alive into the sea,” supposedly for the safety of the crew, “it would be the loss of the underwriters.”

So many African people died en route that it has been said that sharks followed slave ships all the way from Africa to the Americas.

Africans who survived the notoriously brutal middle passage, as the Atlantic crossing was known, reached the Americas barely alive. If they were too ill, they were left to die on the shore. They were sold like animals on public auction blocks, naked or in rags, weakened and emaciated, having survived the months below deck with disease and malnutrition, not to mention the emotional ravage sof such an experience. Many Africans committed suicide to avoid enslavement, a practice otherwise unknown in African culture.

White buyers came to the market for slaves, “feeling the Africans’ limbs and bodies much as butchers handled calves. The slaves were often asked, as they had been told to do before leaving Africa, to show their tongues and teeth, or to stretch their arms.”

In the Americas, Africans were “broken in” by submitting them to inhuman terror in an attempt to crush out any resistance. The “breaking” process was psychological as well as physical, and included being forced to learn a version of a European language and to take a European name, something many Africans militantly resisted.

Under the domination of their white slave masters, African people of all ages were branded, women on the breasts. Africans were whipped until they were deeply scarred, and their ears or ear lobes were cut off. People were slashed in the face, and their hands and feet were cut off to prevent them from running away. Men were castrated; women were raped. Women’s babies were cut out of their bellies for “punishment” and any man, woman or child could be forced to wear iron collars on their necks for life.

Under such brutal conditions, normal human relationships between men and woman or parents and children were interrupted and nearly impossible. Mothers were forced to work the full nine months of pregnancy, often giving birth in the field. They were then forced to abandon their children, as they had to keep on working or nurse the children of the slave master.

Next time someone says, "But Africans sold themselves into slavery!", send this article to them

 

[karpenter]

Africans did NOT sell their own people into slavery

HA-HARR !!
No Wonder No One With Even Half A Brain Listens
Didn't You Also Post This Contradictory Evidence ??
The Story of Africa| BBC World Service
Or Was That Your Buddy...

It Doesn't Matter
Slaves Are Chattel To Be Sold And Bought
No Matter Who Owns Them

'...would sell our own brothers and sisters?'...
The Black Owners/Traders In America Sure Did

Supposedly only whites lie about history, it appears the Africans dont want to admit their ancestors roles in slavery

Slavery In The United States Happened In A Bubble
All By It Self

Slavery Didn't Exist
Until America Went To Africa And Invented It

 

[IM2]

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade
By Dwayne Wong (Omowale)

There are many misconceptions about African history and nowhere is this more true than the topic of the slave trade. Very often I see comments by people who argue that Africans sold each other into slavery. There is some element of truth to this, but to speak of the slave trade solely as Africans selling each other t is a gross oversimplification of what was a complex historical event. This also seems to be an attempt to shift the burden of the slave trade on the victims of that very trade. In How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney mentions how the white author of a book on the slave trade admitted that he was encouraged by other scholars to blame the slave trade solely on the Africans. This narrative helps to lessen European guilt by making Africans seem just as or even more guilty of being involved in the slave trade. This piece is not an attempt to ignore the African role in the slave trade or to absolve those that were involved, but to to provide a more complete picture of the African involvement in slave trade.

In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. The problem with raiding for slaves was that it was extremely dangerous. For instance, the slave trader Nuno Tristão was killed during an ambush. Slave raiding proved to be an extremely dangerous way to obtain slaves, but buying slaves was much safer and took less effort on the part of the Europeans. Therefore, the first phase of the slave trade began not with a trade, but with a series of raids. This point is especially important because although the slave trade was on some levels based on a partnership between European buyers and African traders, the slave trade did not begin as such.

Moreover, the partnership between the traders and buyers was an uneasy one. The European slave traders often betrayed those who supplied them with slaves. A famous case of this was the African slave trader Daaga who was tricked and captured by slave traders. He was taken to Trinidad where he would eventually lead a mutiny. Another example is given by Anne Bailey in her book African Voices in the Atlantic Slave Trade. She mentions the story of Chief Ndorkutsu who had been providing captives to the European traders. Eventually some of the Ndorkutsu’s own relatives were tricked into boarding a slave ship and then taken as slaves to Cuba. In some cases, such as that of Madam Tinubu in Nigeria and Afonso of the Kongo Kingdom, those Africans that initially gave African captives to the Europeans came to resist the slave trade. Tinubu had a change of heart when she realized how inhumanely the slaves were treated. Afonso was almost assassinated by the Portuguese after he demanded an end to the slave trade in his kingdom.

Typically wars in West Africa were relatively short affairs that left a small number of causalities. The introduction of European weapons made these wars more drawn out and destructive affairs. Moreover, the only way Africans could acquire these firearms was through the trade of slaves. A king of Dahomey once requested that Europeans establish a firearms factory in his nation, but this request went ignored. Firearms became necessary for African nations to defend themselves both from African rivals as well as from European intrusion, but the only way to acquire these weapons was through the slave trade. This situation only benefited the competing European powers that were able to play Africans against each other.

Finally, the slave trade left a negative legacy on both sides of the Atlantic. The Africans that were brought to the Americas were forced to labor as slaves, while enduring some of the most inhumane treatment imaginable. Those who remained, however, were left to mourn the lost of their friends and relatives that were taken away. A handful of African traders and rulers may have gained some wealth from the slave trade, but overall it was a very negative event for Africa. There were African kingdoms, such as the Kongo Kingdom, that eventually fell due to the onslaught brought about by the slave trade. We often think of the negative impact that the slave trade had on those who were captured, but the slave trade was also devastating for those who escaped being captured as well.

Some Africans did play a role in the slave trade and the trade could not have been as large as it was without cooperation from Africans. With that being said, I think many people who have not properly studied the slave trade have a tendency to overstate how involved Africans were in a misguided attempt to shift the blame of the slave trade on Africans.

—

Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook.

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade | HuffPost

oh----ok ----the very BEST you could do "some people overstate how involved Africans were....." ? ----<<< really impressive. Your citation is silly---it dates the INCEPTION OF THE CONCEPT OF SLAVERY to
1444 AD<<<<<<<<< ROFLMAO

Some will do anything to deny the truth. You are really dumb. Learn how to read.

"In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. "

It is apparent to anyone who can read that the author was referring to the Trans Atlantic slave trade. Your excuse laden argument about things happening 10,000 yeas ago is quite frankly, ignorant.

 

[IM2]

Africans did NOT sell their own people into slavery

HA-HARR !!
No Wonder No One With Even Half A Brain Listens
Didn't You Also Post This Contradictory Evidence ??
The Story of Africa| BBC World Service
Or Was That Your Buddy...

Supposedly only whites lie about history, it appears the Africans dont want to admit their ancestors roles in slavery

Slavery In The United States Happened In A Bubble
All By It Self

Slavery Didn't Exist
Until America Went To Africa And Invented It

Yeah we know dumb ass.

 

[irosie91]

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade
By Dwayne Wong (Omowale)

There are many misconceptions about African history and nowhere is this more true than the topic of the slave trade. Very often I see comments by people who argue that Africans sold each other into slavery. There is some element of truth to this, but to speak of the slave trade solely as Africans selling each other t is a gross oversimplification of what was a complex historical event. This also seems to be an attempt to shift the burden of the slave trade on the victims of that very trade. In How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney mentions how the white author of a book on the slave trade admitted that he was encouraged by other scholars to blame the slave trade solely on the Africans. This narrative helps to lessen European guilt by making Africans seem just as or even more guilty of being involved in the slave trade. This piece is not an attempt to ignore the African role in the slave trade or to absolve those that were involved, but to to provide a more complete picture of the African involvement in slave trade.

In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. The problem with raiding for slaves was that it was extremely dangerous. For instance, the slave trader Nuno Tristão was killed during an ambush. Slave raiding proved to be an extremely dangerous way to obtain slaves, but buying slaves was much safer and took less effort on the part of the Europeans. Therefore, the first phase of the slave trade began not with a trade, but with a series of raids. This point is especially important because although the slave trade was on some levels based on a partnership between European buyers and African traders, the slave trade did not begin as such.

Moreover, the partnership between the traders and buyers was an uneasy one. The European slave traders often betrayed those who supplied them with slaves. A famous case of this was the African slave trader Daaga who was tricked and captured by slave traders. He was taken to Trinidad where he would eventually lead a mutiny. Another example is given by Anne Bailey in her book African Voices in the Atlantic Slave Trade. She mentions the story of Chief Ndorkutsu who had been providing captives to the European traders. Eventually some of the Ndorkutsu’s own relatives were tricked into boarding a slave ship and then taken as slaves to Cuba. In some cases, such as that of Madam Tinubu in Nigeria and Afonso of the Kongo Kingdom, those Africans that initially gave African captives to the Europeans came to resist the slave trade. Tinubu had a change of heart when she realized how inhumanely the slaves were treated. Afonso was almost assassinated by the Portuguese after he demanded an end to the slave trade in his kingdom.

Typically wars in West Africa were relatively short affairs that left a small number of causalities. The introduction of European weapons made these wars more drawn out and destructive affairs. Moreover, the only way Africans could acquire these firearms was through the trade of slaves. A king of Dahomey once requested that Europeans establish a firearms factory in his nation, but this request went ignored. Firearms became necessary for African nations to defend themselves both from African rivals as well as from European intrusion, but the only way to acquire these weapons was through the slave trade. This situation only benefited the competing European powers that were able to play Africans against each other.

Finally, the slave trade left a negative legacy on both sides of the Atlantic. The Africans that were brought to the Americas were forced to labor as slaves, while enduring some of the most inhumane treatment imaginable. Those who remained, however, were left to mourn the lost of their friends and relatives that were taken away. A handful of African traders and rulers may have gained some wealth from the slave trade, but overall it was a very negative event for Africa. There were African kingdoms, such as the Kongo Kingdom, that eventually fell due to the onslaught brought about by the slave trade. We often think of the negative impact that the slave trade had on those who were captured, but the slave trade was also devastating for those who escaped being captured as well.

Some Africans did play a role in the slave trade and the trade could not have been as large as it was without cooperation from Africans. With that being said, I think many people who have not properly studied the slave trade have a tendency to overstate how involved Africans were in a misguided attempt to shift the blame of the slave trade on Africans.

—

Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook.

Did We Sell Each Other Into Slavery: Misconceptions About the African Involvement in the Slave Trade | HuffPost

oh----ok ----the very BEST you could do "some people overstate how involved Africans were....." ? ----<<< really impressive. Your citation is silly---it dates the INCEPTION OF THE CONCEPT OF SLAVERY to
1444 AD<<<<<<<<< ROFLMAO

Some will do anything to deny the truth. You are really dumb. Learn how to read.

"In the first place, the Portuguese initiated what eventually became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade mainly through slave raids along the coasts of Africa. The first of these raids came in 1444 and was led by Lançarote de Freitas. "

It is apparent to anyone who can read that the author was referring to the Trans Atlantic slave trade. Your excuse laden argument about things happening 10,000 yeas ago is quite frankly, ignorant.

OH!!! ok-----the ONLY SLAVERY that "COUNTS" is that involving trans atlantic transport-------I GOT IT NOW

 

[karpenter]

These words you posted are not exactly facts.

Because The Only 'Facts' You Want Anyone To Accept
Is By Black Re-Historians And Apologists Only

Eye-Witness Accounts By Whites
Traveling In Africa In Those Times
Are All Un-Acceptable Lies To You

 

[BlackSand]

OH!!! ok-----the ONLY SLAVERY that "COUNTS" is that involving trans atlantic transport-------I GOT IT NOW

... You should have learned by now.
They don't want you to respond.

They just want you to listen.
You will never understand the way things really are ...
Because you aren't black.

.​

 

[Cellblock2429]

/——-/ 60 years of welfare, food stamps and housing for those who didn’t spend one second in bondage paid by those who never held slaves.

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/—-/ Proof please.

/——-/ 60 years of welfare, food stamps and housing for those who didn’t spend one second in bondage paid by those who never held slaves.

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/——/ Apparently your ancestors in Africa sold their neighbors into slavery. You need to pay reparations.

No I do not. You are just another dumb white who knows nothing about what went on repeatimg a half truth and are. just running your mouth.

/-----/ You denying the long established history doesn't make it go away.
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were Africans from central and western Africa, who had been sold by other West Africans to Western European slave traders (with a small number being captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids), who brought them to the Americas.[1] The South Atlantic and Caribbean economies especially were dependent on the supply of secure labour for the production of commodity crops, making goods and clothing to sell in Europe. This was crucial to those western European countries which, in the late 17th and 18th centuries, were vying with each other to create overseas empires.[2] Atlantic slave trade - Wikipedia

 

[karpenter]

Some will do anything to deny the truth. .

You And Your Contemporary 'Academics'
Are Prime Examples

If Black History Month
Consisted Of More Black History Than Just The United States
You Wouldn't Want It

 

[IM2]

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/—-/ Proof please.

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/——/ Apparently your ancestors in Africa sold their neighbors into slavery. You need to pay reparations.

No I do not. You are just another dumb white who knows nothing about what went on repeatimg a half truth and are. just running your mouth.

/-----/ You denying the long established history doesn't make it go away.
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were Africans from central and western Africa, who had been sold by other West Africans to Western European slave traders (with a small number being captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids), who brought them to the Americas.[1] The South Atlantic and Caribbean economies especially were dependent on the supply of secure labour for the production of commodity crops, making goods and clothing to sell in Europe. This was crucial to those western European countries which, in the late 17th and 18th centuries, were vying with each other to create overseas empires.[2] Atlantic slave trade - Wikipedia

I deny nothing. But you do. It's all you got.

 

[Cellblock2429]

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/—-/ Proof please.

/——/ Said no White person ever.,

Apparently whites have said that and you are one of them who did so.

/——/ Apparently your ancestors in Africa sold their neighbors into slavery. You need to pay reparations.

No I do not. You are just another dumb white who knows nothing about what went on repeatimg a half truth and are. just running your mouth.

/-----/ You denying the long established history doesn't make it go away.
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were Africans from central and western Africa, who had been sold by other West Africans to Western European slave traders (with a small number being captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids), who brought them to the Americas.[1] The South Atlantic and Caribbean economies especially were dependent on the supply of secure labour for the production of commodity crops, making goods and clothing to sell in Europe. This was crucial to those western European countries which, in the late 17th and 18th centuries, were vying with each other to create overseas empires.[2] Atlantic slave trade - Wikipedia

I deny nothing. But you do. It's all you got.

/-----/ You deny nothing????? Allow me to quote you # 320 "No I do not. You are just another dumb white who knows nothing about what went on repeatimg a half truth and are. just running your mouth." Hint: "No I do not..." is a denial.

 

[IM2]

Why are people still defending slavery in America? 5 common excuses, debunked.

On the latest episode of her MTV web series Decoded, comedian and activist Franchesca Ramsey highlighted the unfortunate tendency many Americans have to ignore or erase the role slavery played in the country’s past.

"We talk about race a lot on this show," Ramsey said. "But thanks to our current election cycle, apparently we have to go back to the beginning to shed some light on the myths people use to justify slavery."

After Michelle Obama’s DNC speech about her historical legacy as the first black first lady "living in a house built by slaves," slavery fact-checking ensued. The first lady’s statement checked out.

But the fact that people tried to suggest otherwise shows just how little many Americans know about an institution that defined the country at its inception, and how that ignorance prevents us from taking an honest look at the country’s horrific past.

In response, Ramsey broke down five of the most common excuses used for slavery.

1) "Slaves were well-fed"
After the first lady tried to use her DNC speech to show that her time in the White House demonstrated how far racial progress in America has come, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly decided to use her moment to put a positive spin on slavery itself.

The following day, O’Reilly challenged Obama on The O’Reilly Factor, saying "slaves were well-fed." Then, after a backlash, he defended his statement by clarifying that slaves’ diet consisted of "meat, bread, and other staples."

Ramsey cited other common arguments that parallel O’Reilly’s, like the idea that some slave masters treated slaves well or that being a slave who worked in the big house was at least better than working outside in the fields.

But, as Ramsey noted, "this argument is immaterial, as in it doesn’t matter."

No matter their housing or food, the inherent problem with slavery is the fact that people were slaves in the first place, which is only compounded by the ways Africans were taken from their countries of origin and transported to an unknown place against their will where no one was required to muster even an ounce of recognition of their humanity.

"If aliens abducted your brother, sister, and favorite uncle, and stuck a feeding tube down their throats, while forcing them to build their emperor’s house, would you think, ‘Well at least the aliens fed my family’?" Ramsey asked on Decoded. "I don’t think so."

2) Slaves were happy to have work
Slaves may have had many excruciating jobs, including building much of America. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to equate slavery with employment.

"Newsflash: Although you might hate your job, slavery isn’t employment," Ramsey said. "It wasn’t voluntary, and it has no comparison to working at a job."

But even textbook publishers fail to get this fact straight.

Last October, McGraw-Hill Education came under fire after Roni Dean-Burren, the mother of a high school freshman in Texas, shared a photo of immigration patterns in her son’s geography textbook that said the slave trade "brought millions of workers" to the US through slavery from 1500s to the 1800s. But "workers" and slaves are not at all the same thing.

On Decoded, Ramsey explained the major difference: "Being forcibly taken from your home, put in shackles on a disease-infested ship, and forced to do hard labor from sunrise to sunset is not the same thing as clocking in at Starbucks, okay?"

3) Other countries had slavery too
It’s true America wasn’t the only country that had slavery. In fact, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade’s name signals the scope of slave routes, which traveled from the shores of West and Central Africa to the Caribbean before stopping in the US.

Many of the people (nearly 4 million) taken from Africa to be slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries ended up in Brazil because the slavery conditions in Brazil were so brutal that continued importation was essential to make up for the high death rate, which outpaced birth rate.

But slavery elsewhere doesn’t change the fact that slavery in the US was still wrong.

"Even if slavery was common practice when America was doing it, it doesn’t make it right," Ramsey said. "Slavery is bad, and it was always bad, everywhere, no matter who’s doing it!"

4) The Irish in America were also slaves
Some people believe the Irish in America were also slaves because the Irish, historically, have faced persecution and many came to the US as indentured servants.

Ramsay’s response is simple: "No, they were not."

Ramsey has discredited this idea before. But that doesn’t change the fact that it has become a fixture for racist right-wing internet trolls.

In an interview with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Liam Hogan, an Irish historian, explained that the myth of Irish slaves "broadly claims that indentured servitude and penal servitude can be equated with racialized perpetual hereditary chattel slavery."

The point is to try to deflect the reality of black people’s enslavement in the US by mythologizing a group of white people who were also slaves.

But Ramsey underlined the main problem with this approach: "Class, let’s say this one together: Persecution is bad, but not the same as slavery!"

5) Africans sold other Africans as slaves
This is similar to saying slavery happened in other places. It’s true that Africans did sell other Africans into slavery, but that doesn’t absolve Americans and Europeans for their participation in slavery.

In fact, suggesting as much erases a lot of nuance about power dynamics involved with how both Africans and Europeans were involved in the process.

As Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote for the New York Times in 2010, "Slavery was a business, highly organized and lucrative for European buyers and sellers alike."

But slavery in the US wasn’t exactly business as usual. Barbara Ransby, a historian at the University of
of Illinois at Chicago, noted for Colorlines that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade exploited existing practices like selling prisoners of war into slavery to usher in "a heinous and brutal system that rested squarely on the dual pillars of white supremacy and ruthless capitalist greed."

Ramsey showcased the major takeaway from this historical fact: "It just means that West Africans also have a history to reckon with, just like us and every modern celebrity that thinks blackface is a joke."

So why do people still try to justify slavery today?
It turns out a lot of it has to do with the fact that America’s mythic greatness is inextricably tied to the atrocities of slavery Americans try to sweep under the rug.

Being honest about slavery, Ramsey said, forces us to grapple with the fact that our founding fathers who fought for freedom from Britain’s tyranny hypocritically kept an entire population in bondage. Additionally, recognizing slavery means addressing the systemic inequalities that have stayed with us long after its abolition.

"The blatant forms of racism we still see today, from disenfranchising black voters to police brutality, are rooted in the fact that people were brought here against their will and treated like they were subhuman," Ramsey said.

Acting like this isn’t the case isn’t a solution.

"We can’t keep ignoring and mythologizing slavery just because facing it head-on makes us feel bad," Ramsey said. "Part of the healing comes from facing it."

Why are people still defending slavery in America? 5 common excuses, debunked.

 

[IM2]

OH!!! ok-----the ONLY SLAVERY that "COUNTS" is that involving trans atlantic transport-------I GOT IT NOW

... You should have learned by now.
They don't want you to respond.

They just want you to listen.
You will never understand the way things really are ...
Because you aren't black.

.​

You whites only want lecture us. Everything you say here about us whites do in this section of the forum. In fact all you guys do is project.