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I have three children ranging from Middle School down to Pre-School. Trust me, we are talking about our history. All. The. Time.
My son noticed it in 7th grade this year. Everytime public schools teach US history they focus on white people's treatment of NA and AA. I have not heard from my son about white people's treatment of Asians (Railroads, Japanse Internment, etc). But, I'm sure its coming.
Do you pay attention to any discussion of history? I do. I notice that everytime we discuss Founding Fathers, that slavery is mentioned. Every time.
What does an white-Hispanic immigrant from Guatemala have to do with slavery? We are a nation of citizens. People who came here legally assimilated and learned the language but we certainly are not a nation of just one races grievances. 13% of the population are not the only influencers on history. 13% are not the only ones who had bad things happen to them.
When does the 13% take responsibility for today? Their actions right now?
Sorry but you can't have American History w/o Black History. Hell by your assessment why did I have to learn about the Jewish holocaust in school, it had nothing to do with me, or the Mayans, or Aztecs, or Napoleon, or Stalin....they had nothing to do with me.
Sorry but you can't have American History w/o Black History. Hell by your assessment why did I have to learn about the Jewish holocaust in school, it had nothing to do with me, or the Mayans, or Aztecs, or Napoleon, or Stalin....they had nothing to do with me.
That's not my point. American history belongs to everyone here, it's what used to make us unique. We discuss black history more than any other minority history in public school (or its a tie up in my area with a large NA population). That's my point. Not that we only study history that pertains to us. That's a black person problem, not my problem.
What kind of acknowledement of slavery in US history will make black people happy? What happens when our racist history is talked about enough? Can we finally start have a dialogue on race vis-a-vi current events?
I'd love to talk about history some more. As long as we, eventually, move on to more pressing issues.
Last edited by aplcr0331; 06-18-2014 at 10:26 AM..
That's not my point. American history belongs to everyone here, it's what used to make us unique. We discuss black history more than any other minority history in public school (or its a tie up in my area with a large NA population). That's my point. Not that we only study history that pertains to us. That's a black person problem, not my problem.
What kind of acknowledement of slavery in US history will make black people happy? What happens when our racist history is talked about enough? Can we finally start have a dialogue on race vis-a-vi current events?
I'd love to talk about history some more. As long as we, eventually, move on to more pressing issues.
Maybe things are a bit different there in Washington than here in Illinois, because when I attended school the only time slavery was mentioned was during Black History month. I highly doubt inner-city students are being saturated with Black History let alone white suburbia. But as you said American history is all of ours.
Coates simply details a history of oppression, both before and after the Civil War. Yes, blacks have had a tough go of it in this country, and so have Irish, Italians, Germans, Poles, Czech, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, etc....name the group that doesn't descend from the landed aristocracy of the 17/18th Century England, and chances are good they were abused, oppressed, cheated, swindled, etc just like Clyde Ross.
That's the issue with Coates' (and every other peddler of black-only grievance) argument - while historically accurate, it is patently disingenuous by leaving out all the other ethnic and religious minorities who have had similarly horrible experiences in the US. The Chinese of the early 19th Century were forced into service in China and sold under the credit ticket system as indentured servants to American employers. And blacks were not the only folks shut out of the American dream after the Civil War. The federal government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act 20 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and 15 years after the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
Italian Roman Catholics were second to blacks in the group most likely to be lynched, and they enjoyed all manner of oppression from 1870-1910. The Irish between 1850-1870 suffered things like "No Irish Need Apply" on help wanted ads, and the junk like the Chinese Exclusion Act was mirrored in laws at local state and federal levels for every ethnic minority that "threatened" the old status quo.
This is Williams' point. Very few people in America are NOT descended from someone who was actively oppressed either directly by our government, or indirectly by some oppressor our government was protecting. By not acknowledging both the other oppressed ethnic minorities and the role of Africa's landed aristocracy in the trans-Atlantic slave trade (I use landed aristocracy, but back then it was simply "most victorious tribal warlord"), it reads like a standard shakedown, just with better history and more sympathetic figures. It's a long winded way of demanding wealth redistribution as the only path to righting past wrongs, as if a past wrong can be righted in the first place. But it leaves out tons of victims and mislabels a bunch of actual victims as perpetrators, which they weren't.
I would like reparations for all the taxes I've paid over the years that has been wasted on everything from $1 million for Blackberry phones to help people quit smoking, to $600,000 to increase 'likes' on Facebook for the State Department.
that's what i like about your posts, i'm always reading something that sounds so far-fetched that it can't be true - then i look it up...
I don't care to pay reparations but I do feel I have suffered under affirmative action policies and should be compensated for it. I don't think I need to prove it, but just say it and that is sufficient.
In fact, people of African descent were singled out and persecuted al over America post Reconstruction, from the forced labor practices of the South, to the discrimination yea exclusion all over the North. I'm sure there are a few fundamentalist Christians around who still talk about the mark of Cain.
White America does not deserve a free pass for the systematic oppression of those of African descent which occurred through maybe 1980 or so.
If you even read the article I posted, it explains why it would be impossible.
Coates simply details a history of oppression, both before and after the Civil War. Yes, blacks have had a tough go of it in this country, and so have Irish, Italians, Germans, Poles, Czech, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, etc....name the group that doesn't descend from the landed aristocracy of the 17/18th Century England, and chances are good they were abused, oppressed, cheated, swindled, etc just like Clyde Ross.
Then people can write for redress for those groups as well. Honestly, this is another bad argument.
Actually my answer isn't yes but it was a good guess on your behalf. I know Jack and Jill who lives across the street had probably had nothing to with slavery, but I also know that they probably don't give a damn that the foundation of this country was built on slave labor. Do I cry about not getting reparations? No....like I said it should have been given to the newly freed slaves. We have a hard time dealing with social issues like education and healthcare so I know reparations is beyond imagination.
If we do reparations, then the Chinese and Irish should be included.
If we do reparations, then the Chinese and Irish should be included.
and American indians.
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