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The thing that really gets me is how when this topic is brought up, blacks usually refer to slavery and say that all this aggression towards white folks is a result of that time. They tend to forget one thing though and I never ever see it brought up by them. Why is it that they put all the blame for slavery on the white american/european slave owners yet none on thier fellow African tribesmen who were responsible for the gathering and selling of these very same slaves during the transatlantic slave trade? They conveniently forget to mention that when condemning slavery. Why?
Rightfully so. All the others who participated in the slave trade did so only to further in in the interest of the end users. Slave owners were not, however, only plantation owners. Southern heavy industry used slaves, as did river boats and coastal packet boats. Fewer seagoing ships used slave crews, but I'm sure a few did, and waggoners and other land-based commerce also used slaves.
But, by far, plantations used the most slaves. Cotton and tobacco were the most profitable products ever in the south. Cotton was especially profitable, because American cotton was better fiber than any other cotton in the world.
Cotton is also especially a soil-depleting crop, so early plantations were continually being abandoned or sold cheaply so their owners could move southward into fresh soil, and with every move, plantations grew larger and larger. While a large plantation of the 1700s may have had 30 slaves, the last ones in the decades just before the Civil War had over 300 slaves in some, and as many as 100 in many.
What changed the picture were two American inventions: the cotton gin, which eliminated the need for hand combing all the cotton seeds and trash out of the raw fiber. Up until the invention of the cotton gin, quantity was limited by the slowness of cleaning the fiber. One large gin could easily keep up with full production from all surrounding plantations.
The second was the steamboat, which allowed massive quantities of cotton to be cheaply and efficiently moved to the industrial North and to all the other countries of the world. Steamboats navigated all American rivers, and could pile the cotton bales high on the docks of every port on the east coast. Since fabric production is an industry that has always been world wide, there was always a strong demand for the best cotton available.
The number of slaves became even greater as other countries in the New World abandoned slavery, as the U.S. now got all the slaves, not just part of them.
There came a point where the domestic slave population grew to such size no slaves needed to be imported to meet the market from abroad. There were enough slaves to fill the need living here.
This spelled the end for most of the British and Dutch slave trade, which depended on Africa, and it also meant the end for all the central offshore distribution points of slavery, such as Jamaica and other Caribbean island points. But this disappearance did not stop the end users of the trade to still by all the slaves they could afford. The slaves all came from other end-users, other slaveholders.
It doesn't take much knowledge to learn all this, especially if you are one of the enslaved or a descendent of slaves. The oral history has been passed down very strongly, as is to be expected after over 300 years of continuing racial trauma.
Last edited by banjomike; 07-13-2014 at 04:30 PM..
Europeans/white Americans were responsible (using war and disease) for the near genocide of Native Americans. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was just icing on a disgusting cake.
The real question: why do conversations of slavery always involve deflection rather than introspection? Those that want to say "slavery happened a long time ago" or "Africans and Arabs did it too" should also examine the 100 years of Jim Crow, after the Civil War. Most Baby Boomer blacks can vividly remember being legally treated as second class citizens.
Europeans/white Americans were responsible (using war and disease) for the near genocide of Native Americans. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was just icing on a disgusting cake.
The real question: why do conversations of slavery always involve deflection rather than introspection? Those that want to say "slavery happened a long time ago" or "Africans and Arabs did it too" should also examine the 100 years of Jim Crow, after the Civil War. Most Baby Boomer blacks can vividly remember being legally treated as second class citizens.
What is it that you want then? What is your goal?
A lot of things have happened in the past to no one you know...what's your point?
Europeans/white Americans were responsible (using war and disease) for the near genocide of Native Americans.
You reveal yourself to be thoughtless and agenda driven. There was no germ theory of disease at the time, and whites did not "use disease." It was an accident of contact. There are a few isolated incidents of blankets with germs intentionally being given, but these were not a general intentional policy of European/White people, but the actions of a few. In fact, I seriously doubt them authentic based on the fact that there was no germ theory of disease and have told college professors so. They never had an answer.
As for war, native Americans themselves practiced imperialism, genocide, slavery, systematic rape as policy, and human sacrifice. Nothing special about European behavior except that whites did it better. Please grow up and start to be truthful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgn2013
The Transatlantic Slave Trade was just icing on a disgusting cake.
Already covered in my last comment, and the answer is very similar. I will repeat myself verbatim:
There were forms of slavery in West Africa far, far crueler than anything done in America, even including mass human sacrifice during ceremonies such as the festival of the Yams or the Dahomy annual rights. There was chattel slavery in West Africa, and because it involved captured prisoners of wars, and wars were usually against tradition ethnic opponents, it can even be said that African chattel slavery had a racial, or at least ethic component. Anyone who has ever read Ibn Battuta (as I have) will remember a particular disgusting incident in which the king of Mali gave a young slave girl to a group of cannibals to be killed and cannibalized.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgn2013
The real question: why do conversations of slavery always involve deflection rather than introspection?
Physician, heal thyself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgn2013
Those that want to say "slavery happened a long time ago" or "Africans and Arabs did it too" should also examine the 100 years of Jim Crow, after the Civil War.
A slave in Africa at the time might have ended up with his blood sprinkled over yam fields, or cannibalized. A slave brought to America would have to work very hard. American slaves had it much better.
Similarly, the descendants of those who stayed in Africa might still be slaves, as slavery is still practiced (as Boko Harem has heavily illustrated). The decedents of American slaves enjoy freedom and opportunities undreamed of by most Africans even today. Even though Barrack Obama is not descended from American slaves, he illustrates that any young black child descended from slaves can realistically dream of being president of the most powerful nation of all times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgn2013
Most Baby Boomer blacks can vividly remember being legally treated as second class citizens.
And yet I did not grow up in the era of Jim Crow, but of affirmative action.
Time to grow up. These are weak and hateful excuses. White peoples world wide have gone through a lot of soul searching as to how to correct the mistakes of the past. The mistakes of the past keep happening in Africa, and are being perpetuated by African Americans as a sort of industry. Time to be honest about it.
We have afford reparations for other groups why not those blacks?
No black person alive today was a slave. No white person alive today owned a slave. If one penny of my hard earned money is taken from me and used for such a thing, I would support a rebellion against the northern government in Washington. I would rather see this country burn then see wealth redistributed in this way. No doubt millions see it the same way I do. I am sick of tax dollars being wasted, I am sick of big government and people who see the federal government as their daddy. Twenty trillion dollars of debt is going to be our ruination. No more! the government is not there to pass out free money.
We have afford reparations for other groups why not those blacks?
Where reparations have been paid, it's been when specifiable losses to identifiable individuals can be calculated. That was the case with reparations to Japanese WWII internees.
It was also the case with black businessmen who suffered losses in the Tulsa "Black Wallstreet" riot--records were available to determine specific losses to specific individuals, so reparations were ordered by the court (although Oklahoma is still dragging its feet in paying them).
It's not possible to calculate specific losses to specific individuals for persons whose ancestors were held as slaves.
This is not a "fact." Just because you were brought up in a culture or household where you were taught about how evil whites are, does not make it true or a fact. Pay attention to world history and current world events and you see people of all colors and races involved with horrific things at all times...but first you have to take your Evil White Man Blinders off; until that happens, you will never truly see.
I Love my family however, I'm aware of the heinous acts committed by "my people"! You should be more conscious of what's going on daily around you-not to mention actual history. We're not all evil but or evil had contributed to many social issues of today. Possibly you do not realize the destruction because you subscribe to it.
No black person alive today was a slave. No white person alive today owned a slave. If one penny of my hard earned money is taken from me and used for such a thing, I would support a rebellion against the northern government in Washington. I would rather see this country burn then see wealth redistributed in this way. No doubt millions see it the same way I do. I am sick of tax dollars being wasted, I am sick of big government and people who see the federal government as their daddy. Twenty trillion dollars of debt is going to be our ruination. No more! the government is not there to pass out free money.
We're trillions of dollars in debt primarily for monies afford to other nations as aide, etc...monies we will never recoup.
We shouldn't make this a North/south issue. That occurred once and North stood victorious. we are a great Nation together, only with a few silly views (money, race, aide) and displaced energy coupled with anger. I do not wish to witness a civil war nor watch the south crushed yet again. We're better as one unified Nation.
Lastly, we may not have living slave/slave owners but the horrific mindset appears alive and present.
The vast majority of Americans are ignorant as to what the slave trade actually involved. That said, slavery would not have existed as it did without the voracious demand for slaves in the Americas, so whites and Europeans were in the driver's seat.
Then following that, demand is the cause of slavery and not those who filled the demand?
Very convenient.
Lets see, because someone demands something is reason to cite them as the cause?
I demand that tomorrow my grass gets cut and my house gets painted. I had better run to the bank and get some cash because you never know, someone might just stop by and do those things and then demand payment.
The number of slaves became even greater as other countries in the New World abandoned slavery, as the U.S. now got all the slaves, not just part of them. There came a point where the domestic slave population grew to such size no slaves needed to be imported to meet the market from abroad.
It doesn't take much knowledge to learn all this, especially if you are one of the enslaved or a descendent of slaves. The oral history has been passed down very strongly, as is to be expected after over 300 years of continuing racial trauma.
Oral history verges on mythology.
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