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Location: Somewhere between the Americas and Western Europe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty
When I visited South Africa the Zulu family I stayed with gave me a tour of downtown Johannesburg . I was struck by the magnificent buildings and commented, "black people built all of this." There was a bit of silence and he said yes of course. They were visibly moved by the statement.The idea that it was they who built that city was a source of pride even though it was brutal time for them.
The White House, Wall street, Monticello and Plantation Mansions represent the fact that black people knew more than just how to pick cotton, black boots, tend livestock, and cook.
OMG please tell me that you (presumably a white man?) didn't say something as cringe and out of the blue, as "black people built all of this" to a black family in South Africa as they were showing you around their city.
That "stunned silence" was probably that Zulu family being in disbelief that they were being given yet another "pat on the head" by yet another condescending white man who thought they needed an ego boost.
I'm sure it took your white enlightened words - just the mere utterance of the phrase - "black people built all of this" - to suddenly see their self worth. Either that, or they were in disbelief that you couldn't believe that black people could have had a hand in building a city in Africa and you just then had a realization.
White liberals truly are a gift to this planet, aren't they? Such sage wisdom.
One question: Why would anyone want to have a wedding at an antebellum plantation, knowing that slavery was the big reason it exists?
Because today it represent a nice setting to hold an event and usually comes with grounds that are attractive to hold something like a wedding. Allowing these events opens a dialogue when people ask the history and brings to like the contributions of those enslaved in days gone by.
Are you stating that most places, land, event venues in the Western states should also be avoided because the land was stolen from their native owners, from the Mexicans that found themselves on our side after the war. How about Hawaii we overthrew a legitimate Monarchy and stole their country?
We learn from history, not glorify the negatives but learn from it and these Plantation Homes that are now event venues are just that a learning opportunity if one wants to learn.
I'd be curious to see what Boone Plantation looked like prior to its transition to a tourist attraction. It's apparently been a continually operated plantation so either they've been very sneaky about the slave labor over the past 150 years or that's not the case. The main house was built in the 1930s so same story. Some of the historical out buildings do exist, the cotton gin building and slave quarters, while others have been reconstructed like the cotton docks. Clearly, much of its current beauty has nothing to do with slave labor. But it also has heritage of slavery. I mean, they could have simply torn down the old slave cabins and not gone to the expense of a historical recreation of the cotton dock. Personally, I'm glad they did go through that expense myself and sought to preserve the heritage. Others would prefer the history be forgotten and perhaps it paved over and replace with a shopping mall or just left to rot as untouchable hallowed grounds or developed into subdivisions as much of it already has. I'm sure that's exactly what has happened to millions of acres of plantations and it's not like it would be possible or even desirable to preserve them all. I'm glad a few will be though, and hopefully not in ways that just turn them into fancy country clubs anesthetized of their history.
It is one thing to preserve a plantation and use it as a museum. The old Auschwitz death camp is preserved and made into a museum. No history has been destroyed. It is used as a teachable moment. No one is glorifying it.
Preserve the history and use it as teachable moments. I would not hold a wedding at a plantation though.
It is one thing to preserve a plantation and use it as a museum. The old Auschwitz death camp is preserved and made into a museum. No history has been destroyed. It is used as a teachable moment. No one is glorifying it.
Preserve the history and use it as teachable moments. I would not hold a wedding at a plantation though.
But what do you do with it? Build a subdivision on it and raise happy families? Better because the history is destroyed?
Lol...I don’t get it either. People just don’t think about that. They see the home and the splendor, and they’re immediately attracted to it. It makes a nice backdrop I suppose.
Like I said earlier, I was invited to a wedding being held on a plantation. I hated to do it to a buddy, but I weaseled out of it. Later on, I explained it to him and he understood.
I can remember some years ago while spending a week in Spring Hill, Tennessee for work, we were offered a chance to do a plantation tour, and General Motors was gonna pay for it.
Some members of my team went, but I had to pass on that. My black ass ain’t NEVER stepping foot on a Southern Antebellum Plantation except to maybe bulldoze it or burn it down. Those are crime scenes of innumerable stories of human misery, death, rape, torture, and the selling away of children. No way in hell am I gonna do a “tour” like I’m in Disneyland.
Someone like me, I have to look past the splendor and decor in this case. It might look like a nice backdrop in elegance. However, as a descendant of slaves, I couldn't go a wedding held at a plantation.
I've been invited to weddings and not once was it held at a plantation.
Your trip to Spring Hill made me think of a trip my father and me had to Charleston,SC. We went to Rainbow Row and saw those colorful houses. We visited the slave market and it showed where slaves were being bought and sold. My father used it as a teachable moment. We didn't visit any plantations or go on a plantation tour. The only way I would go to a plantation is if it was used as a teachable moment, if it was used to show "this is what the slaves went through", if they told the truth about what Black slaves had to go through.
If you went into ANY building in Charleston that was built pre-Civil war (restaurant, bar, hotel, shops, etc.), there was a slave history that existed there as well. There were slaves on small farms and slaves who worked for merchants. Even some school teachers had a slave or two to run their households.
Are you also offended by a bar or restaurant that is in a building that used to utilize slave labor in the past?
Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner
Someone like me, I have to look past the splendor and decor in this case. It might look like a nice backdrop in elegance. However, as a descendant of slaves, I couldn't go a wedding held at a plantation.
I've been invited to weddings and not once was it held at a plantation.
Your trip to Spring Hill made me think of a trip my father and me had to Charleston,SC. We went to Rainbow Row and saw those colorful houses. We visited the slave market and it showed where slaves were being bought and sold. My father used it as a teachable moment. We didn't visit any plantations or go on a plantation tour. The only way I would go to a plantation is if it was used as a teachable moment, if it was used to show "this is what the slaves went through", if they told the truth about what Black slaves had to go through.
My black ass ain’t NEVER stepping foot on a Southern Antebellum Plantation except to maybe bulldoze it or burn it down. Those are crime scenes of innumerable stories of human misery, death, rape, torture, and the selling away of children.
So, do you avoid all places where there has been human misery, etc? If so, you should probably just stay at home.
If you went into ANY building in Charleston that was built pre-Civil war (restaurant, bar, hotel, shops, etc.), there was a slave history that existed there as well. There were slaves on small farms and slaves who worked for merchants. Even some school teachers had a slave or two to run their households.
Are you also offended by a bar or restaurant that is in a building that used to utilize slave labor in the past?
OMG please tell me that you (presumably a white man?) didn't say something as cringe and out of the blue, as "black people built all of this" to a black family in South Africa as they were showing you around their city.
That "stunned silence" was probably that Zulu family being in disbelief that they were being given yet another "pat on the head" by yet another condescending white man who thought they needed an ego boost.
I'm sure it took your white enlightened words - just the mere utterance of the phrase - "black people built all of this" - to suddenly see their self worth. Either that, or they were in disbelief that you couldn't believe that black people could have had a hand in building a city in Africa and you just then had a realization.
White liberals truly are a gift to this planet, aren't they? Such sage wisdom.
I am an African American and was ridding around SA in a brand new Mercedes owned by a Zulu Business man who lived in $250,000 home in a suburb of Jo-Burg. He and his wife who is a professional working woman wrote me the kindest letter about the conversation and planned to use this concept to empower young black South African children. They will have a sense of ownership and now look at these impressive structures as theirs.
I am trying real hard not to add an editorial tag to my response but I.....oh what the hell, consider yourself schooled.
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