If blacks built American, why aren't Liberia and Sierra Leone rich? (generation, Reagan)
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Truthfully, the South isn't all that "built" either, and it certainly wasn't before the last few decades. Economic and population growth in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, etc. is a relatively new phenomenon. The Union had double the population that the Confederacy had. The entire large region was almost all rural backwater.
It also isn’t a coincidence that when large numbers of southern blacks migrated to northern cities during the Great Migration, most of those cities declined into crime and decay.
American blacks are better at tearing down than building up.
To be honest I never took that saying , " Black slaves built America" , to mean that they were the inventors and brain power to structure production and have a plan to do this or that.
I took it as they were the laborers and grunts,. i.e. slaves, that were forced to 'build America'. Just from a labor point of view.
While I still find even that a bit hyperbolic, that's how I took it.
Hmmm.. Africans were sold into slavery, by their own kin, on cotton plantations in the South. Servitude. Is there any historical proof to them, actually, building roads, railoroads, factories, working there as trained labor? China may claim railroads more than blacks...
318k slaves (approximately 3% of all slaves) entered North America in a 345 year period of the slave trade. Primarily used as in the cotton and tobacco fields. Did they build America? Mostly not but they have a story. Most slaves were diverted into the Caribbean or South America and built countries like Haiti.
Many times we here the nonsense from the left that "black slaves built America". Of course, this is absurd, as the US was built by Northern European males, who farmed the land, built the buildings, built the factories and the transportation that made America.
However, we do have an interesting historical "experiment" to test the contention of blacks "building American".
From the 1820s up to the Civil War, there was a "recolonization" effort to place black slaves in other venues, free of slavery. The US sent thousands of blacks to Liberia, while the most common destination for slaves freed by the British Empire was to Sierra Leone. So...................... fast forward 175 years, these same people who "built America" have failed to produce the same wealthy, powerful, productive state "they built" in the US. Why?:sma ck:
Just more revisionist history BS that is easily refuted by anyone with an ounce of sense. Instead of focusing on false, fanciful "accomplishments" that never were, perhaps they should focus on education, two parent families, hard work, and abstinence from drugs and actually help to "fundamentally change America", but in a positive aspect, not how Obama had envisioned.
A lot of truth there and I believe you are a conservative. Some of the blacks in this forum will say that your truthful statements are racist though and that is why they won't vote for the Republicans. In another words believe the lies of the Democrats and they will get the black vote.
Mind you, I know that black slaves did help build America but they don't deserve all of the credit.
America was built by everyone that has ever lived here under the guidance of white men that follow the Constitution. Ours is an amazing all inclusive society where every citizen and Legal immigrant has a say in the direction their town, city, state and country takes.
Of course slavery was a terrible dark stain on our History and the Asians were treated poorly on the West Coast while the Native Americans were trampled on all over but in the end we are a United States today.
When we look around the world at third world countries the thing they have in common are corrupt Governments where the People have few Rights to anything so no one cares about anything because there is no chance for upward mobility.
We all Built America but today we have a political party that is toying with tearing it all down but for that pesky Constitution and millions of citizens that still care they are having a tough time.
to be honest, I would have expected less of a narrative-driven knee jerk response from someone who claims to be a contemporary u-conn grad.
it *is* ok to disagree with drivel, and it *is* possible to not absolutely must be a racist when doing it. They must have dropped that part of the education from the curriculum....
Contemporary? LOL. So only college grads are allowed an opinion? My college education status should make no difference but since you are probably old and set in your ways, your response makes sense now.
Knee-jerk? I actually read the link provided. Did you? The context of the OP doesn't even marry with the info provided in the link so not sure how that is knee-jerk.
Where did I call the OP a racist? I actually said he/she wasn't. Perhaps work on your reading skills before you opt to criticize someone's post that you had absolutely nothing to do with.
Depends on how you define "built". Most of the manual work was done by slaves, if available, or free blacks, white immigrants or poor people, if not. Most cotton, rice, tobacco, etc. was picked by slaves. Wheat, oat, corn, etc. were northern crops, so harvested mostly by white farmers.
Black Americans should be proud of the contribution their ancestors made to this country. They built it just as much as the white guy who wrote down the instructions and the "blueprints".
As for the Back-to-Africa movement, the countries that were repopulated with freed slaves didn't fare worse than the neighboring black countries. If whites repopulated these areas, they wouldn't have done much better, unless they subjected the blacks to do the manual labor. South Africa is an example. India another to compare with non-blacks.
I was watching a program on the Egyptian pyramids and they were debating which pharaoh "built" the pyramids. Obviously non actually built them, the slaves did.
Slaves did not build the pyramids- that is another myth. The majority of workers on the pyramids were paid Egyptions, not slaves.
"If whites repopulated those areas, they would not have done much better". Au Contraire- we have the example of South Africa and Rhodesia, which were "repopulated" by whites and were the richest countries in Africa until the black majority resumed power.
Sierra Leone is a mineral rich area which also has excellent soil for agriculture. It has plenty of water and, as an aggregate, is uniformly far better ag land than the US taken in total. It is one the largest sources of diamonds and other minerals as well.
Hmmm.. Africans were sold into slavery, by their own kin, on cotton plantations in the South. Servitude. Is there any historical proof to them, actually, building roads, railoroads, factories, working there as trained labor? China may claim railroads more than blacks...
Indeed- the majority of black labor was agricultural in the south. There was, of course, some black labor that was used in construction, as has been noted in the building of several buildings in our nations capitol. However, the balance of the development of the agriculture in the north, as well as the roads, factories, construction and innovation was conducted by white northern european males.
To suggest that "blacks built America" is akin to saying that horses and oxen built America. It is completely false and suggests a contribution that did not exist. Slavery was actually a dying institution, even in the south, until Andrew Jackson confiscated Indian land in what is now Alabama and Mississippi and sold it to large land owners for cotton production. In addition, land pilfered from "the civilized tribes" by Jackson were again sold to large land owners, particularly for large scale plantations, which accelerated the need for slavery.
Blacks, in the role of slaves, served much the same role that Mexican ag workers serve in the modern US. Manual labor agricultural jobs and not drivers in the areas of tech, science, and innovation.
It also isn’t a coincidence that when large numbers of southern blacks migrated to northern cities during the Great Migration, most of those cities declined into crime and decay.
American blacks are better at tearing down than building up.
I've heard the same said about "inherently criminal" Italians and the "lazy and dirty" Irish. I'm not sure any of these assertions are fair. I guess it depends on who you ask.
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