Unbearable Prejudice
First of all I’m writing this because I get tired of hearing black American’s blame the current white population for slavery or trying to use it for leverage. I do feel that slavery was/is wrong and that all people are equal. I also believe that the only way you grow as a person is to learn from the past, not dwell on it. With that in mind lets just take a moment to look back at the naked truth of the slave trade.
“The institution of slavery existed in Africa long before the arrival of Europeans and was widespread at the period of economic contact. Private land ownership was largely absent from African societies during this era, and slaves were one of the few forms of wealth-producing property an individual could possess. Additionally, rulers often maintained corps of loyal, foreign-born slaves to guarantee their political security, and would encourage political centralization by appointing slaves from the imperial hinterlands to positions within the royal capital. Slaves were also exported across the desert to North Africa and to western Asia, Arabia, and India.” - lifted from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/slav/hd_slav.htm.
Now lets break that down to simple bullet points.
1. Europeans didn’t invent the idea of taking slaves from Africa, African’s did.
2. Slaves were viewed by their own people as property to be traded for goods.
3. Slaves were sent to Asia, India, and Arabia also.(France, Spain, and Briton were not mentioned but they also traded for slaves)
“Slaves were generally the unfortunate victims of territorial expansion by imperialist African states or of raids led by predatory local strongmen, and various populations found themselves captured and sold as different regional powers came to prominence. Firearms, which were often exchanged for slaves, generally increased the level of fighting by lending military strength to previously marginal polities.” (same page as listed in prior paragraph)
Bullets points
1. Slaves were made slaves by other African’s during times of war.
2. Africa wasn’t a land of peace or happiness, it was a war torn country and they were looking for goods to increase their strength so they could continue to fight.
Now based on the 2 paragraphs provided by the world wide web we see more then just what’s thrown in white American’s faces. The Africa of the 1700’s to the 1800’s doesn’t look like the place to be for any race. At the time of the trades, BOTH sides were happy to get their goods - Guns/Tobacco to Africa and Slaves to America, Arabia, Asia, India, and so on.
Those people who purchased slaves were simply opportunistic as were those who purchased guns. I’d say that guns have had the worst overall impact then slavery. Those who have been killed by guns just don’t have a voice and can’t bitch about it.
What I’m trying to say is that if you pull this slavery shit out in a conversation or you are harboring hate about it…fuck off, I don’t want to hear it because if you took the time to research it you should be pissed at your own fucking people. If I can hear you bitching about it in America, then your family survived being slaves and you are free now. Would you rather be back in Africa in the 1700 to 1800’s? Would you rather have been rounded up and been enslaved by your own African people (then you wouldn’t be able to falsely accuse me of beating your ancestors)? Would you have rather been sold to Asia, Arabia, or India(you think America was bad on slaves - look at the laws of the other lands in 1700 - 1800)?
The white man ISN’T to blame for SLAVERY - Africa as a whole is - African Kings/Rulers ARE TO BLAME! Turn your hate on those who enslaved you in the first place.
Oh and by the way…if you don’t have duel citizenship both African and American I won’t call you nor should you refer to yourself as an African American (same for Asia, Mexico, and any other nationality). If you want to be an American then call yourself an American. If you don’t want to be in America and then get the fuck out. We need to stop splitting things up by race or nationality. We are simply 1 nation full of Americans. We have a diverse population, and that gives us the advantage of learning multiple cultures and absorbing them into our lives.
America is actual home to the Native Indians, if anyone wants to bitch at me for my skin color or what happened to their people, it’s them.