And Snopes isn’t?
**
Apparently, you believe everything you read, especially when it comes from liberal hack NYT reporters with an agenda that agrees with your own. :rolleyes:
What name-calling did I engage in?
Yes. And owning slaves was legal in the US up until the Civil War.
Well, it wasn’t first, but I believe most people would expect someone you called a “liberal hack reporter” to be insulted.
Except I wasn’t calling a fellow poster names, like monstro did.
I don’t have an agenda. I don’t even know what “liberal hack NYT reporters” you’re talking about (I didn’t click on Lissa’s link). I’m speaking not from what I’ve read, but from first-hand accounts from PEOPLE I KNOW. This kind of stuff–people being obviously scared of black men–is not based on a myth.* Anyone who doubts this would also have to doubt that racism or prejudice exist.
Do you need to consult Snopes to find out if racism is also a myth? What does Snopes say about prejudice?
[sub]*Even Jesse Jackson said once that he was afraid of black men when he’s walking down the street at night.[/sub]
But it shouldn’t have been since the DoI announced to the world that “All men are created equal…” with “natural” rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
milroyj, read Ellis Cose’s The Rage of a Privileged Class. The book is much more elucidating than Snopes.
And just so you know, I consider unnecessarily attributing political labels to be insulting behavior. Especially since your use of the word “liberal” seems no different than my use of the word “asshole”.
by Hank Fescue:
sigh of exasperation
The legality of slavery has nothing to do with it. It’s the consequences of the practice that is pertinent here. Hence is why I chose to draw my story around the stoned friend and the result of his DUI, and not around the legality of selling and using weed in this country. I thought that was pretty damn obvious, but clearly that was an unwarranted assumption. So let’s just drop it. If you refuse to understand, then I’m not going to force feed it to you anymore.
I do believe the legality of the issue is pertinent here. No one committed a crime. And consequences? The consequence is a large population of Americans that descended from Africans. Brings to mind the old “would you rather go back to Africa?” question. In any case, looks like we disagree but be sure to let me know when you get your check. 
The consequence? Is the most significant consequence of American slavery you can think of is that the slaves left behind descendants? :eek:
Yes, one of the significant consequences of American slavery is the actual presence of the enslaved and the descendants actually being here.:smack: This is a significant consequence but the most significant consequence IMHO, is the positive aspect of influences and contributions made by blacks in America. I thought you were dropping this ?
by Hank
I’m sincerely amazed that the most obvious and most significant consequences of American slavery are not foremost in your mind. Just about every disparity between blacks and whites in this country can be traced back to that lovely enterprise. Questions like why whites are overrepresented in government offices, affluent neighborhoods, Ivy League universities, and the fortune five hundred can be answered with a single word: slavery. Sad, but true. Why is the racial tension between whites and blacks generally stronger than it is between whites and other ethnic minorities? Slavery. Where does “ebonics” come from? Slavery. Why does “soul food” include foods such as chitterlings and pig feet? Slavery. Why do so many blacks have recent affiliations with the south? Slavery. Why are words such as “nigger” so hurtful to a lot of black people? Because slavery was allowed under its dehumanizing banner. Why do blacks make a big deal about identity and culture? Because one consequence of slavery was that whole cultural identities were lost in single generations. Why do so many blacks have light skin even though they can’t find a single white person in their geneologies? Slavery. Why does the confederate flag trigger angry emotions within so many black people, even in those who have lived in the south for many generations? You guessed it…slavery!
But you mention none of these consequences in your last post, more than half of which pop up frequently in race debates on this board. Are you simply not aware of them, or are you just choosing to cast slavery in a favorable “good things came out of it” light?
Maybe I should, but I keep thinking of the hundreds of lurkers out there reading this, and I’m hoping that if I don’t get through to you at least I’m getting through to them.
So if it were not for slavery blacks in America would be porportionately reresented in government, universities and the like ? Well, yes you are right. Think about that. Slavery was not a good thing. It did have some positive consequences though. The first of which is a substantial contribution to the racial diversity of the country. It was a huge stepping stone not only in this country but world wide. Blacks in America are amoung the most successful and wealthy in the world.
Youwiththeface , I am encouraged by each step towards racial equity. I am optimistic for the future. However, when I see rationalizations like the type you make here, I am discouraged. You speak of control corrections and such. How do you believe this will help achieve equity ? If there is a problem with crime amoungst black males, I would think we should try to make a positive impact. Conversly, you seem content to use some voodoo math and contend the problem doesn’t exist. Good intentions. Poor approach.
That’s irrelevant. How do they relate to their fellow countrymen who happen to be white? If they come out on the bottom, that’s a problem. How everyone else is doing in the world doesn’t matter. Compare Americans to Americans.
Look, I know you mean well, and I’m trying my best not to be overly argumentative. But I can think of a lot better ways racial diversity could have been injected into this country. It’s kind of like me saying that one great outcome of the Holocaust is that presently the world is a lot less crowded than it would have been had the Holocaust not happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if that comment failed to give a Jewish person warm and fuzzy feelings inside.
Uh, what rationalizations?
What? Where did I speak of these things?
Either go to bed and get some much needed rest or put down the drugs, dude.
Yes, everyone in the world does matter. Black people were brought here from Africa, I know you don’t need a history lesson. I just don’t understand how it is you can pine away at how blacks lost thier heritage due to slavery but then call the point irrelevant when it doesn’t suit your argument. And someone has to be on the bottom. Even the greatest of socialist endeavors have a bottom. Fortunately, America is one of the easiest places to get off the bottom and address inequity.
The thing is that racial diversity did come in that manner. I’m glad you can think of better ways and I wish our forefathers would have thought of them, but they didn’t. Reality can be a pain sometimes and seeing the bright side is never easy.
Sorry, I was thinking of your post in the “pillars of racism thread”. Thats where the rationalizations occured.
This is a “lie”. If “reparations” are paid by the US government, they wil come out of the taxes of the descendents of Union soldiers, of abolitionists, out of the pockets of the descendents of John Brown, himself! That is how taxes work.
The entire thing is nothing but a scam to milk more money out of the government and keep people divided against each other. What is an excellent way to prevent ordinary people from realizing the rip-off perpetrated upon them by their “leaders”? Keep ordinary people hostile to each other. Make sure they always have a reason to feel divided from each other.
Where in that thread did I rationalize anything? You’re still not making sense.
by Hank
And then became Americans. I think it’s funny that you think it makes more sense to compare foreigners to blacks than it does to compare blacks with their own countrymen.
Wrap your brain around this: Slave masters, in order to “stretch” the size of their slave pool, proceated with their slaves and made “mulatto” babies. Half white, half African. Now to those particular blacks, do you still maintain that they came out on top compared to their foreign “brethren”? Does that even make sense?
You suggested “corrections” in crime rates. A crime is a crime. What’s to be corrected ? Best leave this in the appropriate thread.
OK, lets all be countrymen. Slavery had ill effects on the entire country. Lets pay everybody. And I don’t follow you about the mulattos.
I just wanted to put my opinion about some things. I think SOME people in the black community help prevent unity. Inventing post traumatic slavery disorder. I don’t see how it would be relevant for people today since there are no ex-slaves, but I can see calling them victum of racial discrimination. And afirmative action I think shouldn’t be needed since without it not hiring someone base on race, sex and so forth is violation of civil rights. And how poor blacks have poor schools, no tutoring and other excuses aren’t a matter of race it’s their poor “environment.” Why not blame their parents for not helping them? And about racism, it DOES go both ways. White people are not the only racists, NO racism is right and I hope we ALL agree with that, but it isn’t just from the white community, its in all communities. People use that as an excuse not to try, say they are opressed and sit around feeling sorry for themselves. I think the problems start at home, and if everyone grows beyond all the excuses and blaming and teach their kids right we would be better off, but then again it’s late I’m probably dreaming