Thoughts on African Americans and Slavery

by Simon 44 Replies latest social current

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  Simon

  I remember as a youngster being horrified that, not so long ago, there was slavery still legal in, I think, was it Mauritania? I think so

  Yes, that was one of the last to officially end it (in 1981, but no laws were passed to stop it until 2007 !).
  

  The link I posted at the end lists countries where millions of people are living in modern-day slavery still today.

  They may not always be as badly treated as slaves were in the past (sadly though, that's probably not 100% true) but they are not free to live their own lives.

  There are those who claim the US prison system is a form of slavery where prisons are run for profit, with large corporations sending manufacturing work there. The same corporations that lobby for policies and prison-building investment.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  Good OP.

  Yes, I read somewhere that more slaves were taken to Brasil than to what became the USA.

  Arabs were taking black African slaves before whites discovered Africa and carried on long after the British abolished it, with Saudi Arabia and Yemen stopping slavery in 1962 and - get this - Mauritania stopping slavery only in 2007!

  Barbary pirates from North Africa regularly raided the west coasts of Britain and Ireland for white slaves, up until the 18th century.

  Vikings also took slaves from Gaelic areas of Ireland and Scotland. I read about a genetic study done on Icelanders. I think it revealed that they are mostly Scandinavian through their forefathers but are mostly Gaelic through their female ancestors.
  

  Of course, slavery was/is a terrible thing but it's good to put it in perspective.

  A decent sense of perspective is often sorely lacking from the single-issue groups and the professionally-outraged.

  Edit: just saw this - that was one of the last to officially end it (in 1981, but no laws were passed to stop it until 2007 !). - that's just officially. Does it still go on unofficially?
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  here in Brixton we have the headquarters building for the Anti-Slavery Society, because, sadly it is still happening - unfortunately this is happening in part because of unchecked migration and because migrants aren't properly encouraged to leave behind repellent or retarded aspects of their cultures.

  I'm guessing that modern slavery in Britain is mostly an African-on African, or Indian-on-Indian, thing.
  
  
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  blondie

  New phrase today: human trafficking
  
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  joey jojo

  If you didn't know better, you could be forgiven for assuming that African Americans were the only group ever in the history of the world to be forced into slavery due to Hollywood and other media.

  Sadly, it's happened all through history and there wouldn't be too many people alive, black or white, that aren't descendants of slaves. African American slavery is one of the most recent and therefore the most relevant to our modern history that we are familiar with.

  During the middle ages so many white Slavics were forced into slavery that the word slave became synonomous with Slav.

  If you go back far enough, most groups of people have been smashed. Its just a sad case of the strong ( at the time) taking advantage of the vulnerable.

  Human rights, children rights, animal rights are all very recent concepts.
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  Brokeback Watchtower

  Man has been made more and more civilized as the years pass and things once considered morally acceptable are no longer viewed that way by the vast majority. It amazing how far we have come in a 150 years(Bible very old and full of cruelty and a form of justice very illegal today).

  I'm hopeful that as time goes on we as a race will grow in understanding because with big brains we got more good than bad moving us forward in time.

  With modern technology leading the way to better exploit our renewable resources I think we will see gadgets replacing any need for slavery of any kind.

  And then AI can do everything for us perhaps wait on us hand and foot,, preform remarkable surgery, and whatever.
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  smiddy

  Thanks for this topic its very interesting and informative.Another aspect I find about slavery is the treatment of women in the Muslim world , isnt this another form of slavery ?

  The subjection of women to be less than 2nd class citizens having little or no rights in their own society , the genital mutilation that is rife against young females in their own lands and performed illegally in most other countries with inadequate laws enforced to end this abuse , yet condoned by their own culture and sadly by their own women.

  And it always puzzeled me why the Bible never condemned slavery and actually condoned it.
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  jwleaks

  "It is generally believed that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race. Certain it is that when Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and are a race of servants ... There is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant, and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the purest joys there is in the world."
  

  - Official teaching of the Watch Tower Society (aka Jehovah's Witnesses). The Golden Age magazine (now known as Awake!), July 24, 1929, p. 702.
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  08out

  No wonder they erased their history
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  redvip2000

  this is to let the child know...what their folks went through and don't take what you have for granted..again when blacks try to talk about it we never get a chance to finish...yes it does make people uncomfortable.

  Sorry, but I think you are misrepresenting the issue slightly. Bringing up slavery as a way to educate younger folks and make them understand the pain that their ancestors went through is a good thing. I doubt anybody has an issue with that.

  A different issue is bringing up a slavery as a way to excuse accountability, and that is why people will sometimes say "get over it". As an example, just the other day when news broke of those black youngsters who abused the mentally disabled teen, the reaction from black leaders asked to comment was the typicall: "well this is certainly bad, but yadda yadda yadda, slavery slavery, yadda yadda yadda. I agree that the US was built on the back of slaves, perhaps it's time now to stop riding on their backs.
  

  Also nobody likes to hear this, but folks who are descendent of slaves are not owned anything in my view. They have benefited greatly because of the suffering of their ancestors, to be living in a country where such opportunities are afforded.