Let me say it plainly. Slavery did not come to America in 1619.It’s well known by actual historians that slavery was common among the Native American tribes. This isn’t a slanderous statement, since slavery has been a universal human institution ever since we started living in houses and growing crops.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Don’t know much about history …
… Slaves to Intellectual Fashion: 1619 | The American Spectator. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
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The particular slavery institution that this country was economically built upon was the kidnapping and enslavement of our fellow human beings from the continent of Africa. We could even note, but I do not know why, that some were enslaved by Native Americans as well as "whites". Why should we need to list any other moments of mass slavery, when we are addressing the particular issue of what can be phrased as White Europeans and Euro-Americans enslaving Black Africans and Afro-Americans for the sake of building economies and estates.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why Lars Walker gets all defensive for us Christians saying, "In the history of the world, only one civilization has ever abolished slavery wholesale — and that is the Christian West." I am sure that many hypocritical Christians had slaves. Both good Christians and good "Samaritans" worked hard to abolish this slavery, just as bad Christians, bad Samaritans -- and yes bad Africans, Native Americans and such worked to keep it in place.
Reparations is an interesting topic. Because we can have the case of a family, and organization, or a state, which inhumanely profited or were built from enslaving people, paying those people back, even completely emptying the coffers, but at least giving back whatever profits or estate capital derived from such heinous activity. Here is the University of Glasgow study on its own involvement: Slavery, Abolition and the University of Glasgow. The defense of "all the other kids are doing it, Dad!" to keep a family benefiting from such a horrific practice such as enslavement, is no defense at all, as we all should have learned when children.
There is nothing "left" about a position that says that if something were taken from a people 200 years ago, it should be given back -- think of a work of art or an dear keepsake. It's not conservative versus liberal. Spinning and doing who-skidoos while at it, like this article does with its "but everyone else was doing it" defense, is neither conservative or liberal. Enslaving people is neither conservative or liberal. Everybody can do it or fight against it. Neither is apology. Neither are reparations.