Apologies for the slave trade

[kharmajunkie]

Did anyone see the story on MSnbc this morning about the march in Maryland for the purpose of showing remorse for the slave trade? They had white people with
black tshirts on that said "I'm sorry" on them and the were in chains and some kind of wooden yoke marching down the street. After I was done laughing at these guilt ridden loons I couldn't help but think that what they're doing could
offend just as many people as it would be helping.

My real question though is why so many people feel responsible for events of the past that they had nothing to do with? These people aren't responsible for the slave trade and their guilt isn't geniune.

[harumscarum]

I think that segragation and equal rights were a big part of many persons lives growing up. People proably feel guitly for their and others actions at these times so doing events such as these makes themselves feel better.

I didn't see that story but I would of probaly had the same reaction. IMO it is a mockery and more of an insult then a good deed.

[castille]

I agree. White Europeans, Americans, black Muslims, and Arabs must apologise for selling slaves.

[kharmajunkie]

Originally posted by castille, I agree. White Europeans, Americans, black Muslims, and Arabs must apologise for selling slaves.

Then start digging castille, good luck getting that apology.

[LogicaLunatic]

quick reply

[bugsbunny04]

My ancestors are Norsemen and Irishmen that came to this country in the early 20th century. I will never apologize for anything done 40 years before my decendants came here. I dont owe anybody anything because of the colour of my skin.

[Technosoul]

I think they should aplologize first for winning all those basketball games and making us white folks look like we can't jump.

But all kidding aside, the FBI should aplolozie with a public statement about thier advocation that Martin King Jr was a commie, and they should have to donate x amount of money to the Jessie Jackson organization and he should publicly not accept the money offered saying "your money can't buy our love, why don't you let us vote in Fla. instead".

[RickSp]

We are all related to slave owners or slaves if we go back far enough in history. Slavery was a part of human society for thousands of years. Virtually every culture owned slaves at one point or another. The Ten Commandment says that one shall not "covet thy neighbor's manservant, not maid servant." The commandment refers to slaves. Slavery was and is the worst of all evils. Its ubiquity does nothing to diminish that fact.

The absurd thing about a bunch of white folks feeling guilty about slavery because they are white is that it echoes the old slave owner's claim that Africans were meant to be slaves because they wors the "mark of Cain," their dark skin. Now white folks are claiming guilt for acts that they did not commit soley because of their skin color. Both propositions are equally ridiculous.

[bishop]

slavery is a black eye on our country. if you're an american, you share in that legacy.

i'm not sure what the problem is.. it reminds me of people who think that we should just forget about the holocaust because it's supposedly buried in the past.

[RickSp]

slavery is a black eye on our country. if you're an american, you share in that legacy. i'm not sure what the problem is.. it reminds me of people who think that we should just forget about the holocaust because it's supposedly buried in the past.

I can't say I follow your argument. My family is German. I don't feel any individual guilt for the holocaust. Neither do I suggest that we should "forget about the holocaust". That is ridiculous.

Slavery was the great cancer in the heart of our republic. Over 600,000 Americans died violently in removal of that cancer. The Civil War was necessary, if not sufficent. We are still working through the legacy of slavery.

The evil of racism starts by categorizing people based on group charactersitics. If we are to find any resolution to the issues of race in America we must start by judging people as individuals, not as white, black, yellow or brown. I can't see how a parade of buffoons with toy chains can materially help in that process.

[Compugasm]

This is not historical context and I find it unacceptable as it isn't parody either. Show me one person alive, white, mexican, chinese, who doesn't deserve reparations. Astounding, the racism of the 60's has been reversed, media acceptable, and sponsored.

[bishop]

I can't see how a parade of buffoons with toy chains can materially help in that process.

i see it as an attempt to prevent us from forgetting our past, so that it may benefit our future.

and, someone correct me if i'm wrong, but this march wasn't about reparations, it was about the stain of slavery.

[bugsbunny04]

Originally posted by Technosoul, I think they should aplologize first for winning all those basketball games and making us white folks look like we can't jump. But all kidding aside, the FBI should aplolozie with a public statement about thier advocation that Martin King Jr was a commie, and they should have to donate x amount of money to the Jessie Jackson organization and he should publicly not accept the money offered saying "your money can't buy our love, why don't you let us vote in Fla. instead".

First of all, dont put Jesse Jackson and MArtin Luther King Jr. in the same catagory. There is a difference between one who advocates equal rights and one who is an extortionist that uses the colour of his skin to faclitate his scams. It is an insult to King.

Second, all this crap about them not being allowed to vote in Florida is a bunch of paranoid race war mongering bull shit cooked up by sore losers and people who try to widen the racial divide at every opportunity.

[bishop]

king never even wanted to have jackson associated with him. he always viewed him as a "hanger on".

[kharmajunkie]

Originally posted by bishop, slavery is a black eye on our country. if you're an american, you share in that legacy.

That's a broad statement; we share in the legacy. I don't believe in taking credit for achievements made previous to my inception and therefore will not accept responsibility for any bullshit anyone pulled back then either. I don't own slaves, I don't have any negative views towards anyone of any cultural or racial backgrounds and I only apologize for my own mistakes; which are vast enough without me worrying about what kind of crimes against society our small minded ancestors committed.

[Waychel]

I think that instead of worrying about slavery of the past, these people should be concerned with the modern-day slavery that occures today. Thousands of Chechen women are promised new lives in countries like the Netherlands, only to be smuggled over by pimps and forced into working as prostitutes in the brothels there. The same thing goes on in Japan with Thai women, which is also said to be one of the contributing causes to the spreading of AIDs in that country. The US govt has already put forward some $240,000,000 or so to stop the modern day slavery occuring in our country today with the prostitution of women and children that have been smuggled here illegally, but thus far, has been the only country to acknowledge this problem or consider it an issue worth addressing.

[m5lange1]

How far back would this go? Does indentured servatude count? Does ancenstry (both of salvery and of slavery ownership) need to be proven?
Does ownership alone count? Would families whos linage could never afford slaves be mandated to apologize?

Would those who never owned but participated in the slave trade be apologists (this would be interesting since in the black slave trade most of the slave hunters were tribesmen who sold people from other tribes to the slavers)?

Sounds like a real sticky can of soup to me.

[bishop]

kharma.. acknowledging the wrongs of slavery does not mean that you are responsible or share responsibility.

waychel mentions cases of present-day slavery.. notice how the majority of the world isn't all too concerned about the plight of present-day slaves? do you see many world leaders talking about prostitution (including child prostitution) all over the world? or, children forced to wage wars? or the fact that indentured servitude still exists?

these items still exist because people ara apathetic to slavery. they see people marching in the street, talking about the former situation in america, and they get pissed off and look away - similar to what people do with present-day slavery.

[RickSp]

and, someone correct me if i'm wrong, but this march wasn't about reparations, it was about the stain of slavery.

"The stain of slavery" makes as much sense as a bunch of white folks saying that "they are sorry." No one wears a "stain" because of our skin color, whether white or black. And no one is responsible for slavery today unless they are a slaveowner currently or in the recent past.

Given the ongoing debate about race it seems unlikely that any reasonably aware individual will forget the institution of slavery. At the risk of repeating myself, I fail to see how playing dress-up advances the debate.

[rcne]

I think I'd worry more about the current slave trade going on in the world today, than our dark days of 150 years ago.

Check out some of the world immigrations statistics of human smuggling, and child enslavement.

Now those things bother me, yet very little is found newsworthy. We like to believe slavery doesn't exist - but it does.