Why African-Americans should stop using slavery as a social crutch.
Syndicated columnist Walter E. Williams pouts and complains that calls for the Virginia legislation to issue decrees of apologies for slavery fall far short. In fact, he goes the extra mile and suggests that whites owe blacks something. He seems to suggest that each and every white person should resolve black problems in Virginia – as if blacks themselves are unable to do anything.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments76 - Zedd
Clavos
Sorry, lady, I couldn't disagree with you more. Few, if any, contemporary whites (none I know personally) feel any guilt whatever for slavery, nor are we in need of "facing" anything. Slavery in America is over.
I don't remember mentioning guilt in any of my posts. I think that you come to this with your own ideas about what Blacks want from society.
You insistence on EVERYONE working on race is an indication of your strong state of denial about what are problem is. The problems of race have predominantly come from White Americans. Lets just start there. There is no way to fix this problem (which is huge) if we keep our heads in the sand. Its time for White America to examine what everyone is talking about instead of immediately jumping into defense mode. Do you realise that at no time in history has White society EVER agreed that there is a problem. When we look back in retrospect, we see the sickness quite clearly. However at every stage there were great arguments as to why there is no problem. That is what you are doing Clavos.
As for why we should be embarrassed, we are in Iraq because Americans did not care to distinguish between one group of Arabs from another. We are there because of are racist views Clavos. The White House know that we would just think "they are all alike" so they felt free to go to a totally different country to bully them. We just ended our evil policy and we have the nerve to tell others how to live, when we fought heavily to maintain or evil ways vehemently for centuries. This is a fact and it makes me flushed to think that we (people like Bush) have no reservations, chastising the world about how to be fair. We should be flushed.
Perhaps you are not embarrassed because you don't consider our true history. You float in the haze (lie) of our eternal democracy. You talk about Vietnam when the issue is who we were at home. We were bigots, killers, lynchers, rapists and murderers, all condoned by the government system.
As for your comments on "Classic Communist self-criticism"... wrong person, wrong era, wrong generation. I'm a gen Xer and have a practical approach towards problem solving. Compartmentalizing and labeling is useless and played a role in supporting ones intellectual prowls but has no place in actually accomplishing anything. We have a big problem and we need to face it head on so that we ALL can move on. America will always have a cancer in its bowels unless we cast out the this demon. Lets OVER talk about it, lets make sure that every child born today knows the gory details of it and the effects of it from one generation to the next so that we never repeat it in any form until its dead and gone.
The head in the sand approach is failing us. We can be even greater Clavos.
77 - Clavos
.running up a huge debt to foreign countries and arrogantly behaving like the world owes us something while we indeed owe the world...trillions of dollars in debt...
You clearly don't understand the nature of such "debt." Those are bonds and other instruments purchased by other countries as investments precisely because of their confidence in the stability and solidity of the US economy.
They are "debt" only in the sense that one day they must be bought back, but in the meantime may well change hands multiple times, to be sold by a country holding them to a third country, it happens all the time.
And, in any case, the national debt has absolutely nothing to do with either slavery or racism.
78 - Zedd
Clavos
Our approach towards other countries has a great deal to do with our racist legacy.
79 - Clavos
Zedd,
I wasn't talking about "our approach to other countries."
80 - Zedd
Please excuse the massive typos. Gazillion tasking going on....
81 - Zedd
Troll
Atonement would come in the form of introspection and acknowledgement. Over talking about the matter emphasizing the issues of race as opposed to running away. Making your children know about OUR history. Seeing the humanity of every group that is not like you.
Now as far as the entire country, we do need to continue affirmative action for minority groups to prevent any racist practices which will prevent the assimilation of those groups into society.
82 - philbob
Can't we just all get along?
83 - Clavos
I don't remember mentioning guilt in any of my posts. I think that you come to this with your own ideas about what Blacks want from society.
You're quibbling, Zedd. You speak of our history of "evil" and of atonement and then say you haven't "mentioned" guilt. Oh, please...
It is Whites who have to atone.
If you have to "atone" for something, by definition you are guilty of it.
The benefits that you enjoy, the benefits that your ancestors rushed from Europe to enjoy were gained at the detriment of African Americans. Making the awarness of this matter a huge part of our education and consciousness; that we have a history of evil
Someone created that evil, (wonder who?) if it exists, so, again by definition, they are "guilty" of it.
You insistence on EVERYONE working on race is an indication of your strong state of denial about what are problem is.
Where did I say anything about "everyone working" on race??
Do you realise that at no time in history has White society EVER agreed that there is a problem.
Not true. Huge numbers of whites have stated there is and has been a problem of racism and have worked to ameliorate it; some have even lost their lives doing so.
As for why we should be embarrassed, we are in Iraq because Americans did not care to distinguish between one group of Arabs from another. We are there because of are racist views Clavos.
Oh please. The administration says we are there to fight the terrorists. It's opponents variously say we are there to protect the oil industry, or so GWB can protect his father's legacy by finishing what papa started. Take your pick, I don't care. Racism has NOTHING to do with our involvement in that war.
Perhaps you are not embarrassed because you don't consider our true history
No.
I'm not embarrassed because what one should with history is learn from it, and grow; not be embarrassed by it. It is what it is, and being embarrassed by it is just stupid.
As for your comments on "Classic Communist self-criticism"... wrong person, wrong era, wrong generation.
You might not have intended it that way, but that's what you were advocating, obviously without even realizing it.
Lastly: I grew up with an Irish Catholic mother. I know when someone is trying to lay a guilt trip on me; that's what you're doing, Zedd, and I'm not buying.
84 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"I grew up with an Irish Catholic mother. I know when someone is trying to lay a guilt trip on me; that's what you're doing, Zedd, and I'm not buying."
You mean the Irish Catholics stole the Jewish mothers' "momopoly" on laying guilt trips?
Newsflash!
The Executive Secretariat of the Jewish Mothers Guilt Laying Society has just instructed their lawyers.
"We demand reparations!"
85 - Mark Edward Manning
"In fact, he goes the extra mile and suggests that whites owe blacks something. He seems to suggest that each and every white person should resolve black problems in Virginia " as if blacks themselves are unable to do anything ... Mr. Williams does everything but admit accountability for himself or blacks in Virginia."
Mr. Williams does nothing of the sort. Read his piece a lot more carefully this time: He blames black problems not on white people per se, but white liberals and their minority cohorts who've embraced the political correctness that says we can't punish black criminals too severely and who placed more emphasis on self-esteem than actual logic or empirical learning in school. Williams also suggests that blacks are still enslaved to a point by the patronizing attitude shown towards them by the liberal elite.
This is what Williams is saying and it's a perfectly valid point.
86 - Mark Edward Manning
STM: "And the pasty-looking poms should get over being an inferior race and bow to the fact that they foolishly sent all the worst people to the best place, thus ensuring that it would become one long party."
And how, mate! Amen to that.
87 - S.T.M
Ruvy wrote: "You mean the Irish Catholics stole the Jewish mothers' "monopoly" on laying guilt trips?"
That they did, mate ... for sure. My mum (Colleen, God bless her) was a Catholic of first-generation Irish background. She used to do the best "passive-aggressive/martyr" I've ever seen. My wife's feeble efforts pale into insignificance beside hers. My grandfather was a hoot, too. A bullheaded Irishman if ever there was one.
We called her guilt trips "the violence of silence", but geez, she could cook up a storm.
88 - S.T.M
Thanks Mark ... enjoyed our visit to the Antipodes, did we??
89 - Nancy
STM - you're right: the deports had the last laugh in the end, didn't they? Still & all, you have a great nation because all those deports worked (or were worked) to death for it. Like the US, it was built w/a lot of blood, sweat, & tears. At least you guys had the common sense never to have had a civil war....
90 - ASAR
Should people also get over original sin and stop seeking salvation also? Especially since the original sin happened 6,000 years ago, would it possibily have any effect now? And what about the so-called murder of jesus, should christians just get over it and stop celebrating easter? And jews should get over that egypt trip and stop that silly passover. And what about independence day of 1776 when america ceasec becoming a colony. Should america stop celebrating july the 4th. also see www.pyramidoftruth.com and listen to pyramid of truth at www.live365.com
91 - Arch Conservative
"The imagined White supremacy ends and White privilege goes down the tube and you really do have to compete on merit for the first time ever. Your dumb kid has to compete with smart minorities and he doesn't get a break because of his pink skin because no one will care. "
You have it backwards Zedd. If everything was equal it would be the dumb minorities who have to stop relying on affirmative action and governement handouts and actually compete based on merit with more qualified white candidates.
92 - ez
Blacks who are the descendants of those brought to america to be made into slaves have a valid point for reparations. The blacks were/are made into "n---ers" by the caucasians who were/are the slavemasters and their children. Minister Louis Farrakhan gave a definition of "n---er" that explains the condition of blacks born to those decscended from those brought to this part of planet to be made into slaves. "A n---er" is a blackman made in the image of a whiteman." Blacks(which is most of us) I believe think in the terms of white first when it relates to the historical wrong of slavery. The trans-atlantic slave trade was twofold. first if we were to get to source of the western world's wealth, it would be traced to Africa and the slaves exported from there. The source of america's wealth derived from the slaves and the knowledge and subsiquent free labor that they provided. Second the slavetrade bred distrust among the Africans thus eliminating unity among the people. The colonization of Africa was a direct byproduct of the slavetrade and the depopulation of the continent. The blacks in America in effect had their minds erased and were taught completely in the way of the slavemasters and their children. "The Stockholm syndrome" is/was in effect. Blacks were taught to admire white to the detriment of all that is Black. The caucasian in to course of his 6000yr history had effectively replace the Supreme Being in the mind of Blacks. The slavemaster had the power to affectlife/death, health/disease and in effect every consequence of black life. The slavemaster by wanting to be the Master had in effect became a God to the Blacks under the control of whites, it was/is written in the laws that govern America. The 3/5 th clause could only occur if the slavemaster altered the creation of the Creator. The "N---er" was/is the caucasian attempt to supplant God. This process of making a"n---er" made it impossible for the descendants of the chattel slaves to be free of the slavemaster's children unless reparations in the purest sense is enacted. The whites who want justice for the blacks(which will extend the time of the causasian race on this planet)is to help restore blacks to the independent (land,resources without the interference of whites in lives of the truly emancipated children of the chattel slaves) or accept that justice was here before the making of the caucasian. Justice does not belong to the white race, it was here at the making of the universe and it does not sleep.
93 - BlackCTzar
First my answer to you about "getting over slavery," NO! Emphatically no, I will never get over slavery. But it is so good to see institutionalized racism in its continuance. The fact of the matter is that since this country was founded on the principles of white supremacy (see the original people of this land - what's left of them) slavery cannot be forgotten about, or, as you put it, "gotten over."
Articles such as this, as well as its many postings, are great reminders of how many in this country feel about people who are not white. Liberalism or conservatism in a red, white, and blue (whether horizontal stars and stripes or diagonally crossed) wrapper of one group being superior to another (or in this case all other groups not like them) enjoying the privilege and freedom of walking down the street unhindered, is still racism.
Can't get over slavery, not at least until the police get over the unnecessary and natural inclination towards discrimination against Black and brown people. (Oh just watch the racist remarks that statement will elicit)
Fact is, if you study, I mean really, really study slavery in this country, the 379 years it existed, and studied the 65 years Jim Crow existed after, with the same intensity you studied the history of the Deaf, then maybe, just maybe you will understand why me, and many of my people will never "get over it [slavery]."
"Even if Mr. Williams had a great, great, great grandfather who was a sharecropper," -- Your facts are backwards. Just to give you a reference point, "sharecroppers" existed after slaver. And Mr. Williams' (who looks to be about 45) great, great, great grandfather would not have been a sharecropper, but he would have been a slave in the 1700s. We can't forget about slavery when some of us have spoken to our relatives who were born as slaves.
94 - Knotty Ranks
I've read all of your post. Some I agree with and some I don't. I teach Black Literature and History, so excuse me if my post is long. I face these dilemmas everyday. I'm Black and I can honestly say that I don't want or need reparations. Yes, I understand that my ancestors worked for free. But, let's look at the TRUE reality of things. Some of us were sold into slavery by our own people. Some of us were caught. But, this is where the "wanna be gangsta rappers" have it correct. Whatever happened to "ride or die?" We were a nation of warriors. At every given second on a slave vessel, the slaves outnumbered the crew. There were times when the cargo could have attacked and killed everyone who did not look like them. Most of the time, the slaves outnumbered the slave-masters and overseers. Take Nat Turner for instance. He went on a murdering spree. He and a handful of slaves pretty much terrorized three states in three weeks. Imagine what a couple thousand could have done. Eventually Whites would stopped slavery for their own safety. Yes, I know many Blacks would have died. But, in any war casualties are to be expected. Plus, there were Black slave owners who made millions from slavery. No one seems to ever mention them.
I like the confederate flag. I have a shirt with a confederate flag and under the flag are the words "You're Welcome." Slavery provided the foundation on which the South rose and grew. Nations, states, cities, neighborhoods, companies, school systems, etc., survive or fail according to their economy. Slavery was the economy of the South. Without that economy, there would not be a South. No South, no southern heritage. No southern heritage, no flag. Again, you're most welcome.
If Blacks really want to be equal, we must forget slavery and focus on the present and the future. We must focus on ourselves. We must support ourselves. We must spend more of our money with ourselves. White folks support each other all of the time. Why don't we? Stop running to Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, Publix, Food Lion, and the like everyday. Go spend some money at that Black-owned grocery store on the corner sometimes. I know a carton of eggs will probably be $5. But, how else are we to become economically independent. Stop crying because you can't get into the University of Michigan or USC without catching a football. There are high quality Historically Black Colleges and Universities that are capable of preparing you for this world just as much as any White institution. I work with individuals who are graduates from Harvard and Yale, yet when they have a question, they seem to come to little ol' me. Stop following these so-called leaders Black leaders. Why is it always Black folks who need leaders? Tell me the last time you heard the media or anyone else say "here's the White leader?" We need to push these drug dealers off of our streets. I don't have any dealers in my neighborhood. Why? Because the fathers of the neighborhood reminded those baby gangsters who were trying to setup shop, that we have guns too. Speaking of being a father, we need to stop abandoning our children. Deadbeat Dads need to go to jail. Turn them in to the authorities. Even if it is a family member. If you can "skeet" one, you can pay for one. Next, we need to be independent voters. Why are we mostly Democrats? They don't want us. They come by the church once every four years. They say Hi and we grin. Screw them. Why are we Republicans? They don't want us. We're nobody to them. Ask Sean Hannity or Bill O'reilly how much they need Black folks. No, we don't need our own political party. But, we should make our vote a valuable one and we can't do that if we show our hand before the game really starts. I have more but I will stop right there.
95 - G. Chell
"You have it backwards Zedd. If everything was equal it would be the dumb minorities who have to stop relying on affirmative action and governement handouts and actually compete based on merit with more qualified white candidates."
Comment: Depends on who is a minority. The last I looked which was a minute ago, Asian Americans are not white. If Asian Americans are minorities, Zedd is at least partly right... The imagined White supremacy ends and White privilege goes down the tube and you really do have to compete on merit for the first time ever. Your dumb white kid has to compete with smart Asian Americans (minorities) and she doesn't get a break because of her pink skin because no one will care. Case in point..follow this link.
Of course if every minority who succeeds become white in the eyes of the whites it is a different story.
As this story makes it clear, whites want privilege. When competing against blacks and Hispanics they say only grades and SATs should matter, while the reverse is true while competing against Asians.
96 - td
The author of this article is misinformed. Your assertions are all based on a misunderstanding of the article. Mr. williams basically said that the apology meant nothing to him and apologies such as that are essentially useless. What he says is important is getting rid of crime and improving the citizenry. He focused on Black folks because the apology was to black folks. You people are so ready to say "Get Over it" that you miss the point of everything that is written or spoken regarding slavery or its all-too-real legacy. It is so ironic that the very reason you and people like you say "get over it" is because there has never been an apology for slavery or the government sponsored terrorism that existed in this country and folks like you think that it's no big deal. That's sad. Finally, the US sanctioned terrorism against black folks did not end with slavery, it kicked into a higher gear after slavery ended and reconstruction began. That Jim Crow racisim didn't end until the sixties so I don't want to hear that 100 years ago crap again. Be honest, you didn't read Mr. williams article did you?
97 - steve
Issues are more socio-economically based than race based nowadays in the U.S. I wish african americans would live in the present and the future. I wonder if they have ever considered what life would be like if slavery never happened. They would be in third world countries with little political stability. they would be subject to genocide such as in uganda or somalia. They would be plagued with aids and have little to eat. African Americans don't have it all that bad here.
I am just asking, What if? Slavery has been over for some time now. African Americans need to stop using slavery as a crutch for their shortcomings TODAY from actions I wasn't involved in LONG AGO.
98 - G. Chell
Issues are more socio-economically based than race based nowadays in the U.S. I wonder if the whites have ever considered what life would be like if Julius Ceaser had not invaded Germany or Britain. They would be living in caves, white women would be running around naked. The white females would be subject to human sacrifice. They would be eating raw flesh and would not even know how to make a fire.
I am just asking, What if?
99 - Zedd
Ruvy
When you stop celebrating Passover then we will talk about AAs getting over anything.
You had the nerve with that first post. Did you even think just how ridiculous it was for you a practicing Jew to talk about forgetting ones history. The entire Bible is about one atrocity after another against Jews. Why don't we just X Nehemiah or any of the prophets for that matter(the whiners).
Off course I am being facetious but you get my point. Can you just see the Egyptians rolling their eyes 40yrs later every time the children of Israel would bring up the enslavement and journey through the dessert?
You are doing the same.
Kinda different now isn't it?
100 - Zedd
G. Shell
Its not just Asian kids. Its African immigrants and their kids too. They are excelling in education yet their statistics get swallowed up. That fact proves that the problem is not Blackness as most would like to think, it is what has happened to African Americans and the remaining racist ideology which supports the evils of the past.
101 - Zedd
knotty
You are a fraud
However I will indulge you by highlighting that rock or rap artists have nothing to do with policy.
You are doing it again, placing the blame of the evolution of a people who were shackled for over 300yrs based on their experiences, on them. The evolution of AAs comes from their situations over time. They are who they are because of who they were. Like EVERYONE ELSE, gangster rappers included.
As for "Black leaders", do you feel lead? What makes you feel as if other Blacks feel lead too.
102 - Zedd
Clavos
I like you and you know I do.
But your post made no sense. You cancelled out your original post by trying to tear down my post.
What are you on about??
103 - Clavos
Zedd,
I just re-read both my comments, as well as your response to my first one.
I canceled out nothing, Zedd. I reinforced and further explained some details in the second comment.
If you don't see that, then once more, here are my salient points in a nutshell:
1. Most contemporary whites don't feel guilty about slavery in America. We have no reason to. It's over. It's history.
2. There is still a problem with racism today, though things are much better than they were when I was young. Most whites recognize that, and do what they can to ameliorate the situation. Some whites have even given their lives fighting racism.
3. Our history is NOT evil per se. It has good chapters and bad ones, but it's history, that's all. We should learn from it and grow from it. We have no reason to be embarrassed by it.
That's it, Zedd. Plain and simple. For the third time.
No guilt. No embarrassment. Neither accomplishes anything.
104 - thetrueandlivinggod
Blacks shouldn't expect anything from whites. What Blacks need to do is remember the nature of their enemy. This is what was revealed to us through slavery. That these are a people that would deny the most self evident truth, that blacks were a dignified people worthy of honor and respect. And live in the most perverted hypocrisy, espousing Christianity, while living in fundamental contradiction to it.
The argument can be made that this is in the nature of all people. But slavery is an everlasting testimony that it is an intrinsic part of the nature of these people. And so when they continue to act in this way with regards to other areas, we should not be surprised. And when they argue and sacrifice their lives and the lives of others to deny truth and maintain hypocrisy we should be prepared to fight against them.
105 - D-Wil
peyote (which is what you must be on)-
First, tolerance means nothing when applied to issues of discrimination or racism. I'm tolerating your opinion now, but I have no respect for your opinion - get the difference? No progress can be made in relation to the aforementioned issues unless we first replace "tolerance" with respect.
Now, how do you feel about 14 centuries of enslavement equaling about 140 million deaths? THAT is the physical toll of black enslavement. There are no historical equivalents. But that's cool. To relegate slavery of black people to the U.S. is a common white, Western apologist's racist response to slavery in its historical context.
"Seems to me that blacks in this country have little to complain about, especially with regard to legislative mandates issuing apologies for sins that occurred more than 100 years ago."
Institutional racism exists today, Herr Paotie, or does that slip under your National Socialist radar?
-------------------
The following comment of yours shows that beyond being a National Socialist (you figure out what it means, Herr Paotie), you are also a liar:
"You presume too much. I have a white Deaf friend who attended a school for the Deaf, and the lad has no proper English writing skills; lacks the appropriate ability to do simple math, and in general, has very poor communication skills. Of course, we could argue that his ASL background is the culprit here, but that's for another day and another topic."
But wait! In your blatherings you said:
"I have routinely faced discrimination in many forms, although I seriously doubt a lynching of a deaf person has occurred in recent years. I have faced oppression in various forms, although I don’t complain that all hearing people owe me the regret of thousands of years of dehumanized practices on people like myself (my deafness is genetic, so using Mr. Williams inference, all poor treatment of others in my genetic line deserve some form of apology)."
So, are you deaf or not Herr Paotie? Don't lie, now! Here's the passage to which you responded:
"I would suggest you do some research into Whiteness Studies, you then will be able to understand the legacy of white privilege and how you, even as a deaf person, are benefiting from that privilege. Theories on color blindness will also be able to help you understand the larger picture as well."
Whoops!!!
So, you're just a fake, ill-informed, angry, disaffected cracker with nothing better to do than write an inane diatribe concerning subjects of which you have no knowledge, academic, personal, or otherwise. So you resort to the tried-and-true use of pathos masked as righteous as a method to skate around the fact that you are nothing other than a sorrowful cracker with white supremacist leanings if not direct involvement in such groups.
Silly rabbit. Tricks are for kids.
106 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"When you stop celebrating Passover then we will talk about AAs getting over anything.
...............
Did you even think just how ridiculous it was for you a practicing Jew to talk about forgetting ones history?"
Get out that English dictionary, Zedd. You need it more than I. To "get over" is very different from "forgetting."
To "get over" means to recover from, as in getting over pneumonia. One does not forget pneumonia afterwards, but hopefully, one gets over it.
Jews have long gotten over the slavery they endured over three thousand years ago - but we remember it, so as not to forget the lessons learned afterwards. Jews need to do the same thing with the whirlwind of evil that killed six million of us less than 70 years ago. We need to get over it, but not forget it, so as to understand the evil of allowing a dictatorship to spring up and enslave and kill people - like say, Iran, or the Saudi thugdom.
And American blacks specifically need to do the same regarding the slavery they suffered in what was to become the United States for over ten generations. They need to get over it. But they cannot afford to forget it. They need to remember its sources - wars in east and west Africa and the sale of slaves taken in those wars to Arab and later British slave traders.
This still goes on in Africa. Wars, slaves taken as booty, and sold to Arab slave traders. But blacks are not held as slaves in the United States or Canada. American blacks need to get over the slavery they suffered at the hands of whites on the North American continent and deal with the present slave traders who oppress their African brothers and sisters - the Arabs (funny how those Arabs keep popping up all over the place, eh?).
When I see you defending Arab terrorists, it makes me wonder who it is who is forgetting her history - and who it is who yet needs to learn it.
107 - G. Chell
"Its not just Asian kids. Its African immigrants and their kids too. They are excelling in education yet their statistics get swallowed up. That fact proves that the problem is not Blackness as most would like to think, it is what has happened to African Americans and the remaining racist ideology which supports the evils of the past."
Absolutely. Blacks in Barbados are smarter than whites in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama combined at least as far as academic achievement is concerned. Yet no one wants to compare the academic achievement of the Caribbean including the Bahamas with those of the southern whites, because it would upset the conventional thinking. So the goal is to focus on Africa.
108 - G. Chell
Now I know why whites want fewer non-white immigrants. If they kept out black immigrants, it would mean more slots for them, especially if Affirmitive Action is abolished...perhaps 400 more slots for white people at Harvard, who then would not have to compete with smarter blacks and of course smarter Asians. If you keep the immigrants out, they can continue living the myth of white supremacy...this is the goal of Tancredo, Hunter, Rohrbacher, Ron Paul and other clowns who are now running for President.
109 - G. Chell
Ladies and gentlemen, let us forget slavery and focus on racism of today like many a good blogger here want...let us read this book written by two white people and address the issues relevant to today...
110 - ez
The trick of America is that it fooled the majority of us blacks into believing that we "freed" by the benevolent whites during the civil war. Tell me where in the annals of history has the enslavers freed a nation of slaves and the slaves remained in the house of the slavemasters and their children? The latin definition of emancipation pur forth by Minister Louis Farrakhan depicts the condition of Black America today. Emancipation meaning free from the physical bondage of the ruling whites but not free from the control of the ruling whites. The very fact that a white has the nerve to tell blacks what to think is proof that the Minister's definition of Emancipation is right and correct. I believe that as the caucasian world continues to fall into oblivion the whites will take off the masks of civility and show the fangs of real beasts. A beast will kill all that it can kill until the object that the beast wishes to murder Calls upons his God not the God that the beasts taught the slave to worship. The forgotten supreme being who is of the Black nation is the God of the Blackman wether he wishes to acknowledge it or not. The people who enslaved us will never teach us the truth about our G-d, for to do so would expedite the fall of their civilization, which came into existence after the 6000yr. war to destory black civilization. The beasts of the bible(caucasians) are preparing for war against the blackman in america. The beast cares not for his former slaves no matter how like the beast the slaves becomes. The whites taught blacks everything they know due to the fact that they basically printed or produced most of the information we see and read. Let us as the children of slaves unite and try to treat each other in a manner opposite of the teachings that the slavemaster taught us which is niggerism. We must not forget that the nigger comes from the mind of the caucasian. "A nigger is a blackman made in the image of a white man" He loves what his slavemaster loves and hates what his slavemaster hates, which is himself and his kind.
111 - troll
IMO modern racism is the offspring of our economic relationship...divide and conquer - compete with each other rather than cooperate
remember - we're all free to be slaves of owners and work at their pleasure and for their profit
you want to get rid of racism - ?
start by getting rid of the system of production on which it is based
112 - Mark Edward Manning
Thanks Mark ... enjoyed our visit to the Antipodes, did we??
Never been there, Stan. However, I don't need to in order to know that you're right. Taking prisoners away from this chilly little island to a much, much, much larger island where it's always warm -- and the British thought THAT was punishment?!
It really makes you shake your head in bemusement.
Party on, you lucky people.
113 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
What has gotten lost here between the whining about racism and the author's call to blacks to get over slavery is that the author is deaf. And deaf people have suffered far longer than blacks have for being deaf.
The author neither asked for a hand nor for a handout. He asked blacks to get over their own whining about slavery to see that others. like deaf people, have suffered as well, and suffered far longer than they have. Even if he misinterpreted the intentions of the writer he criticizes in his article, my characterization of what Paotie has written stands.
It gets tiresome reading about Louis Farrakhan whining about the white devils. If whites are so terrible, then blacks following Farrakhan should quit their whining, leave the States and go set up shop in Africa and take all their followers with them.
I didn't whine about America. I left. All the complainers should follow my example. If I hadn't left America for MY homeland, I couldn't say that. But I did. I talk my talk and walk my walk and both are the same...
Anybody care to take up the challenge of Marcus Garvey? Freedom awaits you.
114 - Meta
Paotie, I think you should read the article again and reassess your ability to comprehend the English language. Mr. Williams was not asking for an appology for slavery. In fact he specifically states, "in any case, they should know that their actions mean little in dealing with the day-to-day plight of many black Virginians -- which has nothing to do with slavery".
He not only does not ask for an apology but he even agrees with you that slavery has nothing to do with the plight of blacks in Virginia. He is simply saying that rather than drafting apologies through legislation, they need to invest their time into fixing the problems that blacks in Virginia are facing. Yeah he focuses on the black plight, but it makes sense within the context of the article.
If you really wanted to air your fraustration about being deaf then by all means do so, but do not disguise the article as an attack on Mr. Williams.
115 - Arch Conservative
So every black person in Barbados is smarter than every white person in the South?
What is this irrational loathing you have for all southerners G Chell? Despite your attempts to paint all southerners as confederate flag waving klan members... that is not the reality.
"Now I know why whites want fewer non-white immigrants. If they kept out black immigrants, it would mean more slots for them, especially if Affirmitive Action is abolished...perhaps 400 more slots for white people at Harvard, who then would not have to compete with smarter blacks and of course smarter Asians. If you keep the immigrants out, they can continue living the myth of white supremacy...this is the goal of Tancredo, Hunter, Rohrbacher, Ron Paul and other clowns who are now running for President."
Get it straight [Personal attack deleted]. Most Americans, regardless of their race, oppose ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION regardless of the race of the illegals. I know you leftists like to use semantics to distort the reality of the situation and I shouldn't expect any honesty from the likes of you.
With regard to Affirmative Action. I as a white want to see it abolished not because I can't compete on merit with minorities but because I can't compete on the basis of race or color, the only basis considered by AA, with minorities. Affirmative action is racial discrimination, pure and simple.
116 - G. Chell
"So every black person in Barbados is smarter than every white person in the South?"
Comment: Now where did I say that?
"What is this irrational loathing you have for all southerners G Chell? Despite your attempts to paint all southerners as confederate flag waving klan members...that is not the reality."
Comment: Irrational? Voting for the GOP in large numbers..the party gets in because 90% of these morons vote for these guys by putting out commercials such as "I met Harold at the Playboy Party"? The whole mess in Iraq is mostly due to white southerners, because they put these guys in power, defeated statesmen such as Max Cleland...I say let us have a surge. Let us round up all white College GOP, both men and women, give them all ammunition and send these morons to Iraq..at least then these morons would come to their senses....and you call me irrational?
"Get it straight [Personal attack deleted]. Most Americans, regardless of their race, oppose ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION regardless of the race of the illegals. I know you leftists like to use semantics to distort the reality of the situation and I shouldn't expect any honesty from the likes of you."
Nobody called you any names or for that matter did not call white southerners any names. It shows your level of culture and civility and perhaps tells us more about white civilization more than anything else. Calling everyone a commie or leftist is another common ploy when your assertions are false. White Americans oppose legal immigration as well...forget legal immigration, heck, they even oppose skilled immigration...if you dont believe me go to different websites on immigration and check out the immigration news. Why? Very simple. Because they dont want intelligent blacks from countries such as Barbados competing with incompetent whites. If they compete only with American blacks they would have additional slots at universities such as Harvard and Yale. As it is, these whites are furious at Asians running them out of town in UCLA and Berkeley.
"With regard to Affirmative Action. I as a white want to see it abolished not because I can't compete on merit with minorities but because I can't compete on the basis of race or color, the only basis considered by AA, with minorities. Affirmative action is racial discrimination, pure and simple."
Comment: The fact is the whites cannot compete with certain minorities if it is purely on merit..so they cut and run..as I said the whites want privilege. When they compete with blacks they say no AA, but only scores. When they compete with Asians they strongly disagree with using scores and they suggest that we should look at the whole person...in other words, give me the job or a place in a university because we happen to be white...so no, most whites are not competing on merit. America has never been a meritocracy when it came to employment, and it never will be one. So get over the high horse!!
117 - Arch Conservative
I called you names because I'm sick of your bullshit G. Chell.
You're nothing but a deluded run of the Mill leftist spouting typical delusional leftist talking points.....all white southerners are ignorant racists, all Republicans are war mongering racists, all white AMericans do everything they can to keep down anyone who isn't white, confederate flag this confederate flag that..... blah, blah, blah.
You're an idiot!
118 - td
G. Chell,
You really believe that you are smarter than an African American simply because of where you are from? I guess massa has taught you well!
119 - A Concerned Citizen
OK, I'm speaking both as a white and as a human being: I had nothing to do with slavery. I have nothing to do with any of the racial abuses that have ever occurred. I am not guilty. I have nothing for which to atone.
That said, the lessons of the past should never be forgotten. Slavery, and racism in general, is a terrible thing. I agree that any hint of racism should be stamped out -- but legitimately. Not through crying about the "white devil" and demanding reparations, but by teaching our young about tolerance and the equality of men. Neither accusations nor demands can unite us. . . only cooperation and common will to conquer our problems.
That said, I'm sure everyone would agree that, out of every ethnic group kicked around by the White Devils, the Native Americans got the worst deal. I don't hear them whining.
120 - A Concerned Citizen
IMO modern racism is the offspring of our economic relationship...divide and conquer - compete with each other rather than cooperate
Troll has it right. The most basic problem with the world is that we're competing instead of cooperating.
121 - Blair
Knowing that free blacks as well as whites owned slaves(some of the South's biggest slave owners were free black men)might help people deal with slavery. The percentage of blacks who owned slaves was small, but so was the percentage of whites who owned slaves.
The ancestors of most white Americans immigrated to the United States long after slavery had been abolished, and many of them were descendants of people who had been slaves in the Old World. The word "slave" derives from the word "Slavic," or eastern European. The original 13 colonies did as some white slaves--not to be confused with indentured servants.
Slavery did not last hundreds of years in the United States. The nation abolished the slave trade, which was a global insitution, within one lifetime of its founded and abolished slavery iself within two lifetimes (Men who were alive during the Civil War knew George Washington. Robert E. Lee's wife was Washignton's grandaughter.)
The slave traders did not raid African villages to capture and enslave men, women and children. They pruchased slaves from powerful African tribes that had controled the "supply side" of the slave traded since long before the European disovery of America. In other words, the ancestors of African Americans were slaves or trade slavers on the African side of the Atlantic.
African Americans enjoy a much higher standard of living than Africans whose ancestors were not transported to the United States. This makes the beneficiaries rather than victims of the slave trade. However, they are no equal beneficiaries. We should continue affirmative action programs for a few more generations to make up for the decades of Jim Crow laws in the South and defacto segration in the North, but limit it to African Americans, the people it was designed to benefit. Now that Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and non-Hispanic white females are acounted as minorites, about 80 percent of the population is eligible for affirmative action.
122 - G. Chell
"You really believe that you are smarter than an African American simply because of where you are from? I guess massa has taught you well!"
No. If you want to know, you can well say I am in your words a massa...racism in this country has contributed to the underdevelopment of African American skills, while in places such as Barbados, that has not been the case.
123 - G. Chell
"You're nothing but a deluded run of the Mill leftist spouting typical delusional leftist talking points.....all white southerners are ignorant racists, all Republicans are war mongering racists, all white AMericans do everything they can to keep down anyone who isn't white, confederate flag this confederate flag that..... blah, blah, blah."
Truth hurts doesn't it? Never said all..call me leftist or call me a racist as someone else did. If I am called both terms, I must be talking common sense. Never said all...cant you read English? Where did I say all white southerners? Perhaps you need to learn to read and speak proper English before telling Hispanics to learn English and assimilate. Did not 90% of southern whites vote for the GOP? The GOP got us in this mess in Iraq...they are the idiots along with the southern whites....cant even run a proper war. morons!! If you want to be a war monger, you need to have some brains. The current group does not have any. The southern whites and the paleos will whine and cry about how bad the war in Iraq is going, but will they get rid of congressmen such as Lyn Westmoreland and Marsha Blackburn who got us in this mess? I bet you they wont. Will these congressmen or the college GOP go to the war front to fight? The answer is no. Marsha Blackburn is so timid that she will run when the first gunfire is heard...but she will vote to send the young men and women to war. This is the reality. Prove me wrong. If you cannot and resort to name calling, you have nothing to back your assertions and you are..I will be very civil here...ArmChair Conservative with Arch being the first two letters of Arm anad Chair combined.
You're an idiot!
124 - G. Chell
"Now that Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and non-Hispanic white females are acounted as minorites, about 80 percent of the population is eligible for affirmative action."
Historically the white females were the major beneficiaries of affirmitive action. Now that they have achieved parity with white males, they dont want competition from minorities including women who belong to minority groups.
125 - Lumpy
If you ignore the socialist spin it included, troll's earlier comment hit the mark. Divisions of race are meaningless in the US today. The real division is between the haves and have nots, or more accurately the wills and will nots, as in those who will work and do whatever it takes to succeed and those who will not give their all and instead expect to have the good things of life handed to them by the government.