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Are you speaking of slavery in America or slavery in The Americas.
Because if you mean America as in "The United States of America," it runs from September 17, 1789 to January 31, 1865. Even so, the issue was primarily thought of as a state issue until right before the war that settled the point.
76 years and change.
From April 19, 1775 to May 12, 1784 who's in charge is up in the air.
From May 12, 1784 to September 17, 1789 it's not the United States, it's that weird transitional confederation entity and it really can't be blamed for slavery in in the independent entities it composed of. The 1789 date doesn't even extend to slave holding places that were French or Spanish then, but are US now.
So prior to the ratification of the US Constitution, slavery is an English, French, Dutch and Spanish problem.
And it ran for far longer than the short seventy some years of US slavery.
Blame them.
I'd love to see Spain blamed for slavery as a whole in the US and be forced to pay for reparations under the same, tortured, logic that they've been hoovering up gold from salvaged galleons.
And if you REALLY want to pick at it, the American Indian practiced slavery until the end of the Indian Wars. Noble savages, indeed!
Arguing FACTS with a Liberal is a fool's game. If their "talking points" don't do the job it's time for "That's Rayyycest and shit" arguments.
ReplyDeleteThe only argument I found that works is the baby harp seal argument. Hogs gotta eat.
The thing that always bugs me is how the people screaming about how terrible we are don't seem to realize slavery goes as far back as human history. Slaves built the pyramids. It's not a recent invention and not limited to blacks being slaves. I'd love to have accurate numbers, but I think everyone alive today has an ancestor who was a slave. I know I do, and while I'm not as white as my cat, I'm more than 90% European.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in noting that Native Americans practiced slavery for thousands of years before the first Europeans (Vikings) got here. Not all tribes of course, but the practice was not uncommon.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth noting that slavery was also actively practiced in Africa and the middle east as well, and not just by colonists. Tribal groups in Africa and the middle east enslaved others for centuries prior to colonization from Europe. African slaves were captured and sold to European slave traders (from various European counties including some not previously named like Portugal and probably by my Scandinavian ancestors as well. It wasn't like a lot of slave traders (other than Portuguese) were making expeditions inland to capture people. There were markets along the coasts where they'd come and buy them. Africans who sold Africans (tribal warlords) were as much to blame as the people who bought them.
Slavery was not just a US thing. Nor even just a North American thing. Nor even an Americas thing.
Slavery was a terrible practice. The US would be a better place if it hadn't been a thing. The whole world would be better if it hadn't been a thing. But it's history and nothing can be done to change it. Nobody alive today's grandparents in the US were, or owned slaves.
No reparations are ever really going to work. Even if they were paid... then what? What if it doesn't materially change the outcomes for the people who receive them? Then more reparations would be demanded? Then responsibility for outcome failures goes where?
Assigning blame really doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose after hundreds of thousands of years. Grandchildren of the guilty are already dust.
Anon! Come back and sign this!
DeleteDamnit... I got logged off somehow.
DeleteIf you want to make heads explode ask how much Dahomey owes in reparations since they were the ones actually going out and capturing slaves to send overseas. This should be doubly fun if your target raved about "The Woman King" For reference the Republic of Benin is the legal successor to the slaver kingdom of Dahomey but they rebranded immediately after independence from France to escape the stigma.
ReplyDelete