I believe if you research enough, one will find all races were enslaved at one time or another. My ancestors were slaves but I don't give it one thought. Its in the past. I look ahead. There is no future in living in the past. Look to the future, and make it count.
Many of our ancestors ( of all colors ) came to America under stressful circumstances, but it was their paths to America that made possible for many of us, who now enjoy the opportunities of the USA, to even exist today.
Specific to slavery, however, the alternative(s) of not having been sold into slavery in Africa, for the black ancestors, would have surely meant death, and the majority of blacks living in the USA today would probably not even exist. A very,very small percent of the citizens, living in the USA in the 18th & 19th centuries, owned slaves. So if their history of slavery is the crutch these current complainers wish to use for their lots in life, then they and their children, and grandchildren will continue living in their own personal "pity parties". There are a lot of positive things to be done by all of us, if we're to move beyond our distasteful pasts ... ALL of us! Already, for 2015 (not hardly a full day of the new year in the books) we've had 1 ******* (a black male by several other black males). Successful blacks can start by being mentors and role models to the underprivileged. Lets roll up our sleeves and move on, please!
What the topic of discussion on this thread was about from what i understood it was reparations not who was enslaved at what period or whenever over the millennium of human history. The 400 and more so recent years of free labor that the American industry enjoyed off the enslaved and ****** labor of blacks, and Asians in america helped make this country what it is today.
France, Germany, Great Britain did not have the fortune recently of having half a milleniun of free labor and if they had the world would be a much different place today in global Economic domination and Gross Domestic Product output from the G10 nations.
It may be easy for some people to be dismissive and say the past is the past and get over it and move on. However its those people who don't understand that what has happened in the past explains everything of how we have arrived where we are in the present and where we are going in the future. And the past I am specifically referring to here is America's past.
Anyway read the article I posted from the Bloomberg reference link for those who are interested on undersranding more about this issue. For those not intersted and with nothing constructive further to add then just leave the thread and don't worry yourself about this any longer.
I am a student of history and I study what has occurred before today especially when it comes to people to understand better where they have been and where they are coming from.
While I do agree in looking toward the future and making the world of tomorrow a better place than it was yesterday. I aslo realize that the world of today is fucked up because of what happened yesterday so I know where to work at on making tomorrow better.
The bible has written in the book of revelations " the Babylon that was, that is, and is soon to be." During the time when that verse was written who was the Babylon that was, and is? That requires some understanding of history to understand what will happen to the Babylon to be.
Mark twain wrote- something to the affect " history doesn't repeat itself but it sure does rhyme." Another person stated history doesn't repeat itself but it sure does echo.
My favorite quote from the philosopher Santayana to paraphrase stated:
"Those who don't learn from the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat it."
There is much in america's history that many of today don't know, acknowledge, and understand. And that is the only point of what some were making in this thread although the train jumped off the rail from the talk about white woman being used for the reparations payment. I'm definitely getting my reparations payment and then some from the many beautiful and fun-loving white woman I have met but I digress.
My last statement on this to drive the point home ans I'll bring it up to recent American history in the last decade so people of today can understand exactly what I'm trying to convey.
The horrific terrorist act that happened on 9-1-1 had its roots long seeded from some of the events that took place during what was documented in the History channel's program on congressman Charlie Wilson and the movie of the same name with Tom Hanks.
The American government spent a lot of the tax payers money to study
what happened on 9-1-1 and all of the security lapses but never on
why it occurred in the first place and to prevent it from happening again. America's foreign policy was a big cause of the problem and sadly we haven't learned anything because we never studied history to understand the causes that lead to the effect of hatred against the US and it's an easy cop-out to blame it on Islamic extremist. The question is why are they so upset and motivated to get on planes to attack us? The government still hasn't explained that to the American people but the last scene in the movie "Charlie Wilson's war" it did explain some of it perfectly.
The Babylon that is soon to be will fall victim to the same mistakes of the Babylon that was and is because mankind's nature never changes and we don't learn from the past to understand where we are in the present and it is all connected. The sins of the ******* will be revisited on the sons. The Godfather trilogy even showed that.
This ends my soliloquy on repararion's and America's History.
Thank you for those who read my entire piece,
Sincerely,
acting Professor BBB76