Slavery in US History

[Saved.One.by.Grace]

Demos President Heather McGhee argued that “as a country, in our culture, have any collective acknowledgement that slavery happened” on Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” on MSNBC.

McGhee, in reaction to news that Ben Affleck pressured PBS to cut his slave-owning relatives out of a documentary on him, said, “it is not actually surprising to me that Ben Affleck wanted to do this, because we do not, as a country, in our culture, have any collective acknowledgement that slavery happened, that it built our economy, and that every single one of us around this table. …It doesn’t matter if your family came here very recently. We all, as people living and working in this economy, and this democracy, are shaped by the legacy of racism in this country.”

Read whole article at: http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015...ective-acknowledgement-that-slavery-happened/

But I'm willing to bet a large percentage of her constituency has short-term memory loss with respect to the Holocaust.

 

[HisServant]

Demos President Heather McGhee argued that “as a country, in our culture, have any collective acknowledgement that slavery happened” on Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” on MSNBC.

McGhee, in reaction to news that Ben Affleck pressured PBS to cut his slave-owning relatives out of a documentary on him, said, “it is not actually surprising to me that Ben Affleck wanted to do this, because we do not, as a country, in our culture, have any collective acknowledgement that slavery happened, that it built our economy, and that every single one of us around this table. …It doesn’t matter if your family came here very recently. We all, as people living and working in this economy, and this democracy, are shaped by the legacy of racism in this country.”

Read whole article at: http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015...ective-acknowledgement-that-slavery-happened/

But I'm willing to bet a large percentage of her constituency has short-term memory loss with respect to the Holocaust.

I think a lot of this has to do with 2 things.

1.) That we as a people are not prepared to admit that the way slavery ended was wrong and unconstitutional.. and that it was a tremendous disservice to the Slaves and to the South. I am not condoning slavery here at all.. it was horrible. What I am condemning is the cost of how it ended, both in the war, to the economy and to African Americans that put them at a perpetual disadvantage that is almost impossible to overcome.

2.) That African Americans are really only interested in some kind of check via reparations.. even though it is impossible to determine the scope of what they deserve and whether or not they are actually descended from slaves is irrelevant.

 

[Granite]

She's on to something. This country continues to have major issues with its history, legacy, and the reality of rotten race relations.

 

[HisServant]

And you can blame the democrats for starting the ball rolling soon after the Civil War.

 

[Granite]

That old chestnut's boring, unoriginal, misleading, and completely idiotic.

 

[HisServant]

That old chestnut's boring, unoriginal, misleading, and completely idiotic.

They did have the last two KKK members in congress.. didn't they?

Not saying the republicans are any better... but the democrats are the pros at divide and conquer based on ethnicity and skin color when it comes to politics.

The fact that the Republicans say stupid things but refuse to pander based on race makes them look like racists.. but most aren't.

 

[Granite]

They did have the last two KKK members in congress.. didn't they?

Not saying the republicans are any better... but the democrats are the pros at divide and conquer based on ethnicity and skin color when it comes to politics.

This discussion has nothing to do with party identity, and sidetracking this as an excuse to trash Democrats is a waste of time, misleading, foolhardy, lazy, and frankly ignorant. Your attitude contributes to the problem.

 

[The Berean]

Why does anyone have to "acknowledge" slavery? We all know it's part of American history and it ended 150 years ago. It's in the history books. Whether anyone acknowledges slavery or not it still happened. As for Ben Affleck I'm not sure why he cares if he has slave owning ancestors? It's no indictment on him personally, or at least it shouldn't be. I'm sure lots of people today have distant ancestors who were slave owners, criminals, and other unsavory types. I'm sure I have ancestors that did that did unsavory stuff.

 

[HisServant]

This discussion has nothing to do with party identity, and sidetracking this as an excuse to trash Democrats is a waste of time, misleading, foolhardy, lazy, and frankly ignorant. Your attitude contributes to the problem.

No... the attitude that one party keeps pandering to minorities to secure their votes is VERY applicable.

Any politician that mentions race and does not speak of citizens as Americans and all should receive equal opportunity and protection should be run out of town as a racist.

 

[Granite]

If you want to discuss race, do, but if you're just seeing this as a chance to take cheap potshots, you're part of the problem.

 

[The Berean]

Racial discord has been a major theme throughout American history. It's 2015 and we should be able to address difficult questions and respond with action. Minorities continue to lag behind in terms of income, education, political representation, and plain simply opportunity. The question is what do WE as a society do about it? It's painfully obvious that government mandated "playing field leveling" has some positive and negative affects. IMO change starts with individuals. If everyone took it upon themselves to make changes in their local communities then change would begin to snowball. But people changing their views, beliefs, and biases is not an easy thing to do.

 

[Granite]

Racial discord has been a major theme throughout American history. It's 2015 and we should be able to address difficult questions and respond with action. Minorities continue to lag behind in terms of income, education, political representation, and plain simply opportunity. The question is what do WE as a society do about it? It's painfully obvious that government mandated "playing field leveling" has some positive and negative affects. IMO change starts with individuals. If everyone took it upon themselves to make changes in their local communities then change would begin to snowball. But people changing their views, beliefs, and biases is not an easy thing to do.

I do like your take on things and your attitude but I'm not so sure thinking good thoughts and staying in our own (often segregated) patches will really make much of a dent. Maybe I'm being cynical.

 

[The Berean]

I do like your take on things and your attitude but I'm not so sure thinking good thoughts and staying in our own (often segregated) patches will really make much of a dent. Maybe I'm being cynical.

I'm talking more about action and not just "good thoughts". People should make it a point to befriend people who are different from them. I live in Silicon Valley as an engineer and I work with men and women (yes women can be good engineers!). I work with white people, black people, Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Vietnamese, Thai, Brazilians, and Persians, Hondurans just to name a few off the top of my head. I work with these people, have lunch with them, and do social activities outside of work. I love food and nothing gets me more excited than tasting new food. :chew:

I also encourage people to travel abroad to see what other cultures are like. Exposure to other cultures and seeing the beauty in other cultures kind of forces people to see other people are three dimensional flesh and blood people.

 

[Granite]

I'm talking more about action and not just "good thoughts". People should make it a point to befriend people who are different from them. I live in Silicon Valley as an engineer and I work with men and women (yes women can be good engineers!). I work with white people, black people, Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Vietnamese, Thai, Brazilians, and Persians, Hondurans just to name a few off the top of my head. I work with these people, have lunch with them, and do social activities outside of work. I love food and nothing gets me more excited than tasting new food. :chew:

I also encourage people to travel abroad to see what other cultures are like. Exposure to other cultures and seeing the beauty in other cultures kind of forces people to see other people are three dimensional flesh and blood people.

Again, all good stuff. But it relies on people seemingly making these improvements spontaneously (or getting off their butts and booking a plane ticket, assuming they can afford travel overseas). I guess I'm not seeing any practical, real-world solutions or changes.

 

[shagster01]

If everyone took it upon themselves to make changes in their local communities then change would begin to snowball.

I think this applies to nearly everything. This is why I support local government so much more than Federal government.

 

[The Berean]

Again, all good stuff. But it relies on people seemingly making these improvements spontaneously (or getting off their butts and booking a plane ticket, assuming they can afford travel overseas). I guess I'm not seeing any practical, real-world solutions or changes.

It's true not everyone can travel overseas. But many can visit other parts of the country that have diverse populations. Here's a funny side story. My wife has a lady friend who is from India. She moved to Silicon Valley for work and to get away from so many Indians. Yet soon after she arrived here she started complaining that there too many Indians here as well. :rotfl:

As for people changing that is not always easy I admit. But how else will race relations improve if people themselves don't change? What has to happen for lives of minorities to improve? We'd had government mandated affirmative action for over 50 years and minorities still struggle. What else as a society must we do? :idunno:

 

[Granite]

It's true not everyone can travel overseas. But many can visit other parts of the country that have diverse populations.

Folks sure can, I'm just wondering about the desire to. Put it this way: an educational they're-not-monsters "Destination Dearborn!" tour of that particular Detroit suburb wouldn't exactly appeal to the Tea Party crowd, would it? No. It'd appeal to people who already have nothing to fear--people, in other words, who are already clued in.

As for people changing that is not always easy I admit. But how else will race relations improve if people themselves don't change?

We could stop listening to demagogues and charlatans, for one. We could try to do our own thinking, for another. But there's no clean, simple solution to any of this.

What has to happen for lives of minorities to improve?

We could stop treating them like second-class garbage, how's that?

We could stop using police to murder them with impunity. We could stop throwing them into prison at a disproportionate rate. Whites could stop acting so defensive when it's pointed out--correctly--that this country's racial relations record stinks, largely because of bigotry from whites directed towards minorities. We could stop trotting out the "affirmative action doesn't work all the time so why bother" line of thought.

Maybe.

 

[The Berean]

Folks sure can, I'm just wondering about the desire to. Put it this way: an educational they're-not-monsters "Destination Dearborn!" tour of that particular Detroit suburb wouldn't exactly appeal to the Tea Party crowd, would it? No. It'd appeal to people who already have nothing to fear--people, in other words, who are already clued in.

Ok.

We could stop listening to demagogues and charlatans, for one.

I agree, the Rush Limbaugh's and Jesse Jackson's of the world need to shut up.

We could try to do our own thinking, for another.

A lot of people do their own thinking/ And this where I was getting out before. Changing one thinking leads to changes in one's actions.

But there's no clean, simple solution to any of this.

I agree it will be a long hard road to rid our society of racism.

We could stop treating them like second-class garbage, how's that?

Can you be more specific? I'm a minority and I don't feel I have been treated like second-class garbage by anyone.

We could stop using police to murder them with impunity. We could stop throwing them into prison at a disproportionate rate.

This I agree 100%. Police must be held accountable and punished severely for crimes against citizens.

Whites could stop acting so defensive when it's pointed out--correctly--that this country's racial relations record stinks, largely because of bigotry from whites directed towards minorities.

Ok, white people it's time for YOU to step up.

We could stop trotting out the "affirmative action doesn't work all the time so why bother" line of thought.

It does work but it also has unintended negative effects as well.

Maybe.

Ok.

 

[Granite]

Can you be more specific? I'm a minority and I don't feel I have been treated like second-class garbage by anyone.

Incarceration rates. Increased unlikelihood of callbacks to prospective employees with ethnic-sounding names. Casual racism that's considered "humor" by cretins. Racial profiling. Police brutality. Denial by whites that anything like white privilege actually exists. Dismissal of the Civil Rights movement. Voter ID laws. I could go on.

Ok, white people it's time for YOU to step up.

Well, it is.