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12 Years a Slave

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by otis thorpe, Oct 21, 2013.

  1. across110thstreet

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    for all intensive purposed?

    big texxx- i love how you only correct morons on the opposite side of the political spectrum than you.

    do you really align yourself with your new best friend on this message board?
     
  2. amaru

    amaru Member

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    Do you subscribe to Pan-Africanism and similar ideals?
     
  3. amaru

    amaru Member

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    You miss understood.

    "Destruction of the black family" is an exaggeration.
     
  4. amaru

    amaru Member

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    That is not true.....no offense but I would suggest you read up more on the Maafa.

    I can give you some books to start with.
     
  5. amaru

    amaru Member

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    What you are failing to understand is that Pan-Africanism (the idea you are alluding to....that all "blacks" should get along and see themselves as one people) didn't become popular worldwide until the 1950s-60s.

    So to say that all people on the African continent in the 1500s would have seen every black person as one of them is intellectually lazy and it shows a poor understanding of world history ( past and present). There are thousands of culturally distinct African ethnic groups on the continent and many more outside of it. There is more genetic diversity within the African gene pool than any other gene pool on the planet.....some have even said that if you "add up all the diversity" in other gene pools, the African gene pool would still be more diverse. I say all that to say this:.......just because they all happened to be "black" doesn't mean that they saw everybody as a "brother".

    This is not unique to Africans......Europeans/whites seem to share the same sentiment. Didn't whites kill their own with their 2 world wars? Why couldn't they just get along.....afterall they are all white? (See how ridiculous you sound?)

    Also......you do know that Indians were taken to the Caribbean as "indentured servants" in the 1900s correct?
     
  6. FranchiseBlade

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    Please give me some names of books I can check into. I've read books that state what I've said about the cruelty of American slavery. If you have information regarding a dissenting opinion, I'd be happy to check it out.
     
  7. amaru

    amaru Member

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    Before you can really get into the discussion about which kind of slavery was cruel (i.e. American slavery vs. Caribbean slavery etc.) you have to first understand the institution as a whole.

    "American slavery" didn't happen in a bubble. Events that occurred in other slave holding nations affected slavery in America (and in some cases politics in the U.S.)

    500 years later is a good documentary that talks about the "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade" as a whole, not just focusing on what happened in the U.S.
    "From Columbus to Castro: History of the Caribbean"- Dr. Eric Williams
    Not explicitly about enslavement, however Dr. Williams does a good job explaining how it occurred in the Caribbean.
     
  8. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Member

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    As Jaygoogle mentioned the issue of the legacy of slavery in Brazil and the Caribbean is as big of an issue as it is here in the the US. As Americans we are necessarily more focused on what happened in the US and that legacy while Brazilians are more focused on the legacy in Brazil.
     
  9. FranchiseBlade

    Supporting Member

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    I'm absolutely not trying to justify slavery in other nations at all. I'll try and find 500 years later.

    Thanks for the heads up.
     
  10. Honey Bear

    Honey Bear Member

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    All I know is, the sisters love me.
     
  11. davidio840

    davidio840 Member

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    Do you have reading comprehension problems? You wrote an entire post based off of one sentence. Without even reading the rest of what I posted and you call me intellectually lazy? That's quite amusing.
     
  12. itstheyear3030

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    Of course, but Jaygoogle was arguing that:

    (a). American slavery was more cruel than slavery in other countries.
    (b). Slavery between people of the same race is somehow less severe than slavery between people of different races.
    (c). In conjunction with (b), most historical instances of slavery have been between people of the same race.

    He is clearly trying to downplay other examples of slavery in order to make American slavery seem like the worst the world has ever seen. It may well have been, but there's no way to know for sure. It just strikes me that "every other slave had it better so African Americans are justified in not getting over slavery" is just a poor an argument as "every race has been enslaved so get over it."

    In fact, at least with the latter argument, the premise is probably true by default, whereas it is quite dubious in the former.
     
  13. itstheyear3030

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    It depends on what you are talking about. If you mean in terms of governance, such as the African Union, they yes. Nothing wrong with regional agreements. If you mean the spiritual-destiny-all black people are in this together stuff, then no.
     
  14. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Member

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    I'm not going to argue whether slavery of African Americans in the US was worse than other slavery but that doesn't diminish the importance of the issue. Too often these arguments amount to that African Americans should just get over slavery that ignores that slavery for the vast majority of African Americans is a defining issue. If the institution never existed there isn't likely to be an African American community or at least one that is profoundly different. For that matter the US and World history would be profoundly different if not for European enslaving Africans to develop the New World.
     
  15. itstheyear3030

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    You didn't, but Jaygoogle and others did so I responded. Please do point out to me where I said American slavery wasn't a big deal or that it has no modern day repercussions. Maybe you should direct your comments the the folks that actually post that instead of me.
     
  16. otis thorpe

    otis thorpe Member

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    north american slavery is a construction of itself. its not like europeans looked at blue print and said we will make our slavery like this.

    the first recorded african in the western hemisphere was a free man who came with ponce de leon. i learned that from henry louis gates just yesterday, he was on chris hayes's show. gates says, he was looking for the fountain of youth like ever

    i've mentioned this before in another life on this site, racism comes from slavery. slavery was an economic institution and then racism follows to justify its existence.
     
  17. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    Please quote where I say this.

    I did not say this. This is what I said.

    Which is kind of the point.
    That is NOT my argument at all.

    This is not a rhetorical question. What other examples are as cruel and specific as this one?

    American slavery unlike a lot of other forms of slavery throughout human history had nothing to do with a person being in debt, poor people of lower class, religious reasons OR just the losers of a military squabble. It was targeting a race. That's what I meant by specific.
     
  18. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Member

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    I was making a more general comment regarding the directions of these debates. Anyway you are discussing other incidents of slavery and I am just pointing out why the focus here is on the history of the US and not on slavery in other countries and cultures.
     
  19. itstheyear3030

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    1. Context clues. When you keep asking for examples as cruel as American slavery and saying certain kinds of slavery are worse than others, you're clearly implying that American slavery was particularly bad or possibly the worst example of slavery in human history.

    2. If the after effects of intra-racial slavery are more easily overcome in relation to interracial slavery, does that not imply that it is less severe, at least post slavery, in some abstract way?

    3. So then what is your argument if we take your premise to be true that American slavery was exceptionally "cruel and specific" in relation to other examples of slavery? Because it seems to me that you're setting it up as a rationale for the problems that face the black community today.

    4. I named an example: Brazil. Every other destination country in the Atlantic slave trade. There are tons of other examples; just wikipedia it or look for scholarly articles. Also, FYI, chattel slavery, which is what the Atlantic slave trade was, has been around since the dawn of time. Americans were not the first or the last to practice it.

    Finally, I'm not even sure what to make of your implication that there was some inherent bias against Africans in particular than made Americans want to enslave them. You do realize that before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade, there were was a sizable Native American slave population? It was simply a matter of what was easily obtainable. Sure, racial justifications were used, but that only arose after the practice became widespread.
     
  20. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    Again. I have never said that. I'm not sure how much more clear I can be with "I'm not saying one form of slavery is worse than the other..."

    Not really because every country has it's social issues regardless of history. Every country has a issue with say racism, slavery (that targeted a race) just magnified that.

    What is the black community? I never understand this all encompassing black community as I've mentioned before in a thread long past.

    And Brazil still has strong discrimination, and again the Atlantic Slave Trade was targeting Africans. Which is relevant since we are discussing slavery in the USA.

    As for Chattel slavery again...which example points to a race being targeted? I know what that is but again, where are the interracial examples of chattel slavery? If there are so many examples of it then surely you can bring me one.

    Where did I say there was a bias? I'm just talking history man, whether they were easily obtainable or not doesn't change the fact that they were targeted. It would be silly to say they just randomly thought that africans would make great slaves

    Yeah and there were European (and later African) indentured servants that worked in the colonies (who still their freedom in general) but it really doesn't change that Africans were targeted and then dehumanized. It really doesn't make it somehow better either and I don't see why it is bought up. It happened regardless. Obviously if they were met with guns and death upon trying to enslave Africans it would have never happened, but it's a moot point and alternative history.

    So lets go back to #3, where you ask what is my argument.

    The argument is that USA Slavery really doesn't have many examples you can really compare it to. Just saying that it is Chattel slavery and has been done since human history and leaving it at that is kinda like saying all civil wars are similar.
     

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