here's the problem. many of you guys only look at this through the view of a african american because the op is about blacks. were blacks the only slaves in the u.s.? no. what about asians? or the other races that were slaves? just because their not vocal about it and remind everyone every day doesn't mean it didn't happen. most of you guys probably will never know how it's like living in horrible conditions. i'm giving you a different perspective, whether you want to accept it or call me ignorant or stupid, i don't really care. if it wasn't obvious, my post was directed at the asian slave market. hint, parents selling their daughters to be prostitutes.....
You have no idea what you are talking about. Please let me know of all these black people that feel they are owed something? Sadly most of your post is ignorant of recent history, not just what happened hundreds of years ago. We know several things about education. We know that most of it happens and is influenced by what happens at home, and not in schools. There are cases where that changes, but that is people who have to work harder than others do. We also know that education levels tend to continue. Again this is general and of course there are plenty of examples where that isn't the case. But when there are people who are the first ones in their family to attend college it is a big deal. Those are just general trends regarding to all races. Now if we look at race relations in this country here's what we see. Africans who were enslaved were separated from those that the spoke the same dialect as themselves. They weren't allowed to learn to read or write. It was forbidden to them. Even when slavery ended, they weren't allowed to attend the same schools, forced to go to inferior ones if they were allowed to go at all. So rather than establishing generations of education to draw on and establish as pattern they were forbidden from doing so. That went on until the 1950's. Yet even at that time most blacks in this nation were not allowed to participate in Democracy and vote. It wasn't until the 1960's that America truly became a democracy for all. The fact that you try and pretend it's all about something that happened 100's of years ago, shows that there is a lot left for people to learn. Finally the video had absolutely nothing to do with anybody believing they are owed a thing. So please enlighten us as to where all the people are who believe they are owed something.
Surely there was Asians selling daughters as slaves, and Asians faced other discrimination besides. However that doesn't mean Africans weren't brought in wholesale as slaves.
chow yun, i see your point. asian slave trade is a tragedy that is under appreciated in this country for it's callous, horrible extent. slavery is commonly associated in this country with african americans. since this is a thread about obama, running for president of the us, it will obviously highlight american slave history. this means almost exclusively african americans. saying 'it was worse over there and they don't complain' doesn't necessitate that anybody who had treatment that was bad but not bad enough also must not complain. americans just don't hear as much about international atrocities for geographical reasons, and also because our culture is extremely self-centered. it's extremely ignorant to think that : a) somehow african americans today 'shouldn't complain' about being hereditarily disadvantaged b) simply because worse human rights violations have occurred, that the lesser but still atrocious violations are any less vile i'm 100% caucasian and don't think this should turn into a race/slavery appreciation thread, but you said some insensitive things in your original post. comparing tragedy is no method of ethical evaluation.
It is a shame that the vdeo with Obama's message of hope and change was turned into a racial resentment thing by TJ Chow and Bigtexx. As far as I can see the black history of slavery was not the focus in the video. As a white person I view the Civil Rights Movement as not only as leading to necessary change in US society, but as a hopeful metaphor of how our society can have other successful movements for change like health care for all. Chow, I assume there are some major successes in Asian society that people look back on as a source of inspiration that further positive changes are possible. Maybe some day a movement for near elimination of selling young girls into prostitution can be one.
Absolute correct. That is not what the video was about. The video was too sappy and over the top for me to really enjoy it. But it wasn't about asking for a handout, or slavery or anything like that.
I've lived in a few 3rd world countries... I agree, they were sort of wiped off the map and brushed aside. You don't get my point though. You can blame globalization, corruption, local government policies (non-democratic governments), powerful nations, capitalism, unaccountable corporations, IMF and World Bank policies………the list goes on and on. Though my point was that no one race had been singled out like they were……that's all I'm saying....to say that's not true is being ignorant to me.
I agree. I couldn't get myself to rewatch it to be sure my initial impression was correct. I guess it is also true that there is great resentment that it is hard to imagine a similar music video with McCain in it.
It wasn't originally about race. But conservative texxx or TJ interjected race into it for some reason.
Like I said before, with Obama, race is going to be inevitably a hot topic and as long as it remains a topic it will hurt him in this election. The Clintons know it. The GOP knows it. My question is that does Obama know it?
Yes, of course. Obama downplays it as much as he reasonably can. How do you think he became senator from a big state like Illinois. I doubt if Colin Powell could downplay race matters any more. It would be instructive to see how TJ, Bigtexx types would respond to a mention of the Civil Rights Movement if Powell was the GOP candidate.
Powell wouldn't be up there doing his wanna-be MLK imitation and showcasing his deep voice with nothing of substance coming out of it. Hussein Ubama is all sizzle, no steak
But other parties are talking about race, and when the response does nothing but continue the discussion of race back and forth,...then to those watching this back and forth, the conclusion is there is something to it being about race... Why don't we talk about change and spell out exactly how this "change" impacts hardworking Americans?... The more I personally see Obama, the more I see someone who can talk and sound great, but not much more...What is his plan? How is he going to do it? How is he going to pay for it? How is he going to protect us from evil?
These are rumored to be the new Obama campaign brochures... p.s. evil doesn't really exist according to liberals...shhhh...
