Black People Need to Get Over Slavery

[Anonymous]

When most black people wake up this morning somewhere in America, there will be no native tongue they speak, no traditional songs they'll sing to their children as they try to get them to sleep, no oral history of their lineage, and no traditional foods or clothing being worn. If asked what race they are and where they are from, they'll say Black or from California, and worse they'll deny any connection to Africa whatsoever. So, you'd be absolutely right to say so callously and ignorantly, that Black people need to get over Slavery because this is exactly what has been happened upon them.

We are a people with no history or one that has been severed via the Middle Passage. That is a burden that is on the shoulders of all Blacks, not being able to know who you truly are and how you got here other than to assume it was on a ship and an ancestor was just one of the many x marks notched into a ledger rather than an actual human being with a real name. Reverberations of supression of education, denial of basic human rights, and decimation of culture are things that don't just go away. A black person in this country cannot simply forget about slavery or as many school districts are trying to do, re-write history to get rid of passages on slavery completely because it's 'too difficult' for the children to understand and makes people sad and teachers uncomfortable. One cannot erase the past. Every single human being is the product and culmination of the past lives of your relatives and family through the years.

In 2016, I live in a world that is far better than it was for many of my ancestors. There have been many victories won for civil rights, and many firsts for Blacks in this country that have paved the way for others, but that doesn't mean all my problems are solved or this country is now warm and welcoming toward me. We have only to look back at 2014 and 15, to know that racial issues in America are still front and center and it's not just a black issue, that only black people deal with in a bubble, because it involves a whole country and trying to get to a place where we are treated no different because of our skin color whether that be when going to school, finding a job, seeking out housing, dating, treatment by the judicial system, or simply hailing a cab.

This idea that the past should be in the past, is not a clear picture of how history works. For example, if your great great great great great grandfather was a prominent slave owner who made profits through slavery and built up his wealth through such endeavors, the reason an ancestor of his today has such generational wealth is because of slavery and yet, we don't see that denial of wealth because of its source. We see the denial of the fact that the privaledges and opportunities ascribed to such weath were built on the blood and sweat of slaves. However, how would you have had that wealth in the first place or the opportunities that have come out of it if not for that ancestor being a slave owner? Conversely, for that slave there on his land with no education, no means to do or go anywhere, nothing to pass down, it took years of wars, and protests, and a changing of the way a culture thinks about him or her simply being a slave, and then a black person, before they could even get to a point where they could even start on a journey to getting that better education, job, house, etc. Yes, not everyone was rich or a slave owner who was white, but even as a poor white person in the former half of the 20th century, or the 19th, 18th, etc, you would have had far more rights and abilities for upward mobility that were downright denied to people of color for no more reason than skin color. The day slavery ended, we didn't just get to move into society and start our lives and start building our future because we still weren't allowed to, so you begin to see hopefully the process has been a long difficult one that we are still trying to work through.

As a community, black people have a lot of work to do in our own communities. We still have a lot of firsts we need to break through, a lot of work when it comes to education and job procurement, a lot of work when it comes to violence from one of our own, to one of our own. Dare I say, the struggle is real, but that struggle doesn't just end at our doorsteps. Discrimination, racism, denial of rights, still are happening...things that started in that long ago time, that we as a nation as whole are still having to deal with. We cannot forget our past happened because the past is always with us. We cannot change history for the benfits of others and their feelings or when its convenient for others to do so. Yes, one cannot blame a person today, for what happened centuries ago, but rather try to get them to understand that those sometimes negative attitudes and ideas about all of another person's race, came from that place and without change will spread to the generation after. These issues aren't done and over with just because someone who doesn't experience them, declares that they are. Every group who has ever had to fight for their rights, knows that, that its a process and a long one at that.

[Anonymous]

Nobody is blaming white people. Whenever it's a topic on slavery or discrimination, white people always think that you're pointing the finger at them. Really, get over yourself. We can't change history because you got in your feelings. You suck up the fact that your ancestors weren't the nicest people. Yes, there's nothing you can do about it, but acknowledge it and stop putting all blacks into one box. We're not here to complain, this is facts. Think about how our history played a significant role in our position. Same way we acknowledge the holocaust, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, 9/11, etc. We will always be compassionate about other groups who were discriminated against (ex. The Jews), because to this day we still experience discrimination even in the dating world! So for all of the whites who will take offense to this MyTake. Get out of your feelings!

[PurpleTeardrops]

Preach

[hellionthesage]

The problem isn't that its mentioned, its that blacks being slavers and whites being slaves isn't mentioned that is the problem. The fact that blacks started the slave trade thousands of years before white involvement and whites after only two hundred years made it illegal, even while blacks continued be apart of it is also not mentioned so it does tend to come off as if your blaming whites as ou don't mention any one else as being the culprit (despite everyone being guilty) and only act as if blacks where victims (which they where not). Its the selectiveness of it that bothers people.

[Opinion Owner]

Blacks (Africans) owned slaves but it wasn't for the same reason as whites owning slaves. These were tribes, these were empires, African Kings and Queens who had the richest of land in the whole world. They didn't mistreat their slaves, rape, hang and kill them. If they lost a battle, the losers had to be slaves. It was different. Whites use that as an excuse to think that Slavery was just something that blacks were already used to. If you would crack open a legit history book and stop reading this saturated right wing garbage then you would understand that the enslavement of Africans became a race issue and they didn't see blacks as human beings. Europeans went to Africa and STOLE. Those gold mines belonged to the Africans, that was their land! The Europeans took it upon themselves to go into their continent, take their "slaves" in record numbers and have them come to the U. S/South and Central America to work for free.

[Opinion Owner]

If it was as peaches and cream as you say it was then why are blacks still being discriminated against to this day? After all, you disenfranchise a group of people for centuries and just throw them to the world and expect them to be Donald Trump? Not have mental or psychological issues and suffer from poverty? White Americans who have money have old money. Money that the people before them GAINED off of the heavy labor of blacks. Nobody is denying that there were white slaves and tbh, I actually felt bad for some whites during that time because if they were even seen being against slavery, they were killed. Whites had no choice but to be racist. This is why I made it clear that nobody is "blaming" whites. Whites were also indentured servants and worked their way into the New World to gain independence. The "victim" mentality is only used by those low-class blacks who don't want to do anything with their lives. They certainly aren't knowledgable about the history, but a lot of them...

[Opinion Owner]

come from poverty and broken families thanks to Post Slavery Syndrome. As I've stated, nobody ever had an issue victimizing the Jews and crying everytime the Diary of Anne Frank comes on. The holocaust was a horrible horrible thing, but the Jews got raparations for their pain and suffering, the Native Americans got reservations and blacks got nothing. How can anyone honestly hate backs?

[Opinion Owner]

The holocaust was NOT worse than slavery. Slavery had gone on for centuries. The holocaust lasted all of 6-7 years and the Jews got COMPENSATED for their pain and suffering. The Native Americans got reservations living tax free, the Japanese got their country rebuilt.

[myTake Owner]

^^^You should literally write a book on the subject, this is so well said Anon.

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks Take Owner lol. I didn't realize until I reread everything tbat I really went in lol. I'm just sick and tired of that argument and people using that as an excuse.

[myTake Owner]

Anon, you're saying a lot of what needs to be said, and trust me, I appreciate hearing it. I feel like a lot of times there is this double standard where if say a Jewish person talks about the Holocaust and its affects, they are listened to, the struggle, the pain, how they've struggled to move on is honored and appreciated, but if I mention slavery and its affects, well...(filler). Frankly, half the people didn't read far enough into the take to realize to even get to the point that black people cannot solve discrimination or racism on their own AND we have to be accountable for what we need to do as a community. It's like all they heard was, you're blaming white people for everything, it's all white people's faults rather than address the actually issue. I think you also brought up the point that we weren't paid back, or given land, or our property back. We had nothing, no one would hire us, educated us, let us assimilate. Those affects are still reverberating through to today.

[ninetynine]

The only thing I take issue with here is: "You suck up the fact that your ancestors weren't the nicest people." I'm white, but I have Italian and Irish ancestors. My great-grandparents on both sides were immigrants, and likely faced discrimination as well.

Anyway, I think because slavery (and discrimination of blacks) in the US was fairly recent, the effects are certainly still being felt today. Things like the War on Drugs, police brutality, racial profiling, stereotypes, etc., greatly harm black people.

[Waffles731]

You assume that we should get over slavery and it wasn't just Blacks who were slaves, the first slaves in the American colonies were Irish.
We need to remember the tragedies of the past as to not repeat them

[DodgersGM]

Great Take.

I don't think many people understand the long-term ramifications of something like this (slavery). We're always told that, "hey, this is America! Land of the free! You can do anything -- you can achieve anything." So naturally, people take this idea and wonder: "why are black people still hung up on slavery? That's way in the past; they can do whatever they want now -- they can be whomever they want."

But, collectively, Americans fail to realize that equality doesn't magically provide us with opportunity. Sure, we're now all promised equal protection under the law, but generational socioeconimic status and social mobility aren't fluid as we'd like to believe it is. The whole system, as constructed, actually inhibits such changes. I mean, the Emanipation Proclamation was only 153 years. In terms of world history and the scale of time, that's like saying it happened yesterday. Thus, the past choes in the present loudly.

While I don't want African Americans to be further victimized, turning a blind eye to the past -- and more importantly, how the past influences the present -- is not only ignorant, but it's also kind of insulting. I wish Americans could accept the situation for what it is, and take it as a challenge to be overcome rather than an issue to be swept under the rug.

[DodgersGM]

*the past echoes

[myTake Owner]

This was such a spot on response. If I were to ask, which race do you think has to deal with racism the most, or discrimination in America, there is a clear cut answer there for a reason. The so called solution to all our problems seems to always be, just go get an education, go get a job, and things will be great, but if I do those things, which I've done, and the guy at the front desk is a racist or believes because of my race that I'm not qualified, that has nothing to do with my ability, or any skill I could obtain, or anything I could have done to help myself or my people. When skin color is a barrier to success, that is an issue, one that we constantly have to deal with. Trust me, we're ready to move on, and move up in the world, but as with any struggle for rights, other than those seeking rights and opportunity, there is another side that must be part of the change and acquiesce. Our history is a part of us and informs some of how we are as people today.

[hellionthesage]

Where to begin? Africa started the slave trade in conjunction with the middleeast, thousands of years before whites began participating in said trade. It was Africans who helped establish the slave trade, it was Africans who happily enslaved other Africans, it was Africans who sold Africans. Its rather convient that you don't mention that. Also convient you don't mention the 30000 irish slaves who where actually treated worse then the African slaves.(most likely due to British hatred of the catholic irish). You also ignore that their where free blacks who also owned slaves in America. Factor in that it was an incredibly small percentage of whites who owned slaves despite you blaming all of them, and the fact that much of the population came in after slavery and that whites where the last ones to join the slave trade and the first to make it illegal and you really have a terrible argument. Then of course the fact that money from slavery did not traverse the family line for the past twohundred years, in fact after slavery most of those same people where plunged into extreme poverty thanks to the loss of the cotton trade (the rest of the world found other sellers during the low production period of the civil war) and the destruction of railways which is why the American south east is still the poorest part of the nation ie one cannot blame current wealth on past crimes both because its illogical and two because all who participated are long dead ie the sins of the father are not passed on to his son. Now go up to any white person in america and ask them their history their culture and you will get something along the lines of “my dad is in accounting/plumber/etc.” and that will be the extent of their knowledge of their geneology as for culture, that is also long gone. Now lets look at the benefits, your quality of living is higher then it ever was and in fact even as a slave in america you where still not as bad off as you could be, most of the slaves that whent east didn't even survive, the males where castrated and usually bled to death before even reaching their destinations in the middleeast.(fun fact many nations their didn't even outlaw it until the 1970s and one nation not until the 80s).

[hellionthesage]

Your life expectancy is significantly higher here in the americas then in africa, just as your quality of life is actually better. Also, there is not a single people who where not slaves or slavers at one time in history, if we start calculating who's sins are greater you will quickly find that your people are no better then any one else. Whites are made to feel guilt for their part in slavery and have made attempts to rectify that, blacks and the rest of the world have not, so what does that say about you?

[ObscuredBeyond]

Here is the irony: that a group that is descended from slaves and the horrors thereof, would so willingly vote their way into a softer form of it to the descendants of the very lowlifes that bought their ancestors, and argued against the full humanization of said ancestors.

Descendants who, by the way, would also advocate human cloning and abortion, which make the unborn into slaves of a different kind.

Descendants who, by the way, align themselves with the global banking cartels and are also into unconstitutional seizure of land as well as insisting that property tax be the way to pay for many things. Which, in effect, undermines the very notion of land ownership and turns black, white, and all in-between into serfs - not much better than slaves.

A group which then allowed one of these descended rat-men (LBJ) to seduce them with a government sugar daddy, thus leading to the forfeiture by many of them to the very idea of commitment to upholding the family unit. Leading to the instability and rebellion of their children that has led those children to destroy themselves with promiscuity and an addiction to committing crime. Crime and promiscuity which beget poverty, which invites even more crime. Thus becoming slaves to this vicious cycle.

And in that forfeiture, losing the ability to competently homeschool. Thus trusting their kids' education to the same rat-men. Who now groom these same blacks' kids into homosexuality so that they may destroy themselves with it, encourage them to abort their future away to feed the party's coffers via a part-selling chop shop money laundering scam (PP), and promise them the moon and stars - but only if they vote for crooks who give to them by defrauding, extorting, and outright robbing others of their earnings. Thus making slaves of all, black, and white, who are not of the elite.

And perhaps the most demonic irony of all in this: they let these same rat-men lie to them that their skin color leaves them beholden to vote for the rat-men, when said rat-men open the border wide to the very same ancient Arab death cult that made the ancestors of blacks into slaves in the first place, who then don't hesitate to rape and enslave women and children today as they did centuries ago.

Tragic irony.

[Spilla89]

What?

[QuestionMan]

I'd like to build on what @OrdinaryGentleman said.
Black slaves were actually freed earlier than slaves in the Russian Empire since there it lasted till 1861. My people survived 2 man made genocides, created by the Communists and Nazis. I'm talking about both the Holocaust and Holodomor.
Faced discrimination till this day and you know what they did? They kept their heads up high, and they tried to make something of themselves. That's actually the reason my dad immigrated from Ukraine to Canada and I followed suit.

My dad started from nothing. He worked factory jobs until he eventually found a job at an accounting firm and eventually started his own practice. It took him several years but eventually he was able to bring my paternal grandparents, my mother and I to Canada.

That is why I believe referencing slavery as the source of your problems is inexcusable. My ancestors have been through far worse but they persevered and I'm now a part of the middle class. Hopefully I'll be a part of the upper class eventually, that is my goal.

[QuestionMan]

There are always people of every race that have troubles and get out there and make something of themselves.
Just look at DeStorm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QTaTK7xyt8

[QuestionMan]

Here's another video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNfH41-LI4w

[SayYes2Courtney]

Probably way too much said already but here goes. I think it would be easier for black people to move beyond the past if white people weren't in such denial of it. All your points are so well articulated that it's impossible to deny that white people continued to deny rights and equal treatment to blacks right up to the mid 20th century yet the average white person emphatically states that we haven't mistreated blacks since the civil war. It's just not true. When white people whisper the question, why haven't these people integrated with us in all these years? They never stop to think that it is because white people wouldn't allow it. Of course, most black people have integrated and for that matter white people have mostly integrated with blacks too. It's not a one-way street. Aside from denial on the white side and long held anger on the black side, we still have a law enforcement culture who are so afraid of black men that they kill them in extraordinarily high numbers, sometimes unarmed. White people are in denial about this too. Instead of accepting that the cop was wrong when he fired his weapon 11 times into the back of fleeing unarmed black man, they spend hours looking up FBI statistics on how many white guys are killed by cops. It's stupid. If we would just sit down and acknowledge the legitimacy of each other's experience then I believe it'd do wonders in the healing department. I've personally witnessed cops pulling over and harassing black men for no reason before while on dates or in the company of black men. It happens to professional black men as well as lay black men. People on both sides should drop the strategy and positioning and just be real about the realities and low common denominators of each race and culture. We both have plenty about which to be ashamed.

[myTake Owner]

I wish I could shake your hand. This: " they spend hours looking up FBI statistics on how many white guys are killed by cops." When will there ever be acknowledgement that wrong is wrong? On one hand people freely admit that racism and discrimination and profiling does exist and it does affect black people, but then two seconds later when a black person mentions it, oh, you're just playing the race card even if there is a video, even if there is evidence of cover ups, even if its proven by someone's own words that what they did was wrong. In order for me to often make a point about ONE person being a racist, people want me to stand up and say, not all white people are racists, no I'm not talking about you, no I'm not blaming it on slavery, no there are good white people... its ridiculous. Sure, this isn't 1805, but some of the same issues back then are still being dealt with now and wiping clean a history book isn't going to tidy that up. It's a festering wound that continues to fester.

[myTake Owner]

I can work on my own people and our own issues all I want, but I then would ask the white community, how are you dealing with racism and the racists among you? You're absolutely right, in that, it's a two way street for which there must be accountability on both sides. I have been more than impressed by some of the answers by what I can only assume are white people, who get it. I'm not saying you are a slave master, and the cause of all my problems, I'm saying we're both the products of our history, one that is still reverberating. We've both got a lot of work to do, but instead of just screaming about nothing on both sides, we have to figure out how to actually honestly and truly be as equal as we have all been promised we should be able to.

[hellionthesage]

Blacks where not mistreated any more then any one else. The irish where slaves, sold to america and the west indies by oliver chromwell, why don't we talk about that? Why don't we takl about how the irish where mistreated and osticised, or the Jewish, or the Italians, or the Asians, or the Native Americans, Or the Mexicans or literally anybody who was not a British protestan? All groups where treated poorly, the question is what did those groups do to assimilate into the population that blacks are not? Thats the question. Also no, whites are self flagellating themselves over slaver just as you are just as all whites are ironic since it was blacks who enslaved the blacks and sold them, in fact they along side various groups in the middle east started the slave trade thousands of years before white europeans got involved, so why are they allowed to forget their part in it? Why are they allowed to pretend they are not guilt of the same crimes? since apparently we have guilt by association

[myTake Owner]

@hellionthesage Do you feel guilty about something that happened long before you were born, because I don't. You know what's exhausting though, talking about something that is happening to me personally and having someone say well what about everybody and everything else in teh world that you didn't mention. When you're sick in your bed, and are talking about how bad you feel, do I then ask you to mention every other person out there who has cancer or is sicker than you or to stop talking about what's happening to you. That is what a lot of people do. They take over the subject and try to make it about them and their problems, when I'm talking about a specific situation. So rather than deal with the fact their are racist amongst you, you just change the subject and talk about everybody else. I have mentioned that blacks need to be accountable so this is hardly a post about blaming all white people...

[Anonymous]

First of all, good take. Nice that you feel so passionately about this issue and have written it out very well. Now, I don't know that it's that anyone wants black people to get over slavery, as much as it is that no one wants to be held accountable for horrible acts that they didn't commit. Also, almost every group of people have had their share of struggles and trials. I think many times people tend to be under the impression that only black people have ever lived through a terrible time period. The Hebrew people were slaves for years. The Jewish people were part of the Holocaust. Catholics and Protestants were persecuted. There was the Rwandan genocide. Everyone has had their share of troubles, so for one group to demand that theirs was worse for years and that everyone should cater to them because of it is where the prolems come in I think. At some point you have to stand up, look forward-not forget, but set your sights on a goal for a better future and work toward achieving that goal. The media is also great about pushing their own personal agendas and driving a racial wedge between the people and putting a fan to those fires to distract people from the larger issues and picture. Please don't misunderstand, what the black people had to go through was terrible. It was heart breaking, and horrible. But every group has lived through something like that. Never forget, but we all have to stop pointing fingers and casting blame. We need to instead join hand and hand and work on moving forward to make this a more loving world for future generations.

[myTake Owner]

Thanks for reading my take. It wasn't about casting blame on current people who were not part of slave trades and such, but rather pointing out that these things did happen, and their affects are still being felt, so being told that the past is the past, isn't a full story, nor is that how history works in relation to the present. The things we are, what we do, how we are treated by society all came from our history. For me, its never been about standing on a pulpit and preaching that black people had it the worst as compared to others, because that's not a competition anyone should be proud to win, but I can only speak about who I am, and my struggles and the struggles of my people with any authority. I can't speak to the Holocaust or Jewish slavery other than from the outside in. I came to a close with the take by pointing out the very thing you mention, whereas, yes we have problems with society, and racism, but we also have a responsibility for our own current actions.

[Opinion Owner]

I understand, and I agree with that. Like I said great myTake, and I appreciate the respectful response. Some people get so offended, it's nice to be able to discuss without anger and it helps people to hear with the intention of understanding as opposed to hear with the intentions of just responding! Great job and keep it up! = )

[myTake Owner]

Thanks. I really did appreciate your opinion and have no problems debating people or talking about a subject with someone who has clearly read the take fully and has some points to be made other than trolling or negativity. Happy New Year to you!

[Opinion Owner]

Thank you and Happy New Year to you as well! 😊And yeah, reading some of these comments this morning from people, I'm not sure that they even read past the title of your myTake. People are crazy!

[Anonymous]

There were many times more Whites brought to America as Slaves than there ever were Blacks. And the White Slaves were treated much worse!

The judges of Edinburgh Scotland during the years 1662‑1665 ordered the enslavement and shipment to the colonies a large number of rogues and others who made life unpleasant for the British upper class.
Register for the Privy Council of Scotland, third series, vol. 1, p 181, vol. 2, p 101.

the Scots‑Irish have been enslaved longer than any other race in the world's history. Most governments do not teach White Slavery in their World History classes. Children of modern times are only taught about the African slave trade.

Today, not a tear is shed for the sufferings of millions of our own enslaved forefathers. Two hundred years of White Slaver in America has been almost completely obliterated from the collective memory of the American people.
"Who wants to be reminded that half ‑‑ perhaps as many as two‑thirds ‑‑ of the original American colonists came here, not of their own free will, but kidnapped, shanghaied, impressed, duped, beguiled, and yes, in chains? we tend to gloss over it... we'd prefer to forget the whole sorry chapter..."
Elaine Kendall, Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1985.

In 1659 the English parliament debated the practice of selling British Whites into slavery in the New World.
Thomas Burton, Parliamentary Diary: 1656‑59, Vol. 4, pp. 253‑274.

In the British West Indies, plantation slavery was instituted as early as 1627. In Barbados by the 1640s there were an estimated 25,000 slaves, of whom 21,700 Were White.
The Island of Barbados, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, p. 528.

Black people owned other black people.
Charleston County Probate Court Records, 1754‑1758, p. 406.

[Anonymous]

mzellen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/slaves.jpg

Pretty much

[FakeName123]

Would if I think they both should get over it? Same applying to native americans, jews, etc?

[AleDeEurope]

One happened less than 20 years ago. The other happened more than 100. People today remember 9/11 like it was yesterday, African Americans don't even have a grandparent that went through slavery and act like they're still victims of something they didn't happen.

That picture is pure ignorance. I'm so disappointed people upvoted this, it's ridiculous...

[myTake Owner]

@AleDeEurope Why do we "still" celebrate the 4th of July? Not a single person was alive to remember that or the war that resulted in it's creation, that is still alive today. History doesn't just end on event days. You and everyone else is the product of history... the reason you speak the way you do, live where you do, eat what you do. None of this was just magically created when you were born.

[AleDeEurope]

There's a difference between celebrating something or remembering something, and acting like victim about something you never suffered.
I never said we should forget about slavery, but today's black people shouldn't act like they need an apology for what other white/black people did to other black people.
Moving on doesn't mean forgetting.

[Opinion Owner]

People will always remember holocaust. Kinda biased as Stalin killed millions of people, but Hitler had messed up ideals, and lets not forget jewish people were hated by many. We never tell them to just get over it. Even though there aren't many people who can remember that time.

[myTake Owner]

@AleDeEurope Where about have I, a black person, asked you for an apology for slavery? I am allowed to discuss the very thing that has led to people of today, discriminating against me and my people, today. That is not playing a victim. The fact that it is 2016 and we're still talking about racism and discrimination should indicate to you that slavery and its effects didn't end when the last chain was cut loose. There is a VAST difference between playing victim and holding the racists and those who discriminate who are absolutely in the wrong to do what they are doing, accountable for their actions.

[thatkaruguy]

one happened for one day almost 20 years ago. the other happened for over 300 years almost 100 years ago and effects last strongly today still.

[jacquesvol]

Slavery CAN NOT be forgotten: too many fortunes were made by using and abusing slaves. It's effects still run deeply through America.
The descendants of many slave owners are still rich because of it. The descendants of many slaves are still poor because of it. Rich vs poor, one of the great divides in the USA.

[jacquesvol]

An excellent take!

[fun-weird-guy]

Many rich people come from people who never believed in slavery and many poor came from many that never believed in slavery

[jacquesvol]

@fun-weird-guy
Indeed , true for post Civil War immigrants , not for all those before.

Don't forget however that many civil rights were only obtained by colored people during the 1960-s. That's a hundred years after the end of the Civil War. Quite a long time. And in some Southern states it isn't yet evident.

[menina]

Great Take!

When I read the title, I thought you were going to say that black people should forget slavery. But when I actually started reading it, I understood that it was the opposite of it.
I agree with everything you said.

And I have to admit that I almost cried when I read it. I'm not American and I don't live in the US, but I can relate to these problems you mentioned because I'm black.

[myTake Owner]

Thanks. What I found the most interesting about 'the black experience,' is that it really varies dramatically country to country. I was discussing racism with a Canadian friend and she was in shock how big of and issue it was in the States. I've talked to Black people, physically black, but that are more Latin, or Jamaican, or some mixture from other countries, and again, same issues, different issues, different ways they refer to themselves and others, other subsets of black culture. Some people see skin color and think its bad and don't think beyond that which is the sad part.

[menina]

You're welcome.

That's true. I heard that in Canada things are different, people seem to be more open-minded and tolerant.

I had my fair amount of bad experiences here, I could talk for hours about it.

But it really depends on where people live, there are places where skin color is not an issue.

[elew4too]

I love this MyTake. What distinguishes experiences like the holocaust from experiences like slavery is that the former was an unfortunate experience for a group of people who had been already been established for thousands of years whereas the latter was an unfortunate experience for a group of different peoples who became a new people as a result of the unfortunate experience. Our genetic makeup, our geographic distribution, our culture and our economic state, just to name a few, are all premised on slavery. Telling black people to forget about slavery, therefore, is like telling Jews to forget about Abraham and the Torah. It's telling black people to forget about the origin of themselves.

[myTake Owner]

Precisely. In no other culture are people told to get over or forget their past, as horrible as it might have been, nor do they have schools trying to literally take history out of history books to suit so they don't have to deal with it. We are the products of our past. The reason you look the way you do, talk the way you do, live where you do, is a part of that.

[FakeName123]

Instead of blaming whites then maybe you should blame your fellow blacks who actually started selling your ancestors.

In all honesty though - this shit is a lot of mimimi. If you define your and your ethnicities identity over what people did in the past, then I am sorry for you as a person.

The history is there to learn from it, the future is there to prepare for it and the present is to live. But what you are doing here is mimimi the history still affects my present to live. No, it doesn't. The only one who affects it negatively is yourself and your mindset. Stop crying a river and move on.

[queenmariereigns]

Native Americans sold other native Americans too to whites and non-native Americans but everyone only wants to point out that blacks did it when other races did too

[queenmariereigns]

People are so quick to victimize native Americans when native Americans sold their own people to whites and foreigners too

[Shuge]

How stupid do you have to be to not realize some of the most financially successful in this country benefited from the money generated by free labor i. e. slavery?
We're still catching up after their 500 year head start so I'd say we're doing pretty good & not "crying a river" like you say we are.
In fact, the racist tone of your opinion suggests that if most black people were rich & most white people were poor you'd cry a river yourself.

[FakeName123]

@queenmariereigns

Nowhere did I say anything else. I am also critical towards the native americans as they - just like blacks - were victims, but also have their own responsibilities and faults of the situation (the wars among several tribes preventing them to work together for example).

Doesn't make my statement any less relevant though.

[FakeName123]

@Shuge

Believe it or not, the very majority of rich people did stop at nothing. And only the top 1% really benefit from that. The rest are in the same boat. So you can look and move forward or keep wallowing in self-pity and victimhood.

[KawaiiPie67]

yep, a lot of people don't know about this!

[Shuge]

@FakeName123 Who's wallowing in self pity? Just because I'm not stupid enough to forget what evil people are capable of on a national scale doesn't mean I'm sitting around dong nothing. And how are we in the same boat? ONE generation ago, my parents had to worry about being lynched. What the hell were your parents doing? Even today i'm 20x more likely to be shot by police than you.
Why are you so crazy about forgetting slavery anyway? It's not a stain on the fabric of america it IS the fabric of america. It's the basis of all the privileges & luxuries whites enjoy so if you think we're going to forget that you're on a serious trip.

[FakeName123]

@Shuge

"What the hell were your parents doing?"

- How about my parents and grandparents being monitored? Hearing a "click" in the phone whenever they were listened
- How about my grandfather being an oprhan?
- How about my great-granduncle been in a russian deathcamp and fortunately surviving?
- How about having their land-property being disowned by the government?
- How about my grandfather having to fraud the official stamp to even be allowed to have his own business?
- How about my great-grandfather having to work hard and going home where my great-grandmother offers him some leftover soup already diluted with more water and he says he ate already - which later turns out was a lie as he had health-issues related to starving? Something he did to provide for his 5 children.
- How about the part of my country being taken away where my grandfather was born and given to another country?

[FakeName123]

- How about living only a few miles apart from each other, but not being allowed to visit your whole family, because else you would get shot?
- How about not being allowed to travel to most countries and the few times you were allowed only under strong restrictions?
- How about other nations deciding that all your folks cultural and religious background is to be destroyed?

I could go on. But I am sure your heritage was the only difficult one. Grow up and move forward. The rich have always been rich, becaus they used and abused others for themselves. So don't cry me a river.

[Shuge]

@FakeName123 How am I crying a river? Apparently reading comprehension wasn't in your family heritage. How is it that living in an effed up, 3rd world, dictatorship country & just being a black person in the "land of the free" is anywhere near being a comparable experience? Point made. Plus, I still can't believe you're denying how america became a wealthy nation.

[JRICHARDS1996]

I wouldn't say it is as simple as merely "getting over" it as if it were merely something that could be swept under the rug. Slavery has/had long lasting impacts which still effect the United States to this very day. That said, however, Black people do not need to allow the past to dominate their future and need to adopt a more resilient, productive outlook. I'm Mexican-American and my people had half our nation stolen from us for crying out loud, yet we don't get nearly as much sympathy nor aid as Black people get. The wrongs do not make a right; in other words, a bad past does not give you an excuse to lead a bad present. Thuggery is still thuggery regardless of whether or not you had it difficult.

[myTake Owner]

I think a lot of people, maybe even yourself, either did not read or fully understand my take. They read the title and didn't get much further than that. At the end, I hardly ask for a pity party. I started off speaking about slavery in the same vein that you mention your own history which is to point out that yes there was this major horrible thing, and there are plenty of reverberations and historical issues felt to this day because of it, BUT getting over it, is not what should happen at all, but rather use it and what's currently happening, to fuel the fire for us to do better for ourselves. This however does not close the book on other issues. I don't know about you, but I don't make it a habit to discriminate and be racist towards myself or other blacks or minorities. That's not an issue that I can solve just talking to other blacks. This is part of the change that needs to keep occurring. We need to handle our business and we need to work with others to solve the other end of it

[JRICHARDS1996]

I think I understand you better now. I agree with your conclusion that we need to work together to better ourselves and solve our problems. Excuse me if I'm a bit hostile, but the amount of racism, prejudice, and mockery I've received from Blacks--a fellow minority--makes it hard for me to sympathize with most of them.

[OrdinaryGentleman]

I can see the butthurt comments fly...
Welp, the hebrew-jewish side of me is just like yeah... the Pharaoh's of egypt happened, nazi death camps happened, racism happened all the time towards the jewish population; and surprise, you don't hear anyone using the race card as a means to get what we want. I also wish to point out the fact that a lot of people act as if america is the epicenter for all racism and the problems the world has faced. It isn't. Plenty of cultures have committed crimes against humanity, mine nor yours is any better, but for the love of god stop using things that didn't happen to you as an excuse to exercise BS arguments.

[QuestionMan]

I was just about to write this.

[Mustachekitteh]

In Australia some of their ancestors came from Brittan as criminals. not sure if it's a half n half thing. Just know I don't think some people would want to talk about their ancestors knowing that. Though I never see them using that card to get what they want.

So there are A LOT of other races that were in slaved since humans have existed. In wars if you got caught you either become a slave your be killed.

There were WAY more fucked up shit that went on during human history. Along with some really horrible brutal things.

Plus when America first started out the Irish and Chinese were treated like SHIT. They were seen as lower than dirt.

[GreatnessPersonified]

Sure, we'll get over it when:
-effects of slavery and injustice have been eradicated
-racism ends
-racial slurs end
-racial stereotypes end
-under privileged kids are not expected to be drug dealers, rappers or ball players
(by whom? I don't know, that's the worst part)
-police see blacks as a person instead of a potential suspect

Only then, Blacks can get over slavery.

[myTake Owner]

Did you read the take?

[GreatnessPersonified]

I skimmed it.

[ras144]

You clearly get rid of the opinions that hate on you, don't you?

[jacquesvol]

Sure, we'll get over it when Sandra Bland can drive through Texas without being humiliated, arrested and suicided. www.texasstandard.org/.../

[Krillanr]

Of course many people who had slaves were white, but I've also read that many of those who profited were black themselves, selling off their brethren for monetary gain.

It's a difficult thing really. While slavery was done away with a while back, there are still and likely always will be miserable craps who insult people just for being a different color.

It's a strange dynamic though, if a white person goes to many of the places where primarily black folks live, the racism can flip toward the white person. White, black, brown, whatever, it's all just ridiculous hatred going back and forth between ignorant people.

[myTake Owner]

That is a true shame is it not? I find it incredibly distasteful that someone who has been at the brunt of discrimination would then thrust it upon another. I always make a distinction when I speak about racism that I'm talking about specific people. I think people tend to get their emotions in it and flip out and only hear, "well you're talking about all white people." No. I do not like broad strokes painted about "all black people," so one must be careful. I just hope discussing it will open up the doors of communication for some, so that they can learn from the other side and help educated each other so incidences like both you and I mention, will be far and in between.

[Spilla89]

Slavery wasn't in existence for the most part in the rich north. Americas wealth wasn't built on the backs of Slaves or stolen wealth it was created and built by enterprise.
For the most part most white people in the south are descended from poor white folks not roch slave owners and if you think about it most black folks right or wrong are decended from their white slave owning ancestors.
Black folks shouldn't forget slavery but they should move on from it or they will never be able to progress in America and better themselves and create wealth for their communities and future generations much like immigrants have been doing for hundreds of years just look at how well Asian minorities are doing through hard work and a positive attitude.

[myTake Owner]

It is quite easy to say that blacks should have just gotten their act together, but again, this is why people need to know their history and why it is important not to gloss over it. When blacks were given their freedom, they had no money, no land, no education, and a population which was now violently angry because they had lost their free work force. They did not open their arms and welcome blacks to start businesses or go to school. In fact, lynch mobs and hate groups were formed which routinely threatened and murdered blacks for just trying to get an education or work. You had a justice system which was it's own lynch mob, and blacks who were refused the right to vote and for housing. With education already denied to them, they couldn't do much by the way of upward mobility. We're talking the 50's, 60's, and 70s for the integration of schools and voters rights, and not until the 70s for the finalization of the ERA...

[myTake Owner]

The comparison of minorities, as if to say, we're all the same and have been through the same is ridiculous as it is not a pissing contest, and each group has gone through its own unique struggles and what has come out from it. I also do not understand the meaning behind you saying most blacks descended from their white slave owners because we certainly didn't inherit rights or money from rape of slaves. And again, know your history, because not only was Slavery the very basis of much of the profits in the United States, but Slavery very much existed in the North, but the south simply had warmer weather and a heavier reliance on agriculture, hence they had more slaves.

[Anonymous]

From my observation, the only people that say "Black people should get over slavery" are those who are non-black. Some of you really seem to lack empathy. The fact that you do, contributes to the opinions you make which comes off as ignorant to others.
You simply cannot comprehend how something that happened hundreds of years ago has any effect now.
The fact of the matter is , of course slavery (the action) is over.
But the effects of it is still penetrating and lasting.
There's still so many hate crimes, there's still so many blacks being suppressed, it took us years before we got a black president.
I mean should any of that still be?
We still live in a very racist society.
The black artists in the media seem to get lighter and lighter with every album.
None of this will ever stop!
Can it get better?
Yes.
But will it ever stop?
No.

[myTake Owner]

I absolutely love when commenters don't read a take at all and just start passing around judgements. I caution you in the future, before you start trying to call people out, that you actually read what they wrote so you can form an educated opinion on the topic.

[Opinion Owner]

I consider you white because you are a black woman who is white washed. How could u believe we must get over slavery? I am not here to argue just for discussion

[myTake Owner]

Again, I ask you point blank if you even read the take because it really doesn't seem as if you did... at all because of your responses. Read it and then I'll be happy to discuss it. Until then...

[Opinion Owner]

You're right? I only read the title and I apologize. Your take is beautiful and I agree one hundred percent.

I was mislead by the title.

[myTake Owner]

Now was that so hard? Apology accepted.

[Opinion Owner]

Lol ok you have shamed me enough

[Spermdumster666]

Slavery still exists maybe those that have actually been slaves have the right to talk about it rather than some privileged and entitled Americans.

[Anonymous]

Until we are treated 100% equal to other races it'll never stop and we will never "get over it". The problem is that racism will always exist so long someone is a different race than someone else.

So basically it'll never happen. "Black people won't get over slavery".

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

Since when do people ever get treated 100% like other people. Lol, people get treated different for a multitude of reasons, i doubt the reason you get treated different is because of your race.

[Opinion Owner]

@LiveFreeorDieHard Well I was trying to stay on subject, but since you went there yes so long someone is different than someone else discrimination will exist. "Lol,"