>From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
>On 7/30/01 7:49 AM, "Olga Bourlin" <fauxever@sprynet.com> wrote:
> > The black experience has proven to be more entrenched due to its length
>of
> > time (hundreds of years), and due to unique particulars. There may be
>some
> > similarities (of wrongs experienced by blacks to those experienced by
>other
> > ethnic groups) ... but there's fundamentally no comparison:
>
>
>This is simply wrong, and shows a lack of historical knowledge with respect
>to the New World. You do know that blacks were not the only slaves in this
>country, don't you? Why haven't you included the Filipino slaves from the
>18th century? Why haven't you included the Chinese, who've been in this
>country almost as long as the blacks and were essentially treated as badly
>until well into the 20th century? And these are just some easy examples,
>if
>you study, you will find many more.
>
>Lots of ethnic groups suffered from slavery and persistent abuse in this
>country, many well into the 20th century. You only think of the blacks
>because they are the only good example of a group that didn't "correct
>themselves". If the other "underclasses" managed to right themselves
>within
>a generation or two, why haven't the blacks? The superlatives that you
>heap
>on the tragedy that the blacks suffered are equally applicable to other
>ethnic groups in this country; you either aren't aware of it or you are
>discounting their herculean efforts.
I sense either legitimate ignorance, or intentional trolling. I'll give you
the benefit of the doubt and assume the former. "Lots of ethnic groups
suffered from slavery?" Not quite. There were, of course, indentured
servitude and unfair exploitation of labor by business which were not
race-based. But non-black "slavery?" Simply, no. There may have been the
odd individual slave of any ethnicity (as there continue to be to this very
day), but only blacks were bought and sold into life-long slavery as a race.
Indentured servitude and the like were based upon economic status. If you
had no other means of income you worked for free for a certain finite period
of time, after which you were free to go - usually with a pocket full of
change for your trouble. Slavery was based on race only. If you were
black, you were chattel - regardless of whatever skills or abilities you
possessed. And for the great majority there was no buying your way to
freedom. As long as you were black, you were property.
Concerning no other race than blacks did the law expressly provide that the
members of that race had "no rights" which any white man was bound to
respect. There really is no dispute about it if you know the least bit
about early US history.
-Zero
Life is good. Refuse to die.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:00 MDT