No one is saying that it didn't have a lasting impact. What they are saying is that it is time to look ahead and try to move forward from the past and stop letting it have an impact. Let me give you an example. I am not from America. I do however come from a country where there was slavery and I do come from slave stock. The 'creoles' in my country recognise our past. We are proud of who we are. But we do not let what happened to our ancestors affect our lives. We never used it as an excuse for the level of poverty that we were forced to endure. The only thing we did was to try to find a way out of it. And my parents worked their fingers to the bone to do something to get out of it. It was hard work, and damn hard work, that allowed the creoles to make something of their lives and the greater majority have succeeded. My parents were two of those people. They were some of the many who decided to migrate and thankfully, we migrated to Australia. They got here with less than $1000 to their names and immediately took to working their fingers to the bone, working 2 to 3 jobs and within a few years, had purchased their first ever home. And it never stopped until they retired. Those who stayed behind who wanted to do something with their lives took to doing so. No one blamed the slavery of the past on their current predicament. I hate to imagine what their fellow creoles would have done to them if they had. It is hard work who makes people succeed. Looking back and not looking forward does not help anyone, least of all yourself. As I said, no one is saying the state of many African Americans is not impacted from its past. The problem is that many are letting the past affect their current lives and, sadly, their future. There are thousands, upon thousands, of African Americans who have looked only ahead and worked hard to succeed. While they recognise their ancestors and their past, they have not let it designate who they are now.. today. They pushed ahead regardless, and that would make their slave ancestors more proud than wallowing in self pity and recrimination. That is what we creoles did. We made our ancestors proud by succeeding and in another way, we told the racists in my birth country at least, that we could not be beaten and we would not be restricted by the past. If we face racism, so be it. More the loss to that racist individual. The goal should be to show the racists that you are better than they are and have the ability and capacity to be better than them. And many have done so. As I said, it is time to stop letting the past have an impact. Bleh..
You are exactly correct. Slavery has had a MAJOR impact of Black and White relations in this country and will continue to do so in the near future. Many of these people who are arguing with us right now are probably flying Confederate flags on their cars right now. As long as people (white people) tell African Americans how they should think, then we will always have a problem. We should value their history and the fact that African Americans still view modern issues within the context of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and segregation.
So why let anyone tell you how to think? On the contrary, there are probably a lot of Americans who want African Americans to think that they can still be held down and subjugated. Why give in to those individuals? Why not prove the bastards wrong and actually be successful? Isn't that better than letting the 'whites' get you down and tell you that you aren't worthy? What of those African Americans who have managed to get out of the rut with hard work and sacrifice? Do you think they let anyone tell them how to think? Or did they push ahead regardless of the past? Of course they should value their history. They should not, however, let their history dictate who they become in the future. If you are going to only concentrate on the past and not look forward, then you will become what you are designated by others. They would honour their history and their past more by actually striving to succeed in life, contrary to those who are struggling to keep them down with racist ideology. It is time for blacks to turn the tables and tell the racists "see?" as they succeed. And doing that takes hard work. And many are willing to do the work to prove the racists wrong. Stamping out racism and such ideology takes hard work. I think proving them wrong and slapping them in the face as you work your way to the top is the best way to stamp it out and to show them that you won't be held down. Instead of settling, turn the tables and move forward.
Agreed, except for the fact that you stated African Americans are being kept down by racist ideology. It seems to me you are attempting to state that many African American who place importance of the slave past in their lives are more likely to be racist. This is not true. Almost African Americans are concerned with their past, and they should be. Just as white people learn about their history, so should black people.
"Just as white people learn about their history, so should black people." And they do. What do you think they dont know? That is why it is called history. Do you want us to go backwards? People have to find their own way... and what exactly do you want? The worst thing to tell a child is that he cannot be successful.
You failed to see my point. Many African Americans are letting the racists keep them down by their ideology. As I said before, no one is saying they should forget their history and the horrors their ancestors had to face. They should remember it because their ancestors faced those horrors and fought like hell to give their future generations a chance. But that does not mean hating whites or others now. What it does mean is that they, the current generations, should continue that fight by striving for whatever success. How can I put this?.. The past should be used as a motivating factor in the path to self success. It should not be used as a means to hate or to be divisive. That is not what people like Martin Luther King Jnr worked so hard for.
I agree racism is a major obstacle in the betterment of black white relations, but the fact remains there are racists on both sides, black and white. No one is proposing to dwell on slavery, but to keep everything in perspective. It was civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X that forced the government to recognize the injustices done to them. I believe that African Americans and other people of color have to follow in the same vein as these civil rights visionaries, we are far from achieving fair treatment in America. Agreed. Blacks and whites both need to recognize that slavery was a blot on the history of this country for hundreds of years, and we need to educate people about this. African Americans, unfortunately, have had a very bitter experience in this country for the majority of their time here. We need to recognize this.
Er - sorry to intrude on the white/black thing, but I saw this about the Reverend Wright and wondered what to make of it. I present a snippet thereof, and a link.
That is politics pure and simple...it is like those fake wrestling matches...but people suck it up.....
This country (America) is only 231 years old. We inherited slavery from the British and fought the bloodiest war in our history to get rid of it after less than 100 years. True, it took another hundred years or so for blacks to enjoy full equality, but even that has been in effect now for over forty years. Longer than I've been alive. Now you may describe blacks time here in America as "bitter" (not that word again!), and not without cause. But tell me, where is there a large population of blacks anywhere in the world doing better than blacks here in the USA? Sure, the US may not be paradise, especially for blacks. But, we're trying, and our nation is not deserving of the damnation wished upon it by Rev Wright.
As Madanthonywayne rightly pointed out, your claim of of "hundreds of years" is WAY over the top. And most of on both sides recognize and agree it has been a bitter experience. But so what? Are you going to allow the bitterness of the past stand in the way of a better future? It sure seems that way!! To keep regurgitating it over and over is just like two people in their nineties in a home for old folks still arguing about their divorce 60 years ago! For Pete's sake - get over it and move on. Sure, put some serious effort on overcoming inequality - BUT where it still exists today - not over the wrongs of long ago. Sheesh!!!!
It's too much of an effort on my part to attack the startling simplicity of the above reasoning. Instead I leave the immense irony to the image below, and add a caveat that people with so little perspective on history, and a tendency to regurgitate advertising jingles as they go about their mundane lives, should remain silent. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
yeah and i think you get picked on a lot. but you have to rise above that and not confuse the issues or think that a handful of people who pick on you defines a whole group. :sleep:
when i was in high school my the sections of the school were given letter codes in section kk someone was found painting a third k. most of the people at my school and in the community thought what he did was ok.
They thought it was ok? you asked them and interviewed MOST of the people? some would easily conclude you have biases yourself...and they would be correct.
Blacks will not enjoy full equality in this country until, at a minimum, the main centers of power and wealth are no longer under the control of white people who grew up under a system of overtly racist laws benefiting them. minimum. That will take at least another twenty years. Then we can start on the problem of inherited wealth and attendant privilege.
And exactly what are you referring to? So you want to take away inherited wealth? I have no inherited wealth myself but man that idea is pretty scary. How much money should people have?
