Why are we still being guilt tripped over slavery?

Why am I still being guilt tripped over something my ancestors did? I can't even criticize the POTUS without being labeled racist. I'm going to discuss two things that people need to know if we're ever going to stop this guilt-tripping and achieve equality.


1. My ancestors were slaves too!

Believe it or not Africans weren't the only slaves. Jews, Greeks, Britons, Thracians, Germans, Berbers, Arabs, Gauls, etc. were all slaves at one point.


Continued below.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by jeh2324]

Because it is used as a tool by politicians.

Because some people believe that because of what some of our ancestors did to their ancestors we owe them a living, not realizing that their ancestors were sold into slavery by their own "people” or that our ancestors were also slaves at one time or another also.

It is an excuse to be lazy and non-productive to some, to others it is an obstacle to be overcome, and to still others it is a non-issue.

reply to post by Nosred

Who is guilt tripping you over slavery? It sounds to me like you are confusing racism and slavery...they are not the same thing. What I think you are referring to is the fact that people still feel as though the mindset from slavery such as racial superiority etc is still around. But as for their being slavery all over the world that is very correct. However, slavery in America was exclusively based on race. There were never any other enslaved groups outside of the Africans and Native Americans.


[edit on 23-6-2010 by acmpnsfal]

In medieval Europe slavery was so common the Catholic Church had to repeatedly prohibit it. From the 11th to 19th century North African pirates raided coastal European towns to capture Christian slaves to sell in NA.


2. Slavery is still going on today!

Why do we care about slavery in the past when it's still going on today? There are more slaves today than ever before.



Continued below.

reply to post by Nosred


As a white man, I have never felt guilty about slavery.

It had nothing to do with me.

All races in the past have been unjust.

Although, I do believe "White" guilt exists.

Of course your probably thinking slavery currently only exists in third world countries right? Wrong! There have been seven documented cases of slavery in the US over the past fifteen years. Why complain about what happened to your ancestors when you can help people avoid that same fate today?


In conclusion-

TPTB want us to fight each other instead of them. Why don't we forget about the past and try to move on to a better future?

reply to post by acmpnsfal


No I meant slavery. I'm talking about people who feel like they're owed something because of what happened to their ancestors.

reply to post by Nosred

If everything were that simple we would all live in utopia....obviously these issue are more complex than just "the tptb are doing it lets just stop" because in order to that people would have to honestly admit a laundry list of things that nobody really wants to.....what is the point of this thread again? Oh yea slavery happens get over it.....but then you go on the defensive right away displaying the same mindset you say tptb want us to have....

reply to post by Nosred

Dont you understand nobody feels that way? The biggest issues that people have mostly deal with how things were done AFTER slavery not during.

reply to post by acmpnsfal

It is not true that whites were not slaves in America. It is just not politically correct to teach it.

www.rockhawk.com...

If you are not guilty of slavery why do you feel guilty?

Slavery, though illegal in the US and many other countries does still exist.

The only reasons I can see why someone might feel guilty about it is if they know somebody who is illegally participating in slavery and are doing nothing about it or themselves are actively participating in slavery. By participating in slavery I am referring to the act of owning slaves not to those themselves who are slaves.

If it is racism you are feeling guilty of the same applies. If you are not actively a racist, you should feel no guilt. Racism is in all forms, it is not just whites hating other races, but all people of all races can be any race against any other race.

Once again I say as long as you are not a participant or know someone who is and do not try to educate them, then there is no reason to feel guilty.

If we stop harping on slavery as it was for 10 minutes we might just notice that we're all just share-cropping for the government.

Wouldnt want that.

reply to post by Stewie

Actually whites were not slaves in the sense that Africans were, they barely even touch on slavery in schools so what im speaking about is what I have researched myself. While poor europeans and africans were indentured servants together....as in they could one day hope to earn their freedom...after a few revolts and big monetary losses the guys in charge decided it made more sense to separate the poor europeans and africans based on race....the system changed africans could no longer earn freedom and europeans that associated with africans were either beaten or given longer servitude

reply to post by acmpnsfal


Since when did you decide how everyone feels? I've met quite a few people who's biggest issues are what happened during slavery era. In this thread I'm talking about what some people call 'reverse rascism' (I don't agree with the term myself).

Being Canadian I get a kick out of it when a black guy pulls the race card. I say, "Do you know where the Underground Railroad ended?" That usually stops them in their tracks. Nope, don't feel guilty in the least.

reply to post by Nosred

You are right it was wrong for me to generalize...but what I really meant by that statement is that since most people dont have a correct understanding of history and of how things really occurred they dont realize that what they are upset about is something that happened later. But im sure there are those that fret over slavery I would not blame them one bit. However I think its pointless.

reply to post by AlienCarnage


That's exactly what I'm trying to get across. If you didn't do it you shouldn't have to feel guilty. Yet there are people out there who will try to place the blame on you simply because you're white.

in Iran you can regulary see Christians used as slaves for fieldworks or sex slaves by good muslims

another exemple if you dont mind, in the mededieval era, regulary, european villages was raided to captures Christians and uses thems as slaves.

In england , the royal family was quielty used to enslave his own people, in France it was a common thing for the royal court to have "serfs" (look on the net about serfs)