New Florida curriculum says slavery had “personal benefits” for slaves

Trying to picture this in practice at the end of a lesson on slavery:

Teacher: "Now who can tell me a personal benefit from being a slave?"

Students: looking around, afraid to say anything

Teacher: "Come on. Surely you can name one benefit of being a slave."

Student: "Umm...they learned about farming?"

Teacher: "Yes - exactly! Well done!"

That would be wild as a student. Would definitely leave the class wondering wtf that was about.

 

Slavery was in full swing by the 16th century, if not before. The 15th century was when America was discovered (not counting the Vikings). On this particular facet of the topic you might well want to change your outlook. Conjectures of hypotheticals proves nothing.

 

I guess the slave owners failed to do a cost/benefit analysis while they were beating, raping, starving, and otherwise grossly abusing their property.

 

Someday, we’ll look back at say whoa, that was a different time and a very different world.
And then these kinds of discussions won’t seem so outrageous.
I mean the country resembles nothing like those days anymore. It’s literally been flipped upside down. But some of you libbies act like we should still be talking about it. I don’t get it.

 

Damn right we should still be talking/teaching about it, it's our history. WTF

 

Not in my estimation; I was referencing what one of the guys on the board said.

..but that aside (as I haven't seen the inside of a classroom in almost 30 years), from whence else this ridiculous notion of 'reparations', if not "you're a victim b/c of what happened to your grt/grt/grt... grandparents..."?

 

Seems this situation is the opposite. Instead of just covering it like history, how bad it was, and how we wouldn't want something like that to ever happen again, we're now trying to put a positive spin on it. It's not the libbies doing that.

 

You should. Because that's nuts and revisionist/false history, even apart from crediting slavery.

 

The original question to which I responded was a hypothetical. I proposed a possible outcome if that counterfactual had been true. It’s open for discussion.

 

What about conjecturing about who is entitled to *reparations*, and against whom, for shit that happened to people, and by people, who have been deceased for >100 years?

Isn't that conjecturing and extrapolating from hypotheticals, to hell and back--and twice around purgatory???

 

Black slaves developed zero marketable skills in the US pre-1865?

They were exploited for labor, but the labor itself was valuable. Which suggests that their work was valuable, which suggests that they developed marketable skills pre-abolition, even if their entire lives were exclusively comprised of the labor demanded by their owners.

It's not like the typical White Supremacist slave-owners wanted to reduce them to absolutely nothing. They weren't all just stereotypical sadistic fictional villains who'd rather watch and inflict pain than accumulate wealth. As a general rule, they wanted their slaves to provide them value. If their labor was valuable, even if they didn't do anything else, there is no doubt they gained skills. The issue is that of exploitation, lack of agency, and abuse. The issue is not that slave-owning White Supremacists at the time would typically rather harm slaves than help themselves.

 

Surprised that they haven't gone so far as to mandate the Louisiana middle school history text book which portrayed slave owners as victims because emancipation deprived them of valuable property. I believe that the book was actually adopted in some Louisiana school districts.
The sad story of southern slave owners, as told in 8th grade history books

 

The skills enslaved persons "acquired" did not help them assimilate post-slavery. The fact that they were denied education and overwhelmingly relegated to manual labor resulted in formerly enslaved persons largely getting trapped into share-cropping, an exploitative system, and poverty. It is beyond dishonest to try and spin any aspect of slavery into a positive.

 

We’ve all been taught how crazy slavery was. It’s NOT a secret. It’s a part of our history. Seems like if anything the libbies would like to look at something from a different pov.
Dancing around it makes no sense to me. And neither does putting it in white peoples faces to make them feel guilty about it. Makes no sense.
There shouldn’t be any changes to how it was being taught. We get it. It was awful and it was a very long time ago.

 

You really didn't need to double down here. It's not always about being factually correct and your first post was the epitome of tone deafness. If you doubt that, imagine how your comments might be received in a gathering of African Americans. Ya think they would look at each other, nod their heads, and say "yeah well then, he's right"?

 

I meant talking about it as if it’s a current event. It shouldn’t be over emphasized. But for some reason, libbies can’t talk about it enough.

 

I specifically am not trying to spin slavery into a positive. I think I've been pretty damned clear on that end. I don't know what else you want from me.

Farming isn't a skill? Can you run a farm?

I'm not saying Black slaves typically became lawyers, they typically did not have that opportunity, and that's wrong. As you said, they were typically forced into physical labor due to lack of education and opportunity.

The point is that they had something to go on. The only way they wouldn't have is if they were confined to a prison where you are prohibited from not only reading, but working and exercising. Pretending that Blacks just kept this "woe-is-me" mentality post-slavery is both untrue and sets a poor example for Black youths in America today. They were dealt a raw deal, and they made the best of the hand they were dealt. That's what you do in America. The law has to do its part too, but the average Black person at the time only had so much influence over that. You do what you can.

 

Certainly the decendents of that vile institution of slavery may (may) consider themselves fortunate. People like say, Clarence Thomas, or Colin Powell (before his passing) and certainly many others, probably millions, but many may not.

I havent read the language of the supposed educational requirements, but if considered in a resonable perspective,
a point could be made that future generations emerged from the shadow of the institution and were able to live a lifestyle that created the OPPORTUNITY to strive for what is often referred to as the American dream.

But indications are that the DeSantis administration wants to simply provide cover for what is an abysmal history of exploitation.

I would also add that this very same thing can and DOES apply to almost every ehnic group.

The Irish
The Italians
The Chinese

And so forth.

Myself I prefer the information straight and to the point. Not sugar coated. Not politicized, not spun.

 

Interesting.

 

Stopped reading here. If you're going to frame your statements in such a way, reading further is beyond a waste.