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

All of this discussion over an article that is very scant on detail..

 

It’s totally a thing especially in place where the GOP has infected government. Many many people who I like to refer to as shitheads, (NOT YOU!) help cement it daily

 

I’m not doubting your statement, but do you have data on that migration to Europe and England? We need to keep in mind that Europe is a whole lot closer to Africa than the Americas.

Regarding your second sentence, for some time now I’ve wondered if we had not had the American Revolution would we have not had the American Civil War. If we had remained colonies of Britain, slavery would’ve been abolished before the American Civil War. The colonies would’ve been granted freedom eventually just like every other British colony.

Perhaps the slave states would’ve gone to war with Britain, but the slave states would’ve not only been fighting Britain but also the northern states. It’s interesting to think about.

 

Lemme guess: You know it [because] you [didn't] see it?

 

I remember being taught in school we didn’t treat enslaved people as harshly as they did in Mississippi and Alabama. That had zero affect on my outlook on slavery and/or racism. Still see them both as horrible atrocities.

 

Many did. Those that did however, were not slaves....IN AFRICA.

The ones who were brought here as slaves, were already enslaved, in Africa.

Neither Europeans nor Americans went out into the savanna, or jungle...or what have you, and hunted down free African tribe folk, and packed em on westbound slave ships...

...rather they showed up with merch to sell...and were offered existing slaves, in return.

So IF you want to talk reparation, that gets factored in...and the Indians whose land we conquered and appropriated, must get first dibs anyway...

(...and then let's just kiss our asses good bye, bc we'll be so busy with our heads up ours own asses trying to *fix* yesteryear, that tomorrow will surely arrive today, catch woefully I'll prepared, and devour us whole...).

 

Last item mentioned = "...SOMETIMES the skills learned through slavery, inured to the slaves' benefit...".

[NOT] =/=

"...slavery wasn't all that bad."

 

I don’t disagree with your post at all other than you’re misconstruing my post. Your analogy does not work, because I did not suggest that the teachers in Florida should provide the facts that I mentioned in the context of a “benefit” for the slaves. The examples I gave are concrete and verifiable. It is a fact of history. Trying to say somebody is resilient, is more of a feeling/opinion, not a fact. But that’s besides the point. I don’t think any reasonable person would suggest that the slaves received a “benefit” from bondage. My point is that slavery did teach some slaves certain skills, but the vast majority of Africans just turned from a slave to an indentured servant. From a historical standpoint, that is a good way to show that/ segway into slavery didn’t end with the Civil War.

 

When we're teaching our middle and high school students about slavery, it's important to be balanced and point out all the good things about slavery in addition to the bad things.

 

Nope

 

It’s interesting that your criticism is the supposed “tone deafness” of proposing the idea. It doesn’t relate to discussing the pros and cons of the idea, but merely hearing the idea out loud might be received by some people as offensive.

It seems to me that both the left and the right have their taboo issues. With the left, it’s race and slavery among others; with the right it’s the military among others.

I don’t see how the questions are inherently offensive: “would the African-American population in this country be the same, or would African-Americans who are descended from slaves even be Americans, if there had not been slavery.” However, I am not African-American and so I don’t know how that would be received. Perhaps some of our AA friends here would comment on that. I know @BigCypressGator1981 commented “yikes,” but didn’t explain if that is because the proposition is demonstrably false, or whether it’s merely taking offense at asking the question.

To me, it’s no different than asking would the Jewish population in the US be what it is if there had not been pogroms in Eastern Europe or after that the holocaust. Or, would the Irish American population be as large as it is if there had not been the Great Famine in the 1840s, the population decrease of which through death and emigration Ireland has only just recently recovered.

My natural father was born in a small Jewish village at the far eastern edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, and possibly his mother, were born in the Kingdom of Galicia. If life had been good where they were from, I probably wouldn’t be here.

My natural mother’s family left Ireland just before and during the Great Hunger. If the GH had never happened, I don’t know if I would be here.

 

I think that’s an over exaggeration, but I assume you’re referring to my man, Sen Rand Paul

 

It all a matter of chance. You were the lucky egg.

 

I can guess what you’re twisting and turning to try to do.
It appears you’re no better than the rest.

 

Uhhh, yes, they did. They engaged in a multifaceted slave acquisition strategy, some of which involved the capture of slaves (a practice Europeans had engaged in for centuries by this point). Also, they caused a market for slaves to grow by demanding the slaves.

West Africa

 

These “people” aren’t looking for a discussion. They are looking for one thing…to grab on to a word or phrase you choose and then they twist it to show that you’re a racist white devil.
It’s futile to even try to be civil with these people.

 

I apologize. You did clarify in the second paragraph. I got a little tunnel vision after reading the first one.

 

It’s just that “you” (NOT YOU!) use so many words and phrases all together, all the time that are exactly the words and phrases racist white people use. Birds of a feather flock together and all that…

See how civil I was?

 

My logic is actually remarkably simple: Tell the truth about our history. Don't try to engage in spin such as talking about how slavery gave Black people skills to succeed after emancipation, and if formerly enslaved people didn't overcome their circumstances, that was due to individual failures, rather than systemic oppression.

If you want to argue over affirmative action, find the proper thread. (Of course, your assertion that I want "empathetic White people" to be the ones educating Black students is as ignorant as many of your other posts in this thread. But that specific point is best saved for a different thread.)