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Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 3286
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 06:29 pm: | 
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Slavery was the black Holocaust, so treat it with the same respect
October 1, 2006
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
Are Jewish people better off today because their forefathers endured the Holocaust? I would think most people would be offended by any argument that suggests that the extermination of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany was a necessary evil. I'm raising this issue because I can't ignore the assumptions on the part of some white people that blacks in America ought to forget about reparations because they are better off today than their African cousins.
The implication, of course, is that slavery actually saved black Americans from the wars, disease, famine and pestilence that have plagued African countries.
Unfortunately, this is not a novel view, nor is it one that has only been expressed by white people.
Nearly a decade ago, the former Nairobi bureau chief for the Washington Post, Keith Richburg, caused quite an uproar when he allegedly told a white colleague that "it was better to have been brought across the ocean in leg irons than to be stuck now in modern Africa."
Blacks routinely portrayed in negative light
That anecdote -- retold across black America -- was included in Richburg's book Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa, and has been a mantra of some black intellectuals ever since. And truly, given the horrific problems Africa has faced -- now being ravaged by HIV/AIDS -- only the most romantic and those on a mission of penance would leap joyfully at the prospect of relocating to Africa.
But a black person at least has an inherent right to make such a statement.
Where does a white person get off telling black people how they benefitted from their ancestors being slaves?
Still, I'm not surprised that at this juncture of the reparations debate, the "there's-no-better-place-to-be-impoverished-than-in-the-U.S." argument has found its way into a mainstream newspaper that reaches countless black households in Chicago and in the suburbs.
I wouldn't address such lunacy except that it was given voice in a newspaper where I have worked for 15 years. That angers me. And it raises a question about the liberties everyone feels they can take when it comes to black people.
I support free speech, but it seems to me that we are slipping back to the time when blacks are routinely portrayed in such a negative light in media that we might as well be back in the '50s. Really, had a black writer argued in mainstream press that Jewish people are better off because of the Holocaust, I don't believe his or her article would have seen the light of day.
It doesn't matter how successful Jewish people are today, the fact is, the Holocaust was an unimaginable tragedy. And for a black person to argue that the Holocaust had some hidden benefit for the modern Jew would have been seen as an obscene and explosive argument.
Frankly, I don't believe it would have gotten past an editor.
Slavery was the black Holocaust, and whether people agree or disagree with reparations, this unimaginable tragedy for blacks should be treated with the same respect. But slavery is rarely treated in the same sacrosanct fashion with which the Holocaust has been treated in this country. Indeed, Jewish people are free to say whatever they want about the Holocaust and slavery. But blacks who dare utter a disagreeable word about Jewish people -- period -- are labeled anti-Semitic.
More important, who can speak with certainty as to what level of progress Africa would have reached, absent colonization by racists and mercenaries?
Who can say the type of society that would have evolved and the contribution that society could have made to the world had the continent not been stripped of its resources?
And I'm not so sure that most Africans who have endured the worst of times in their own land wish to come here and endure the disgusting racial attitudes against blacks that still exist in the Unittes.
Slavery not just free labor
If that were the case, Nelson Mandela, and hundreds of other political prisoners, would have caught the first boat out of South Africa when that country's apartheid government ended and the prison cells opened after 27 years. Instead of South Africans fleeing here, we saw black intellectuals from across the country making the reverse trip back to Africa -- sitting in first-class seats.
I think some of us need to be reminded that slavery wasn't simply a matter of Africans not being paid for their labor.
As noted in The Slave Community, a historical text by John W. Blassingame, slaves were "constantly exposed to the whims and passions of every member of the family; from the least to the greatest, their anger was wreaked upon" them.
Blacks will never have it so great here that they forget the torture, rape and murder of their ancestors who survived American slave ships, any more than Jewish people can forget the torture, rape and murder of their ancestors in German concentration camps.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/78593,CST-NWS-mitch01.article
Related Links:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/77072,CST-NWS-stein29.article
http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/78118,CST-NWS-im30.article |
Nolanfane
Newbie Poster
Username: Nolanfane
Post Number: 28
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 07:35 pm: |
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Good post.
Maybe insensitive asshole Igbogirl should read this.
I don't appreciate her comments about anything on this board to be honest with you.
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Theroneshellman
First Time Poster
Username: Theroneshellman
Post Number: 5
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 07:59 pm: |
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I found your post interesting. But the fact is that as long as black americans continue to look at history through the eyes and perceptions of european misconceptions and myths they will never come to realize the truths about how the african slave trade really changed and altered the course of history for people of african descent and the rest of the world.
1. Africa, is in the state that it is today because of slavery and european imperialism. Capitalism and european industrialization is also a big cause for African nations being underdevloped. While the rest of the world was allowed and took part in industrialization African nations were still caught up in communialism and being exploited by european nations for its natural resources.
2. We know that africans were dealing with irrigation systems before europeans found it normal to bath on a regular basis. The pyramids for example were built with irrigation canals. The Moors brought irrigation to Spain (europe). Ethiopia, and many parts of Africa are witnessing droughts and underdeveloped lands b/c of centuries of european exploration, imperialization and destruction. Yes! they have destroyed irrigation sytems that had existed way before they even came around. Wiothout financial resources the systems could not be replaced, and over time b/c of the damage that was caused to the land it had become unfurtile to produce. So the land dried up, and will take many yrs of cultivation to rebuild.
3. Yes! Africa is plagued with all types of diseases, especially Aids. But let us not forget, or let the world forget that there is much information to suggest from scholars (medical and historical) that these diseases are manmade and were introduced to these populations. Dr. Strecker, who worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) wrote a book called Aids and the Doctors of Death. In it he admitted to have been a part of a test and experiment that got out of control. He also made mention that the original strain was created by the Nazi's and manufactured into what exists today.
Dr. Ben Jochanan in one of his books also makes mention of this doctors books when speaking about Aids and the african population. There were many movies where they showed you how it came to Africa. For instance the X-Files had a show where they mention the Ebola virus, and how it was brought to africa etc. But they were really referring to Aids.
4. As far as what you asked about not knowing what contributions Africa could of made on the world. Honestly, everything that you see here today is a result of african civiliztion. That man that was created in Gods image an likeness that they speak about is the Blackman himself. We brought civilization to this planet and educated all the human families of the earth. Our mark is everywhere. In South America we were there before europeans knew the world was round. How do you think the Aztecs built the pyramids. In Asia there are pyramids. In order to be a ninja your blood had to derive from african ancestory, b/c the study of martial arts, and swordsmanship came out of the temples of Egypt and Kush. Europeans were kicked out of Africa several times and exiled to europe. Read, Iceman Inheritance. Socrates, Plato and Arsostotle all studied under black masters and scholars in the schools of Higher Learning in Egypt. So there is no such thing as Greek Philosophy. Everything they learned was from africans. Alaxander the Great came many yrs later, conquered and stole the knowledge. So when you see blacks joining greek letter organization, it is nothing but the result of the misinformation that most of us have come to accept as black americans. How can the teachers follow the students teachings. And want to do and be like the student? This does not make any sense at all.
5. Whites on the whole, the ones who rule over their race will do everything in their power to keep, not only blacks ignorant of the truth but the whole human race. The fact is that every element that exists within the universe exists within the first man/woman (the blackman/woman). From darkness came light. That darkness is carbon, which is where melanin stems from. Europeans are not from this, so they lack some elements and its b/c of this that their physical compositions react negatively to some of the natural elements of the Universe. For example the Sun, which is a giver of life not taker.Read,Melanin the key to greatness Thats on a physical level. On a mental and pyhsiological level, knowledge itselve was and is harvested within the bowls of black race. And they know this, and love and hate us at the same time for it. They have created nothing, all the knowledge was here before they were manifested on this planet. They create their little secret societies from the information they stole from our ancestors. But its not meant for them to have and this is why they can only cause destruction with it, instead of building from it like our peoiple have done in Ethiopia, Kush, and Egypt. When King Solomon talked about his temple, he was talking about his mind. This man by white peoples standards was the smartest man that ever lived. Yet, he was a black man.
6. I do not want to get into any dialogue about the so-called Jews b/c we know that the original israelites were of african descent. Even King Solomon was leary of these ueopeans who came to him claiming to be isralites. Read the bible closely. Thats all I have to say about culture bandits. I am the original man
eye.bmp (596.0 k) |
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5320
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 10:17 pm: |
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We have the choice of looking at slavery through the Euro-centric view or the Afro-centric view. Somewhere between the 2 is the unvarnished truth. I do have a problem with how sacrosanct the Jews believe the holocaust to be, particularly since so many survivors of the holocaust live in America and are all leading comfortable, affluent lives and the reason Jews were subjected to anti-semitism that lead to the holocaust was because they infiltrated the banking systems of Europe and controlled and manipulated the economy. But I still give a little weight to the idea that slavery was not a random event but was instead a predestination because there was meant be a black presence in the New World of the Americas. As for reparations I think they should take the form of free college scholarships to any black student whose grades qualify them for a chance to continue their higher education. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6501
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 12:49 pm: |
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I think what polemics of reparations ignore is the primary reason why there is any signicant number of Black people (and a small but growing number of Whites) who are stumping for reparations is NOT just because of slavery itself as much as what has happened POST-slavery. If had there been no separate-but-equal, Jim Crow, lynching, redlining, etc. AFTER slavery; this would NOT be the issue it has become.
Also, the US paying reparations to Native Americans and to interned Japanese Americans (during WWII) GREATLY buoys the arguments that are being made by proponents of Black reparations. The implicit unfairness of that will continue to attract many to this cause. |
Va_sis
Regular Poster
Username: Va_sis
Post Number: 134
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 02:42 pm: |
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Abm,
I'm middle road when it comes to reparations. I truly feel that the US should uphold their original promise after emancipation. But at the same time, I know that it would be damn-near a cold day in hell before that happens.
I've always said that reparations should be based on Jim Crow, segregation and lynchings that the US gave the green light.
Why?
Because whites have always found ways to excuse themselves and their modern day families from being accountable for slavery. It's much harder for them to do that with lynchings & Jim Crow |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6503
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 03:05 pm: |
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Va_sis,
I agree you could probably make a better legal argument for lynching and Jim Crow than you can for slavery. |
Urban_scribe
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 104
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 03:09 pm: |
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Slavery or The Black Holocaust will never be treated with the same respect as the Jewish Holocaust as long as Blacks are not united and do not strategically place ourselves to become a powerful and necessary political, economic, and social infrastructure in the USofA.
You ever wonder why Jewish people tell you their religion rather than their nationality? Because: every country they've ever dwelled in has rejected them. Jews don't want everyone to know which country kicked them out. Jews, knowing that they are hated worldwide, have successfully positioned themselves in every NECESSARY field in society.
Education - see the Jew
Medicine - see the Jew
Law - see the Jew
Real Estate - see the Jew
Diamond District - see the Jew
Garment District - see the Jew
Banking and Finance - see the Jew
Entertainment Industry - see the Jew (ask Mel Gibson)
So, regardless of how anyone personally feels about Jews, at some point in the lives they MUST deal with a Jew.
As Blacks, we have not organized on the grand scale that Jews have therefore our causes and our suffering do not command the same clout, attention or respect. |
Nolanfane
Regular Poster
Username: Nolanfane
Post Number: 76
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 03:23 pm: |
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RE: The Jewish Holocaust vs. Black Holocaust
clout, attention or respect.
I agree with something in Kola Boof's "The White Man's Mother". That is the point that if we cannot even recognize and celebrate our own black mother with her blackness intact, then no one on earth will ever respect us.
I agree with her that we are damned for our treatment of what Boof calls our "root motherseed". Without the root as she says the tree can't bear fruit and dies. We do publicly place the white man's mother above our own for all the world to see.
Excuse me to the brothers. I'm speaking on a global psychological level here not directing this at brothers but at us as a people in general.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6505
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 04:18 pm: |
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Nolanfane,
I see this as a vicious cycle. I mean, what does it say of a "root motherseed" whose "fruit" will not embrace it?
Where does this failure to love ourselves begin? Does begin with failing to love our the "motherseed"? Or does our inability to love ourselves result in our failing to love the "motherseed"?
*shrugs* |
Nolanfane
Regular Poster
Username: Nolanfane
Post Number: 79
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 02, 2006 - 04:25 pm: |
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Hey Abm my point was to explain why others do not give us clout, attention and respect. I agreed with Kola's idea that when we raise up the mother of the white man in front of others we are sending a psychological message that we are inferior to those watching us. As Kola points out this is not a gender thing. Black females do just as much glorifying of our master's mother as anybody.
Do you see how that could be the message we are sending that perhaps the Jews are not?
*shrugs*
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Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 3318
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 12:43 am: |
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ABM,
((("I see this as a vicious cycle. I mean, what does it say of a "root motherseed" whose "fruit" will not embrace it?
Where does this failure to love ourselves begin? Does begin with failing to love our the "motherseed"? Or does our inability to love ourselves result in our failing to love the "motherseed"?
*shrugs*")))
The bible says that it is the man's (husband's) responsibility to love the "motherseed" ...and then so on and so on....but THAT'S where it all should begin...with the man. I'm not a religious person but therein lay some of our earliest records and what millions upon millions of people claim to be the truth. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6508
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 01:01 am: |
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Nolanfane,
There are LOTS of things that Jews do that Black might benefit from simulating. One of which being...a LOT of STUDYING.
Tonya,
In one breath you're declaring yourself to NOT be a religious person and in the other you're asserting some alleged Biblical tenet.
If YOU'RE ambivalent about what you believe and practice, how can you expect greater piety of OTHERS? |
Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 3319
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 02:33 am: |
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I think it's safe to insert the bible since it's the basis for the values and principles that has formed the social order of this country since its birth. Whether I'm a ‘believer’ or not is--as I wrote--another story. And, trust me; I'm not trying to get you to believe either my brotha. The bible has guided what and how Americans (especially African Americans) believed and lived for centuries---and so I was basically using it as historical data; that's all. |
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