Theological Journal – September 5 A Thumbnail History of Race Relations in America – and Why It Matters
In case it’s STILL unclear,
And then 60 years ago white people made it "legal" for black people to vote, and to be "free" from discrimination. But angry white people still fought to keep schools segregated. And closed off neighborhoods to white people only. And made it harder for black people to get bank loans, or get quality education or health care, or to (gasp) marry a white person. All while another 2-3 generations of white families got to grow and pass their wealth down to their children and their children's children.
And then we entered an age where we had the technology to make PUBLIC the things that were already happening in private-- the beatings, the stop and frisk laws, the unequal distribution of justice, the police brutality (in the south, police began as slave patrols designed to catch runaway slaves). And only now, after 400+ years and 20+ generations of a white head start, are we STARTING to truly have a dialogue about what it means to be black.
White privilege doesn't mean you haven't suffered or fought or worked hard. It doesn't mean white people are responsible for the sins of our ancestors. It doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of who you are.
It DOES mean that we need to acknowledge that the system our ancestors created is built FOR white people.
It DOES mean that for [the majority] Black [and Brown] people are at a disadvantage because of the color of their skin, and
It DOES mean that we owe it to our neighbors-- of all colors-- to acknowledge that and work to make our world more equitable.
BLACK LIVES MATTER!
That post starts with:-
ReplyDelete"400 years ago white men enslaved black people."
Which, apart from being a wild generalisation, is entirely incorrect, totally wrong. Whoever wrote that should learn some history.
e.g. It wasn't 400 years. Between 1502 and 1866 (when America banned slavery), of the 11.2 million Africans taken, only 388,000 arrived in North America, while the rest went to (Portiguese) Brazil (mostly), to the British and French Caribbean islands, and to Spanish territories.
It wasn't the white man who enslaved them; the white man bought them as a commodity from African chiefs, who were glad to be rid of "trouble-makers", criminals or conquered enemies - most of whom would otherwise have been slaughtered. Arab slavers had been travelling across from Zanzibar to West Africa, perhaps from the time of Christ.
And America used Irish slave labour before African.
Read this -
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Guineas-by-Elspeth-Huxley/dp/B01M9FLZ2S/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=four+guineas+huxley&qid=1599422822&s=books&sr=1-1