why shud we apologize for slavery, i don't understand?

[Skittles!]

People just don't have common sense

[brooksieb]

As individuals - no. As a collective of people, and as a nation - a resounding YES!

I cant believe you guys are voting no for this. Just goes to show how little the majority of people have not changed in the most essential human rights. It's very sad.

why shud we? the tribal chief leaders of africa actually sold their men to the west, if they wernt so greedy africa might of been saved. so blacks need to apologise to blacks

[Skittles!]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

[Skoffin]

A race should apologise for the actions of similar skined people before their time when every other race apologises for the actions commited in the past. Also, if we want to go on about apologising about past oppression, when are men going to apologise for the mistreatment of women since the dawn of the human race? Now that is something pratically all races have in common.

[brooksieb]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

still their fault, there adults, they shud behave like adults and stop whining that they got tricked

[brooksieb]

A race should apologise for the actions of similar skined people before their time when every other race apologises for the actions commited in the past. Also, if we want to go on about apologising about past oppression, when are men going to apologise for the mistreatment of women since the dawn of the human race? Now that is something pratically all races have in common.

yer we need to be saying sorry to women and the jews but not just us, the egyptians and all that too

[brooksieb]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

and they did have money look at the old kingdom of mali led by mansa musa they were one of the most advanced nations of the world they had money, they were african.....

[Skittles!]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

still their fault, there adults, they shud behave like adults and stop whining that they got tricked

No, you do not realise that Money was possibly a new environment for them. Trading and sharing their food is what tribes used to do, not involve money. Money made them greedy and so, in turn to gain money, they sold their men into slavery, not knowing what the Imperialist nations were going to do to them.

Put yourself in their shoes. You get sold to an Empire to work for them. You don't get paid, you don't get equal rights. You are allowed to marry and have children, but your children get taken away from you. Your whole life you are a slave.

Slavery might not mean much to you now, but many Africans will not forgive the actions of European and American powers due to slavery. Apologising is the easiest way to heal rifts.

Even if the government apologises, that may not mean a lot to you and you may not care. But it will mean a lot to the families that were born from slaves.

See the recent apologising in Australia to the Stolen Generations. That apologise, though does not heal the pain, it heals the rift in the different cultural backgrounds and so helps the country develop.

[Skittles!]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

and they did have money look at the old kingdom of mali led by mansa musa they were one of the most advanced nations of the world they had money, they were african.....

They were Kingdoms, not tribes. There is a difference, believe it or not.

[amazzony]

Should the Germans have to apologize for Adolf Hitler?
Next.

Actually, they have apologised

[brooksieb]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

and they did have money look at the old kingdom of mali led by mansa musa they were one of the most advanced nations of the world they had money, they were african.....

They were Kingdoms, not tribes. There is a difference, believe it or not.

yes of course, there kingdoms.....like i already sed

[brooksieb]

And what made the African Chiefs sell their men to Europeans? Oh, I dono, maybe the concept of money, brought by the Europeans.

Deny it all you want, but the slavery trade in Africa kind of got started by the Middle East and Europe.

still their fault, there adults, they shud behave like adults and stop whining that they got tricked

No, you do not realise that Money was possibly a new environment for them. Trading and sharing their food is what tribes used to do, not involve money. Money made them greedy and so, in turn to gain money, they sold their men into slavery, not knowing what the Imperialist nations were going to do to them.

Put yourself in their shoes. You get sold to an Empire to work for them. You don't get paid, you don't get equal rights. You are allowed to marry and have children, but your children get taken away from you. Your whole life you are a slave.

Slavery might not mean much to you now, but many Africans will not forgive the actions of European and American powers due to slavery. Apologising is the easiest way to heal rifts.

Even if the government apologises, that may not mean a lot to you and you may not care. But it will mean a lot to the families that were born from slaves.

See the recent apologising in Australia to the Stolen Generations. That apologise, though does not heal the pain, it heals the rift in the different cultural backgrounds and so helps the country develop.

well at the end of the day they chose to make that desicion they choose to pay the price, you cant say nothing you know there gonna suffer if you sell em as slaves, it aint our fault to be honest any nation or race wud of done exactly the same thing just we got lucky, they should of advanced through the ages and africa wud still be strong and resourceful

[Skittles!]

well at the end of the day they chose to make that desicion they choose to pay the price, you cant say nothing you know there gonna suffer if you sell em as slaves, it aint our fault to be honest any nation or race wud of done exactly the same thing just we got lucky, they should of advanced through the ages and africa wud still be strong and resourceful

You don't really believe that shit, do you?

The slaves did not choose to make that choice. Where do you not understand that they got sold into slavery. Slavery is not a choice, normally. It obviously wasn't a choice back then.

Here's something: What if the Chief needed that money to keep their tribe going on, as like y'know, the Imperialists took most of their resources and sold it to a higher price, and the tribe needed the money to live. Maybe that a thing to keep the tribe going, and now you'll probably say then they made the choice you don't have to apologise. But guess what, the European powers put them in that place so it goes back to the Empires back then.

And I really don't see why any other race or nation would do those things. The Europeans did those things because they were greedy, racist, sexist, and a whole lot of other shit which seems to go with "superior" races.

[brooksieb]

well at the end of the day they chose to make that desicion they choose to pay the price, you cant say nothing you know there gonna suffer if you sell em as slaves, it aint our fault to be honest any nation or race wud of done exactly the same thing just we got lucky, they should of advanced through the ages and africa wud still be strong and resourceful

You don't really believe that shit, do you?

The slaves did not choose to make that choice. Where do you not understand that they got sold into slavery. Slavery is not a choice, normally. It obviously wasn't a choice back then.

Here's something: What if the Chief needed that money to keep their tribe going on, as like y'know, the Imperialists took most of their resources and sold it to a higher price, and the tribe needed the money to live. Maybe that a thing to keep the tribe going, and now you'll probably say then they made the choice you don't have to apologise. But guess what, the European powers put them in that place so it goes back to the Empires back then.

And I really don't see why any other race or nation would do those things. The Europeans did those things because they were greedy, racist, sexist, and a whole lot of other shit which seems to go with "superior" races.

well we started taking their resources in the 19th century slavery started in the 17th and 18th century, maybe if they'd have advanced a bit more this wudnt of happened anyway why are you insulting yourself? explain that to me, well done ur just being reverse racist i never sed i was greedy, racist, sexist and a whole lot of other shit did i, anyway i dont consider myself european so that was obviously not launched at me but you've just fell out with alot of other people, that consider themselves european, we didnt get rich off the african lands, we actually got rich off mugging spanish ships that the spanish were mugging off the aztecs and incas, well done you've lowered urself for the second time

[Guiscard]

Here's something: What if the Chief needed that money to keep their tribe going on, as like y'know, the Imperialists took most of their resources and sold it to a higher price, and the tribe needed the money to live. Maybe that a thing to keep the tribe going, and now you'll probably say then they made the choice you don't have to apologise. But guess what, the European powers put them in that place so it goes back to the Empires back then.

And I really don't see why any other race or nation would do those things. The Europeans did those things because they were greedy, racist, sexist, and a whole lot of other shit which seems to go with "superior" races.

Although I know where you're coming from, this is a little naiive Skittles. Peoples throughout the world have embraced slavery, and enslaving other tribes was a part of African society before the onse tof Colonialism, just as it was a part of European society too. People are people, and people will exploit others for gain. It isn't so black and white a case as 'Europeans introduced money and created slavery'. Slavery may have increased dramatically, and colonial intervention may have created a climate for such evils to flourish, but whilst it is wrong to assert that European colonialism wasn't majorly at fault it is equally as wrong to assume such actions were entirely to blame.

And, as usual, Meggy has the right opinion on this. We as a 'people' don't need to apologise, but institutions and governments who survive today do, I think, have a duty to apologise for past actions. If a company abuses it's workers horribly under one CEO and then gets a new CEO, can that CEO say 'I don't need to apologise... It was my predecessor.' I think that, in general, apologies by governments and organisations can go a long way to help racial harmony and to show that we really have learned from past actions. Its not neccessarily a bad thing.

[Skoffin]

well at the end of the day they chose to make that desicion they choose to pay the price, you cant say nothing you know there gonna suffer if you sell em as slaves, it aint our fault to be honest any nation or race wud of done exactly the same thing just we got lucky, they should of advanced through the ages and africa wud still be strong and resourceful

You don't really believe that shit, do you?

The slaves did not choose to make that choice. Where do you not understand that they got sold into slavery. Slavery is not a choice, normally. It obviously wasn't a choice back then.

Here's something: What if the Chief needed that money to keep their tribe going on, as like y'know, the Imperialists took most of their resources and sold it to a higher price, and the tribe needed the money to live. Maybe that a thing to keep the tribe going, and now you'll probably say then they made the choice you don't have to apologise. But guess what, the European powers put them in that place so it goes back to the Empires back then.

I think he meant some africans chose to sell off other africans, not some africans chose to become slaves. And don't forget some of those sold off were caught by tribal enemies, and the ones that sold them saw it as a way to get rid of competitors while making profit.

And I really don't see why any other race or nation would do those things. The Europeans did those things because they were greedy, racist, sexist, and a whole lot of other shit which seems to go with "superior" races.

That's not a racial trait, more of a 'humanity trait' in general.

[brooksieb]

and thats being racist

[heavycola]

you should all read what meggy and guiscard wrote IMO

[Gregrios]

There's something more important than an apolagy. That is for those of you that feel guilt over slavery. Let your present actions make clear that your sorry. If people don't learn any lesson from what they did wrong, then an apolagy is worthless.

There's no sense in dwelling on the past. Just learn from your mistakes and make your actions show that you are sorry and you have learned from your mistakes.

[soulreaver]

you can't apologize for something you didn't do...you can't change history with word but you can learn from it...

[Frigidus]

There's something more important than an apolagy. That is for those of you that feel guilt over slavery. Let your present actions make clear that your sorry. If people don't learn any lesson from what they did wrong, then an apolagy is worthless.

There's no sense in dwelling on the past. Just learn from your mistakes and make your actions show that you are sorry and you have learned from your mistakes.

Good call. Don't say "I'm sorry", just be a decent, non-racist person. Simple.

[greenoaks]

slavery is wrong.

how dare wealthy people exploit the poor & uneducated, working them to the bone, not providing decent health care, not feeding them sufficiently and making them beg for loose change.

oops sorry, i was thinking of low income earners.

[brooksieb]

yer im not racist or discriminative or anything like that i just dont understand why we shud be apologizing

[Elijah S]

I think the greater issue is: Why is it unacceptable in the United States for whites to show ANY degree of pride in our heritage?
Why are their NO associations that cater to assisting only whites?
Why are there NO exclusively WHITE TV networks, magazines, etc?

The answer? -We've been beat into feeling as though we should feel "guilty" about being white because a very small % of land-owners 200 years ago imported slaves who were sold to them by other blacks in Africa.

The other reason is our "government" caters to minorities.
Example- In Louisiana ALL of the residents of New Orleans Lower 9th ward (which was entirely minorities) received money after Hurricane Katrina. (A large % of them didn't even have jobs, were involved in gangs, drugs, violence, etc...) BUT the people who were hit directly by the hurricane, rural areas which were predominantly white, have STILL not been awarded anything to cover their losses, and are now being blown off by FEMA (Road Home).

Trust me, racism is alive and well in minority communities in this country.

I'll apologize for slavery as soon as I see the creation of the NAAWP.

[Guiscard]

I think the greater issue is: Why is it unacceptable in the United States for whites to show ANY degree of pride in our heritage?
Why are their NO associations that cater to assisting only whites?
Why are there NO exclusively WHITE TV networks, magazines, etc?

The answer? -We've been beat into feeling as though we should feel "guilty" about being white because a very small % of land-owners 200 years ago imported slaves who were sold to them by other blacks in Africa.

The other reason is our "government" caters to minorities.
Example- In Louisiana ALL of the residents of New Orleans Lower 9th ward (which was entirely minorities) received money after Hurricane Katrina. (A large % of them didn't even have jobs, were involved in gangs, drugs, violence, etc...) BUT the people who were hit directly by the hurricane, rural areas which were predominantly white, have STILL not been awarded anything to cover their losses, and are now being blown off by FEMA (Road Home).

Trust me, racism is alive and well in minority communities in this country.

I'll apologize for slavery as soon as I see the creation of the NAAWP.

Racism is categorically NOT present in modern American conservativism, is it Luns.

This is exactly the attitude I believe Meggy was referring to.