[Elephant Walk]

Slavery was about capitalism and not racism.

I hope you didn't study economics in college, because it taught you nothing. Slavery is ANTI-CAPITALISM, by every sense of the word. Slavery destroyed capitalism and the economy of the south, because it lowered wages. It did well for the wealthy upper-class, but left most in the dirt. If you have a lot of people you aren't paying, it means that those who are free are being paid very little for their work, because someone could get a slave to do that job for free.

Furthermore, one realizes that the Africans put themselves in this spot because the tribes sold rival hostage tribes to slave traders. Earlier in this trade, the Arabs would take the slaves from Africa to Europe, but Europe abolished the trade.

I think it's important to understand (historical and) social context as everyone is talking past each other. As you were.

I believe you needed to understand the economical and historical aspects of the situation.

The North American racist ideologies arose to reinforce and legitimate the exploitation of cheap, slave labor.

This is difficult to prove. People don't all of a sudden say "oh, these aren't real people so we can enslave them." There must have been plenty of racial feelings waay before slavery began. It may have evolved further to accomodate the slave trade, but it didn't all of a sudden begin to reinforce slaves.