So you want to talk about history..one of my fave subjects..
Positively AKA is right, the Civil War was all about politics. The south was ticked off because Abe wasn't going to allow any
more slave states in the union (meaning eventually,
maybe slavery would die off in the existing slave states, but not necessarily). That would mean that non-slave states would start to gain more voting power (if you don't know why, watch some
School House Rock ) and eventually the slave states would lose most of their battles. It wasn't just about slaves, but lifestyle: slave states were plantations and agriculture, non-slave states were industry. Abe was smart enough to use slavery as a vehicle to unite the common man of the north. While slavery wasn't his big concern, I'm still happy he choose to fight to do away with it.
Regarding slavery in general:
Slavery existed forever before the U.S. The big issue w/ the U.S. is that we are the first country (since the Pharoas enslaved the Hebrews) to limit slavery to one race. I am not advocating any kind of slavery, just sharing the facts. Most slavery was to pay off debt, sometimes the person got screwed (see
Gladiator, whatever... but it
didn't matter what their race/ethnicity was. So, a black enslaved to a Roamn could earn or buy their freedom. An interesting, although sad, fact to add here:
When the big slave trade to the U.S. started, many of the slave were captured and sold by (black) Africans. Sometimes just for the money, other times to keep their own tribe out of trouble, it depends. (I learned this in my (high school) freshman World Cultures class, in case you were wondering about its accuracy. I don't recall the name of our text, though).
Once the U.S. got slaves, it couldn't stay in business without them, at least not all of the plantation owners. (They couldn't have
paid that many people to do that much work and still prospered). So keeping slaves was,
from THEIR viewpoint (not my beliefs) a necessity to their (selfish) well-being. And then you have the issue I mentioned above w/ the voting power.
So, do I look at race when choosing a mate (or date)? No. I'm a white American (German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, and tiny bit Native American) and my boyfriend considers himself either white or Latino, depending on when you ask him. (he's both Italian and Hispanic in origin, and a tiny bit of German, and was raised 'white'). I think it's a shame that race has to be an issue, but I'm not going to act like it
isn't either. I know my folks are pretty open-minded, so I hope that if I ever brought home a guy of another race it wouldn't be an issue, but I don't know if it would or not.
I am about to say somethinig that will sound stereotyped, and it is, ..I don't think it is always true, but often it
is which is why it's a stereotype in the first place.
Most of the relationships between black men and white women which I have witnessed seem to consist of the black man treating the white girl like trash. Someone talked about strong women earlier in this topic, and I kind of think they are right.
On the flip side, when I see white men with black women (which is much less common around here) they both seem to treat each other with a lot of love and respect.
-(End of my stereotypes.)
As Mikki said, please don't hold me (a white person) accountable for the actions of people who may or more than likely may
not have been part of the problem (most of my known ancestors have only been here a short time). Yes, black have been treated s****y by U.S. society, NO, it's not okay, and YES I would like to see it change. Just as I would like to see society embrace all sexes, races, genders, and backgrounds. It's a long battle, but staying bitter isn't going to help any of us get past it. Don't forget the past, but don't dwell in it, either.
(stepping of the soap box now
)
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SilverTurtle@greekchat.com
Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter
[This message has been edited by SilverTurtle (edited May 24, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by SilverTurtle (edited May 24, 2000).]