Blacks Oppressed? Yes or No, and Why?

Question

It's not the fact that we are still mad about slavery (which I still am). I think It's the fact that we never recieved any compensation for our enslavement.

Till this day we have of yet to see an apology.

Instead of whining about how we talk about slavery why not just apologize for what your ancestors did.

If whites admitted to the wrong doings of their ancestors towards us and made the government give us what should have been owed to us hundreds of years ago.

you wouldn't here about slavery in America from me anymore.

Answer 1

America will never apologize for American Chattel Slavery because she doesn't believe that she did anything wrong. But as long as she doesn't, how can the true healing begin?



When someone is wronged by another, an apology is necessary to begin the healing process. When one apologizes, that shows the offended that there is remorse on the part of the offender but when the offender refuses to acknowledge that what he did was wrong, how can there be forgiveness?



Black people are always told to "forgive".



How can we forgive a people who do not seek forgiveness? It is a fool who forgives someone who does not want to be forgiven.



If White America wants to stop Black people form complaining, start the healing process with an apology.



Not an apology by individual white people because they weren't here then. But an apology from all three branches of Government for the wrongs of this country.

Answer 2

If my Grandmother was raped and beaten by a German officer in a concentration camp, am I entitled to money for that? Should the tax payers of Germany pay ME for my great grandmothers suffering?



Wow, we went from slavery to capitalism in a blink. What is the real issue here?



I think what happened to your family is terrible and I do not condone slavery, however, I am not the descendant of a slave owner. We do not have a couple of plantations hidden away in the family vaults. We don't HAVE family vaults. I am a very middle class Yankee doodle American guy next door type just trying to make my way in life. I am SICK and TIRED of being told that I owe an entire race a debt because I am "white". My family emigrated here. I owe you NOTHING. Please try to avoid tarring everyone with the same brush. (I was going to delete that word but I know what it means and so does anyone else with an education - I'm sick of Political Correctness censoring common sense.)



Finally, You were hired at a black company because whites wouldn't hire you? It is amazing to me that in the entire U.S. of A not a single white person would hire you. I must have been unconscious when you interviewed with me because I can't recall the interview.... Sorry about that. (There! APOLOGY!!)

Answer 3

Well...Im white but I still know what you mean. We are only a few generations out of slavery and the scars are still there.



I dont know how much issuing a check would help, but there should at teh very least be repairations for the emotional trauma that has been passed through the generations in a lot of families. And changing educational systems that are still segregated by race and class.



My ancestors immigrated here after slavery (except the cherokees, who owned slaves, ironic huh). I still do what I can on an individual basis though. The government dosent care. If you see what goes on with the police in some of these neighborhoods...ugh. Theres profit to be made from the suffering. Its not in their best interest to change it.



I think what really needs to happen, is the rest of us white people need to stop being afraid. When we are afraid to go into the slums and projects, we dont see the truth about what is really going on. Then we assume things. Then we are afraid to hire people from a certain neighborhood. The good ole boy network plays a huge part in this as well.

Answer 4

Okay, as far as I know NONE of my southern forbears were slaveholders. HOWEVER, I am VERY, VERY sorry that your people were enslaved. I am sorry that anyone has ever been abused, overwhelmed and had their lives wasted and ruined for the vanity of some damned self-important rich bast*rd who thought that his life was more important than anyone else's. Please temper your indignation with the knowledge, however, that countless Chinese, Irish, Russians, Greeks, Aztecs, Jews, Mayans, etc., etc., etc. have also been used like animals and tools by the Satanic SOBs who set themselves up above their fellowman. I am a Scot-Irish American. Just pick up a history book and see what the English did to us. Do I think that the English owe me a free ride now? Heck no! I won't forget, though. I'll remember that without vigilence it can happen again. Do you know that in Pakistan, Thailand and other countries CHILDREN are being sold into sex slavery every day. What are you doing to stop THAT!?

Answer 5

Maybe you should stop WHINING about your piddly little "400 years of oppression" and think for a second:



WOMEN have been oppressed for THOUSANDS of years and STILL are being oppressed to this day, as we speak!!



Yes, I am "white", but my family hadn't even immigrated to this country while slavery was still "legal". Quit pointing fingers at the "white" people. Yes, "whites" owned slaves in the south for a long time. However, AFRICANS (aka "real black people") sold each other into slavery. They were the first step in the process!!



At least YOU got to vote first! WE had to wait another 20 years before we got our chance!



You don't hear US whining about compensation, do you? And why the hell are you still pissed about slavery? YOU never lived it, buck-o! To be honest, I'm CERTAINLY not proud of that particular time in our nation's history. I find it appauling. However, it's over and done with. Move on and try to find some way to make the FUTURE better so that NO ONE has to go through that kind of torment EVER again!

Answer 6

You're oppressed because you're making yourself oppressed. You were never the slave, you don't even know what suffering is. You don't deserve an apology. You are like all the other black whiners who think they are deserving of compensation when they, like yourself haven't done a thing. You don't hear any white guys demanding compensation against the British for their maltreatment against the colonist, do you? Worse, other than "enslavement" in a small parcel of land, native Americans have yet to be properly compensated for the theft of their country by the invading settlers. You should concentrate on straightening out your fellow race and stop calling yourselves the "N" word, which you all find amusing to yourselves but offensive if said by others. If you can't do that, shut up.

Answer 7

My mother always told be you gets nothing for free.The stuff that is going on today we brought on ourselves. Yes our ancestors went through some stuff. Yes they brought them over here for pennies. But, truth remains the same.If we as black people just pull together we could make stuff happen. Just think about it. It was our ancestors that path the way for us now. All we have to do is pull together. Instead of complaining about the past, do something. I feel that the people who should apologize are dead or close to it. I feel that things are changed but, not by much. It is up to us to stop looking for handouts and instead start helping. If more of us started promoting each other job wise then things would be better. On the other hand if more of us was mentally prepared for good jobs, (education, clothing, and character in general) things would be a lot different. All of our powerful leaders are dying and I see no one trying to step up to the plate. Like I said earlier some one needs to step up>

Answer 8

I am VERY,VERY,VERY sorry for your ancerstors slavery. I am sure none of my ancesters owned slaves but they may have heard of people that did. My ancestors were burned in ovens. I kinda think the people who did it are dead, like the ones who hurt yours. There has been slavery and opression for thousands of year...not to say it is right but just make the future better.And don't be bitter.That only makes the healing impossible.

BTW- Saying you can't get a job because you are black is BULL! Nobody smart enough to be in charge of hiring in a company would reject a good recrute because he was black! Maybe it is you! Maybe you blame white america cause you haven't got what it takes to get the job.

Answer 9

Why are you mad about something that DIDN"T HAPPEN TO YOU??? Why do I as a white person OWE you anything? I personally never did anything to you. I agree that the practice of slavery was wrong, cruel and downright dirty, but I am not going to apologize to every black person I run into just becasue slavery was practiced and I happen to be white. Not all white people owned slaves. I have no clue even if my ancestors owned any slaves, I don't really care. If they did, shame on them. I think that this idealology of white people OWING black people anything this day in age for enslaving their ancestors is insane. It's like jewish holocaust decendents expecting an apology from the decendents of Nazi officers for their treatment in the holocaust (the jewish holocaust was also a discusting thing about humanity!)- Should we as humans expect Adam and Eve to aplogize to us for eating from the tree of knowledge thus making us toil for our livelyhood, have pain in child birth and the like?? I think that people who have the ldeas you do about this subject are just looking for a free ride.

Answer 10

I think it sounds reasonable. Since when did an apology hurt anyone?

Besides there's more to the issue than just slavery. After the its abolition in America the south (especially) did everything still in their power to keep African Americans second class citizens from the Jim Crow laws to lynching, intimidation to keep them away from the voting polls and succeeding economically. It wasn't the African Americans who were engaging in criminal behavior who were being harassed but the ones who were prospering and trying their best to assimilate!!!



I think you ought to be compensated for slavery AND what happened after wards.

Answer 11

As you can see by the answers you're getting. They'll never understand because they don't have to. They don't give a sh*t about anything or anyone that doesn't involve them, as a matter of fact, they actually get angry when people talk about things that don't involve them! Have you seen them cry about Black History Month?



Don't waste your time on these morons.



I see exactly where you're coming from and I agree with you.

Answer 12

did you know that white people have been slaves also? whites wrote the history books and naturally left that out. do whites constantly gripe about the norwegian oppresion from the vikings? no-----so get over it. your life is much better off thanks to your ancestors. what would you be in africa? probably dead.

Answer 13

I'm not oppressed........... then again I have no slavery in my linage, therefore I don't know what that feels like.



But believe me when I tell you that people are only as oppressed as they let themselves be.

Answer 14

STFU. You've never been a slave. Your mother was never a slave. Your grandmother was never a slave.



Grow up and take responsibility for your life.



You will NEVER amount to anything worthwhile as long as you blame other people for your lack of success.



If third-world immigrants can come to this country with little money, poor English language skills, and no friends or relatives nearby, and STILL succeed beyond their wildest dreams (and they DO!), then you haven't got a single goddamn good excuse for not achieving anything with your life.



Slavery is over. It's been over for over a century. You need to quit whining and get the hell over it.

Answer 15

I'll support reparations for anyone who wants to move to Africa. That is the only way you'd be made whole. Otherwise, your living in America is compensation enough.



And will blacks also admit the wrongdoings of their ancestors who sold them to the whites in the first place (and are still doing it to this day)? Whites didn't going running through the jungle grabbing up Africans; they waited at the beach for other Africans to bring them to them. YOUR ancestors were just too slow to get away from their neighbors.

Answer 16

I'm with the first answer on this one. When will it ever be enough??



Edit: You need to get that mess out of your head. My husband and I hire black people all the time for his company. It is a big corporation and we don't care if someone is purple as long as they do their job!

And who is going to pay for the reparations?..our taxes, yours too...there is enough gov't spending going on as it is..You should know this as a business man..God Bless You.

Answer 17

Why don't you go ask for a free handout from the black folks back in Africa that sold you to us for a profit? It WAS black folk that were reaping the profits from the slave trade back there ya know. You were not a slave anyways, why would we give you a damn thing? Quit complaining and get on with things...

Answer 18

Gee, I don't know an ancestor of mine that owned slaves because I don't go back a dozen generations so you won't get an apology out of me. Like most blacks you are just looking for another free handout, but I'm sure you will deny that and most other blacks will disagree. Get off your lazy *** and get an education and work hard like most white Americans do and take control of your own life and your own actions! Get off the crack, stop dealing it, get off of welfare, stop stealing, scamming and looking for handouts.