Is slavery a big issue?

Saigon

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May 4, 2012
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I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

The numbers are fairly staggering - the Portuguese alone shipped 4.65 million people. Even tiny Denmark shipped 50,000 slaves. Ghana alone saw 1.5 million people exported from their coastline.

What got me thinking is that slavery doesn't seem to have received a huge amount of media coverage over the years.

I can think of one movie (Spielberg's Amistad) and one TV series (Roots) and a couple of books which refer to it, but not a great deal when one considers how important the trade was to the history of the US.

Even Amistad was made by a Jewish director rather than an African-American one!

Is slavery too sensitive to discuss, or is it just so long ago that no one cares anymore?
 
I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

The numbers are fairly staggering - the Portuguese alone shipped 4.65 million people. Even tiny Denmark shipped 50,000 slaves. Ghana alone saw 1.5 million people exported from their coastline.

What got me thinking is that slavery doesn't seem to have received a huge amount of media coverage over the years.

I can think of one movie (Spielberg's Amistad) and one TV series (Roots) and a couple of books which refer to it, but not a great deal when one considers how important the trade was to the history of the US.

Even Amistad was made by a Jewish director rather than an African-American one!

Is slavery too sensitive to discuss, or is it just so long ago that no one cares anymore?

Let me look in my garden. Hmmmm, a tractor, a hoe, some yellow tape to scare the deer away .... Mmmmmmmmmmmm nope, slavery doesent appear to be an issue. Wait, do my kids count?

Roots was highly plagerised and the story was mostly false. However, I talked/read about it extensively in my Southern Culture class in college a few years back. Not to mention that black history class I had to take to get my BA in history where I learned how white and black Marxists/socialists filled and exploited the void in the black community left from the exclusion by American whites. Which is why today they still vote to stay dependent on "massuh democrats" plantation.
 
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Let me look in my garden. Hmmmm, a tractor, a hoe, some yellow tape to scare the deer away .... Mmmmmmmmmmmm nope, slavery doesent appear to be an issue. Wait, do my kids count?

Oh dear.

I somehow doubt you have gay people marrying in your back garden either, but somehow I think for many Americans that is a big deal.

And yes, your kids do count if by that you mean educating them on the history of the country they live in.
 
Let me look in my garden. Hmmmm, a tractor, a hoe, some yellow tape to scare the deer away .... Mmmmmmmmmmmm nope, slavery doesent appear to be an issue. Wait, do my kids count?

Oh dear.

I somehow doubt you have gay people marrying in your back garden either, but somehow I think for many Americans that is a big deal.

And yes, your kids do count if by that you mean educating them on the history of the country they live in.

Slavery is only a big deal if used as a modern bargaining chip to bring historical sympathy to an modern political ends. And a weak one at that. What's with the gay marriage comment. I don't know a single place in the US where gays can't get married. do you? Marriage is between a party of two and their God. Huh? They want tax deductions and benefits you say? Then that issue isnt about marrage is it? It's about money and tax Write offs.

With a BA in History Id like to think that I am better equipped on the subject of history than most. A meager degree, I know, but the Masters will come at a later time.
 
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I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

The numbers are fairly staggering - the Portuguese alone shipped 4.65 million people. Even tiny Denmark shipped 50,000 slaves. Ghana alone saw 1.5 million people exported from their coastline.

What got me thinking is that slavery doesn't seem to have received a huge amount of media coverage over the years.

I can think of one movie (Spielberg's Amistad) and one TV series (Roots) and a couple of books which refer to it, but not a great deal when one considers how important the trade was to the history of the US.

Even Amistad was made by a Jewish director rather than an African-American one!

Is slavery too sensitive to discuss, or is it just so long ago that no one cares anymore?

What IS a big deal is the confused masses who seem to believe that America was the only nation built on the backs of African slaves or even that America was somehow the worst offender.
Anyone interested in the slavery issue would do well to remedy that bit of confusion first and foremost.
 
Slavery is only a big deal if used as a modern bargaining chip to bring historical sympathy to an modern political ends. And a weak one at that.

The same could be said of the Holocaust, and yet I can think of a dozen major movies (Sohpie's Choice, Schindler's List, The Reader) to have touched on specific elements of that during the past 20 years or so.

I agree that slavery, like the Holocaust, can be used as a bargaining chip, but on the other hand, it remains a crucial aspect of American (and African & European) history.

I'm surprised African-Americans don't focus more on it - not as a means to screw more welfare out of the state, but as a means of informing both black and white people as to the history and what that history means for the US.
 
I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

First - You lucky bastard. I'd love to get over there and see some of that history.

On topic.
Slavery of old only needs to be an issue for history and part of learning not to repeat the mistakes of old.
Sadly, we don't.
Slavery is still strong in many western countries including the US and UK.
Much is now sex slavery from Asian to Asian or Asian to western countries.
(probably other poorer countries as well)

Hardly anyone seems to be aware of the scale of the problem and no one seems to give a shit.
It's just happened to my wife's doctor's niece. She was forced to work as a prostitute but managed to escape after just a few days.
However, multiple rapes over several days is bound to have a serious effect on a girl of only 15 years old.
 
What IS a big deal is the confused masses who seem to believe that America was the only nation built on the backs of African slaves or even that America was somehow the worst offender.
Anyone interested in the slavery issue would do well to remedy that bit of confusion first and foremost.

I totally agree.

I thought the local museums did a good job of mapping the slave trade, making it very clear the role France, Denmark and Sweden etc played, and also looking at countries like Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica.
 
I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

First - You lucky bastard. I'd love to get over there and see some of that history.

On topic.
Slavery of old only needs to be an issue for history and part of learning not to repeat the mistakes of old.
Sadly, we don't.
Slavery is still strong in many western countries including the US and UK.
Much is now sex slavery from Asian to Asian or Asian to western countries.
(probably other poorer countries as well)

Hardly anyone seems to be aware of the scale of the problem and no one seems to give a shit.
It's just happened to my wife's doctor's niece. She was forced to work as a prostitute but managed to escape after just a few days.
However, multiple rapes over several days is bound to have a serious effect on a girl of only 15 years old.

Ghana was terrific, and quite easy travel. I definitely recommend it.

I totally agree about slavery today. Perhaps because most of us in the west never see slavery anymore, we seem to have forgotten it as an issue. And yet how many of the products we buy were produced by slaves? My guess is - a lot.

We have a lot of work to do to end slavery, but most of it needs to be done in Asia and Africa.
 
Slavery is only a big deal if used as a modern bargaining chip to bring historical sympathy to an modern political ends. And a weak one at that.

The same could be said of the Holocaust, and yet I can think of a dozen major movies (Sohpie's Choice, Schindler's List, The Reader) to have touched on specific elements of that during the past 20 years or so.

I agree that slavery, like the Holocaust, can be used as a bargaining chip, but on the other hand, it remains a crucial aspect of American (and African & European) history.

I'm surprised African-Americans don't focus more on it - not as a means to screw more welfare out of the state, but as a means of informing both black and white people as to the history and what that history means for the US.
I knew it would be impossible for this thread to run without mention of 7 million assholes living on stolen real estate and their beloved(send money) HoloHoax.:cuckoo:
 
Douger -

Visiting slave forts like Cape Coast and Elmina did remind me of places like Birkenau and Auschwitz.

Standing in the dungeons of the condemned is to feel the same sense of horror, and to wonder at the same total absence of humanity and morality. The evidence is only more vivid at Birkenau because it is so much more recent, and because the purpose of Birkenau was not to exploit people, but simply to gas them.

This in no way means that the descendants of victims of slavery or the Holocaust are not also responsible for their own actions.
 
What is interesting and perhaps even 'amazing' is that slavery was almost universal and totally accepted up until recently in human existence. Suddenly, a new concept took over.

That part is very encouraging; humans CAN change fundamental attitudes and thinking.

We need a great deal more of that, especially when it comes to politics and economics.
 
What is interesting and perhaps even 'amazing' is that slavery was almost universal and totally accepted up until recently in human existence. Suddenly, a new concept took over.

That part is very encouraging; humans CAN change fundamental attitudes and thinking.

We need a great deal more of that, especially when it comes to politics and economics.

Yes, absolutely.

Slavery was considered absolutely vital to the economy of the UK, in particular. In retrsospect it is amazing that an ethical cause came to triumph over an economic one. I do think there are many parallels today about what countries can afford to do with ethical issues.
 
I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

The numbers are fairly staggering - the Portuguese alone shipped 4.65 million people. Even tiny Denmark shipped 50,000 slaves. Ghana alone saw 1.5 million people exported from their coastline.

What got me thinking is that slavery doesn't seem to have received a huge amount of media coverage over the years.

I can think of one movie (Spielberg's Amistad) and one TV series (Roots) and a couple of books which refer to it, but not a great deal when one considers how important the trade was to the history of the US.

Even Amistad was made by a Jewish director rather than an African-American one!

Is slavery too sensitive to discuss, or is it just so long ago that no one cares anymore?

Discuss in what context and venue?

The history of the slavery industry and period is well documented, and is discussed by those for whom that period of history is significant.

It isn't much discussed in the media because the media is too busy pitting Americans at each other throats to pay too much attention to history.

Hell !~ all sorts of important history is largely ignored because why?

Because it isn't NEWS, that's why.
 
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It isn't much discussed in the media because the media is too busy pitting Americans at each other throats to pay too much attention to history.

Hell !~ all sorts of important history is largely ignored because why?

Because it isn't NEWS, that's why.

I couldn't agree more - America as a society seems to have become so obsessed with navel gazing and vitriolic attacks on other Americans that there is little time or space for anything else. The US media could do a lot better job of covering issues other than the endless Dem/GOP debates.

Slavery isn't news, but is important, and I think important to all Americans. Not to mention to Africans and Europeans.
 
I was in Ghana last month and visited a few of the massive slave castles built by the British, Duth and Portuguese and used to ship slaves to the Americas.

First - You lucky bastard. I'd love to get over there and see some of that history.

On topic.
Slavery of old only needs to be an issue for history and part of learning not to repeat the mistakes of old.
Sadly, we don't.
Slavery is still strong in many western countries including the US and UK.
Much is now sex slavery from Asian to Asian or Asian to western countries.
(probably other poorer countries as well)

Hardly anyone seems to be aware of the scale of the problem and no one seems to give a shit.
It's just happened to my wife's doctor's niece. She was forced to work as a prostitute but managed to escape after just a few days.
However, multiple rapes over several days is bound to have a serious effect on a girl of only 15 years old.

Ghana was terrific, and quite easy travel. I definitely recommend it.

I totally agree about slavery today. Perhaps because most of us in the west never see slavery anymore, we seem to have forgotten it as an issue. And yet how many of the products we buy were produced by slaves? My guess is - a lot.

We have a lot of work to do to end slavery, but most of it needs to be done in Asia and Africa.

With a young kid, my chances are zero - pity.

I used to live in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
A Thai massage place there got busted for using sex slaves just before I left the UK.
I know of a Chinese place in Manchester that did the same but, up to the time I left the UK, hadn't been busted.
I was in no position to do much about it because it would have been rather obvious where the police information had come from and you don't play bad with snakehead gangs.
Too bloody dangerous in a chopped up with machetes sort of way.

Chinatown murder: Man held | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk
 
Slavery is only a big deal if used as a modern bargaining chip to bring historical sympathy to an modern political ends. And a weak one at that.

The same could be said of the Holocaust, and yet I can think of a dozen major movies (Sohpie's Choice, Schindler's List, The Reader) to have touched on specific elements of that during the past 20 years or so.

I agree that slavery, like the Holocaust, can be used as a bargaining chip, but on the other hand, it remains a crucial aspect of American (and African & European) history.

I'm surprised African-Americans don't focus more on it - not as a means to screw more welfare out of the state, but as a means of informing both black and white people as to the history and what that history means for the US.
I knew it would be impossible for this thread to run without mention of 7 million assholes living on stolen real estate and their beloved(send money) HoloHoax.:cuckoo:


Impossible for you not to advertize your filthy anti-Semitism, you fucking asshole?
 
Indofred -

Yeah, I wouldn't mess with those snakehead gangs. Or any of the other mafia who are involved with human trafficking. They are dangerous people.

Ghana probably isn't the best place for travel with a young child, but when the little 'un gets a bit older...lots of good beaches, and kids would love the chimps and jungle, I'm sure!
 
As for the OP, anyone who has graduated from high school in the US will have read about, discussed, and studied slavery very extensively.
 

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