"The Meaning of July Fourth for the ? " by Frederick Douglass
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Swiffness!
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i always read this classic speech on July 4th
a few choice excerpts:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and ? than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Take the American slave-trade, which we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year by dealers in this horrid traffic. In several states this trade is a chief source of wealth. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) "the internal slave-trade." It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. That trade has long since been denounced by this government as piracy. It has been denounced with burning words from the high places of the nation as an execrable traffic. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the Jaws of ? and of man. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our doctors of divinity. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish them selves on the western coast of Africa! It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon all those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass with out condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.
Fellow-citizens, this murderous traffic is, to-day, in active operation in this boasted republic. In the solitude of my spirit I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the ? , caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight.
Is this the land your Fathers loved,
The freedom which they toiled to win?
Is this the earth whereon they moved?
Are these the graves they slumber in?
The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html
Enjoy ur BBQs and fireworks errybody!
a few choice excerpts:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and ? than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Take the American slave-trade, which we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year by dealers in this horrid traffic. In several states this trade is a chief source of wealth. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) "the internal slave-trade." It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. That trade has long since been denounced by this government as piracy. It has been denounced with burning words from the high places of the nation as an execrable traffic. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the Jaws of ? and of man. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our doctors of divinity. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish them selves on the western coast of Africa! It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon all those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass with out condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.
Fellow-citizens, this murderous traffic is, to-day, in active operation in this boasted republic. In the solitude of my spirit I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the ? , caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight.
Is this the land your Fathers loved,
The freedom which they toiled to win?
Is this the earth whereon they moved?
Are these the graves they slumber in?
The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html
Enjoy ur BBQs and fireworks errybody!
Comments
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Good read! but, we're not slaves anymore. Not those kinds of slaves at least. If you wanna be real we're all slaves. We all work for the government to pay back a debt he created. Think I'm joking miss mortgage payments on your house regardless of your color their coming to take that ? .
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"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet. -
Good read props.. but yeah..
but we dont celebrate americas liberation.. we celebrate the good food/weather/family/friends
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"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet.
Co-sign bro, America as we speak is committing atrocities all over the world, from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and we support the thieving, terrorist nation known as Israel with money and weapons. Israel is stealing land and water from its Palestinian neighbors and destroying homes and farmland to make way for Jewish settlers. And meanwhile, America gives Israel billions of dollars of aid. Our human rights abuses of people all over the globe is the reason America is so hated in so many places. And don't get me started on the police and laws here in America, we have 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's prison population, does this sound like the land of the free to u? -
? thanksgiving too!
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Inspiring and Powerful
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lol u should see the amount of racist crakkers made at Chris Rock for his tweet
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For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries)
North Korea is just...........
i mean read about it sometime
I've never seen the American media talk about Camp 22.
its like something out of a dystopian science-fiction universe -
^ true I've never heard of it either...soooo googling it now and it looks evil. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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lol I got white people mad over at Chris Rock FB page...lol
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"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet.
The bolded area really irks the ? out of me - this country isn't perfect,BUT to post this ? and claim America/the American people are a bunch of savages really disturbs me. IMO if this is the way many a lot of black people truly feel - ? personally I feel black some people need to leave and find another planet to live on - just get the ? -out - & swiffness you're a SORRY piece of ? for posting this ? . UNGRATEFUL SORRY ? !!
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We can talk about slavery and how it still effects black people in everyday life. Hell we can sit around and blame whitey for everyone problem that exists in the world today.But at the end of the day, that isn't going to force black kids to learn to read. It isn't going to make their fathers help raise their kids. It isn't going to keep them from dropping out. It isn't going to solve any of their problems, its going to give them a reason to make them worse. SO - I'll just avoid these type of individuals/i.e., in the real world and let the chips fall - have a nice day you cowards.
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"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet.
The bolded area really irks the ? out of me - this country isn't perfect,BUT to post this ? and claim America/the American people are a bunch of savages really disturbs me. IMO if this is the way many a lot of black people truly feel - ? personally I feel black some people need to leave and find another planet to live on - just get the ? -out - & swiffness you're a SORRY piece of ? for posting this ? . UNGRATEFUL SORRY ? !!
lol @ you believing that a man who basically had to watch most of the people like him be treated like animals on a daily basis is ungrateful. What exactly is he ungrateful for? The fact that he someone managed to escape being a beast of burden at a time when everyone his skin tone were seen as something no better than a tool to make money? Yeah, he should have been on his knees thanking every white person that passed by for that. -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet.
The bolded area really irks the ? out of me - this country isn't perfect,BUT to post this ? and claim America/the American people are a bunch of savages really disturbs me. IMO if this is the way many a lot of black people truly feel - ? personally I feel black some people need to leave and find another planet to live on - just get the ? -out - & swiffness you're a SORRY piece of ? for posting this ? . UNGRATEFUL SORRY ? !!
lol @ you believing that a man who basically had to watch most of the people like him be treated like animals on a daily basis is ungrateful. What exactly is he ungrateful for? The fact that he someone managed to escape being a beast of burden at a time when everyone his skin tone were seen as something no better than a tool to make money? Yeah, he should have been on his knees thanking every white person that passed by for that.
So you replied,thank you. Now you missed my point entirely - are black people thankful for anything this country affords them,OR/are they gonna just wallow in the past as if NOTHING has changed for the better in this country? I don't expect any black person to do what they don't wanna do - but to just constantly whine and complain about what they haven't got or constantly complain about what's owed to them - has really gotten OLD.
Yes! I know some blacks have every right to be leary of some white folks, BUT to live in that slave era constantly and constantly have that mindset is disturbing. BTW I would ask these same questions to any black person IN PERSON given the chance. Y in the ? are black people so damn angry and ? off constantly?
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Perhaps you should go to the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin topic or to the 18 year old that gets 160 years in prison topic maybe you'll get a clue.
If those are just small samples I suggest you actually read what people say.
If you want a more direct answer:
The prison-industrial complex, war on drugs, police brutality and murders, unequal protection under the law, racism in the workplace and other fields, poor educational systems, stripping of voting rights, racist language in political circles etc
If you encounter an "angry black guy" he will probably mention one of the things I said. Books are written on this stuff, take time to read one buddy. -
Soul On Ice
by Eldridge Cleaver
You ain't talk 'bout anything new & it's the same old tune, just a different set of characters & political correctness is always the proverbial 'ace in the hole',so to speak. STOP breaking the laws of the land and contributing to those entities with your mind, body and spirit. -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »"To him, your celebration is a
sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your
national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud,
deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to
cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of
practices more shocking and ? than are the
people of the United States, at this very hour."
^ If Fred thought it was bad THEN. They were nowhere near having atomic bombs and ? yet. Decades and decades of legal police brutality, brutality in prisons, unequal protection under the laws for minorities, women, ? , and the poor in general.
For all the ? the media kicks about human rights abuses in China, Cuba, N. Korea or Russia (when it comes to so-called "communist" countries), its really convenient that so many things here are swept under the rug...even in the age of the internet.
The bolded area really irks the ? out of me - this country isn't perfect,BUT to post this ? and claim America/the American people are a bunch of savages really disturbs me. IMO if this is the way many a lot of black people truly feel - ? personally I feel black some people need to leave and find another planet to live on - just get the ? -out - & swiffness you're a SORRY piece of ? for posting this ? . UNGRATEFUL SORRY ? !!
lol @ you believing that a man who basically had to watch most of the people like him be treated like animals on a daily basis is ungrateful. What exactly is he ungrateful for? The fact that he someone managed to escape being a beast of burden at a time when everyone his skin tone were seen as something no better than a tool to make money? Yeah, he should have been on his knees thanking every white person that passed by for that.
So you replied,thank you. Now you missed my point entirely - are black people thankful for anything this country affords them,OR/are they gonna just wallow in the past as if NOTHING has changed for the better in this country? I don't expect any black person to do what they don't wanna do - but to just constantly whine and complain about what they haven't got or constantly complain about what's owed to them - has really gotten OLD.
Yes! I know some blacks have every right to be leary of some white folks, BUT to live in that slave era constantly and constantly have that mindset is disturbing. BTW I would ask these same questions to any black person IN PERSON given the chance. Y in the ? are black people so damn angry and ? off constantly?
Your problem is that you, like many other whites, seem to think that after slavery was abolished everything was great for black people. You seem to forget that blacks and other minorities had to fight for decades just to get the country to go on record with the intention to assure all citizens their fair rights regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, etc... You and others like you are completely oblivious to the fact that just because technically the country has now said we are all equal in the law doesn't mean things are executed in that manner. Blacks, hispanics, asians, etc... aren't supposed to be discriminated against anymore but they still are.
I'll be the first to say that a lot of blacks need to quit making stupid excuses, quit falling into the same old traps, and quit subscribing to a culture of futility that many seem to embrace. That said, there are a lot of blacks in dire straights that don't fall under any of those categories. These days life in this country is hard enough at times. It's even worse when you have extra fetters placed around your neck. The thing that annoys me about people like you is that you have no idea what it feels like to be a minority, yet you feel so comfortable telling us what we should do and how we should feel. Some of us get discriminated against and treated unfairly on a daily basis, and if we ever venture to complain, people like you are quick to jump up and tell us that we are holding onto the past or that we are ungrateful as if all unfairness in this country is extinct like the dinosaurs. Never once do you ever take the time to think that maybe you don't have the whole story, and may you shouldn't be so quick to judge us given that you haven't even walked a foot in our shoes let alone a mile.
The thing I think is hilarious is that every white person that has ever tried to do that pretty much broke down after a couple days of being black. Do you get that? The white people who have tried to be black couldn't do it for a week without having an emotional breakdown as a result of the hardships of being black in America. And I'm not talking about white people who try to adopt black culture and act black. I'm talking about white people who changed their appearance to look black and tried to live as a black person. They came as close to being a black person as white person could possibly come and if you read their books, articles, etc... they never venture to tell blacks how they should live or think. Yet, people like you who know absolutely nothing about the plights of non-whites always feel so free instruct those you don't understand and then condemn them when they don't follow the path you deem to be correct. That truly is amazing. -
If its not new, doesn't that mean aint ? changed?
LOL at you bringing up Soul On Ice...I've read that ? too.
Blacks STILL get beaten and harassed by police,
Blacks STILL get unfair treatment under the law,
Blacks STILL....I could continue but there's no point. Besides fam ^ already put you on blast and I've read other comments from you and this type of ? never ends. I'm not going to waste time going over this stuff with a closed minded person. -
I know Hslick is on his troll game... (nothing new there)
... but what alot of people (including white people) dont understand is that there was a time after reconstruction (which was a failure) when WHITE people went into PURE TERRORISM mode on black people collectively !
The second rise of the KKK, sundown towns... and even a racist president like Woodrow Wilson helped to collectively shape the white supremacist mindset. Brotha's were getting stripped of just regular ordinary positions like Mail men ect. Federal positions were be taken away and just an all out systematic white supremacist movement that sparked the lowest point in American race relations.
White people have never seen black people as their equal. NEVER! This being a direct result of slavery obviously but the civil rights movement was definitely a step in the right direction. The point is that equal is not really equal at all!... its actually lopsided but kids are continuously being taught history in sporadic events or not even the complete story. So you will continuously have the Hslicks saying... "oh get over it..Slavery was years ago!" as if there was no concerted effort by the whites to place and keep blacks entrapped in second class citizenship. -
Shuffington wrote: »I know Hslick is on his troll game... (nothing new there)
... but what alot of people (including white people) dont understand is that there was a time after reconstruction (which was a failure) when WHITE people went into PURE TERRORISM mode on black people collectively !
The second rise of the KKK, sundown towns... and even a racist president like Woodrow Wilson helped to collectively shape the white supremacist mindset. Brotha's were getting stripped of just regular ordinary positions like Mail men ect. Federal positions were be taken away and just an all out systematic white supremacist movement that sparked the lowest point in American race relations.
White people have never seen black people as their equal. NEVER! This being a direct result of slavery obviously but the civil rights movement was definitely a step in the right direction. The point is that equal is not really equal at all!... its actually lopsided but kids are continuously being taught history in sporadic events or not even the complete story. So you will continuously have the Hslicks saying... "oh get over it..Slavery was years ago!" as if there was no concerted effort by the whites to place and keep blacks entrapped in second class citizenship.
I've NEVER SAID get over anything - period! Now stick that in your ? know it all ass and smoke it. Oh pity poor little me and play the damn victims the rest of your lives - this story has gotten so ? old - I'M TIRED OF IT. BTW GET THE ? UP & make something of yourselves - stop having so MANY damn babies you'll never be able to support let alone raise to be productive members of society.
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Shuffington wrote: »I know Hslick is on his troll game... (nothing new there)
... but what alot of people (including white people) dont understand is that there was a time after reconstruction (which was a failure) when WHITE people went into PURE TERRORISM mode on black people collectively !
The second rise of the KKK, sundown towns... and even a racist president like Woodrow Wilson helped to collectively shape the white supremacist mindset. Brotha's were getting stripped of just regular ordinary positions like Mail men ect. Federal positions were be taken away and just an all out systematic white supremacist movement that sparked the lowest point in American race relations.
White people have never seen black people as their equal. NEVER! This being a direct result of slavery obviously but the civil rights movement was definitely a step in the right direction. The point is that equal is not really equal at all!... its actually lopsided but kids are continuously being taught history in sporadic events or not even the complete story. So you will continuously have the Hslicks saying... "oh get over it..Slavery was years ago!" as if there was no concerted effort by the whites to place and keep blacks entrapped in second class citizenship.
I've NEVER SAID get over anything - period! Now stick that in your ? know it all ass and smoke it. Oh pity poor little me and play the damn victims the rest of your lives - this story has gotten so ? old - I'M TIRED OF IT. BTW GET THE ? UP & make something of yourselves - stop having so MANY damn babies you'll never be able to support let alone raise to be productive members of society.
the funny thing heyslick is you say you never said get over it yet in two sentences later you said get over it not in those exact words white privilege is very prevalent in this country as so throughout the world -
Shuffington wrote: »I know Hslick is on his troll game... (nothing new there)
... but what alot of people (including white people) dont understand is that there was a time after reconstruction (which was a failure) when WHITE people went into PURE TERRORISM mode on black people collectively !
The second rise of the KKK, sundown towns... and even a racist president like Woodrow Wilson helped to collectively shape the white supremacist mindset. Brotha's were getting stripped of just regular ordinary positions like Mail men ect. Federal positions were be taken away and just an all out systematic white supremacist movement that sparked the lowest point in American race relations.
White people have never seen black people as their equal. NEVER! This being a direct result of slavery obviously but the civil rights movement was definitely a step in the right direction. The point is that equal is not really equal at all!... its actually lopsided but kids are continuously being taught history in sporadic events or not even the complete story. So you will continuously have the Hslicks saying... "oh get over it..Slavery was years ago!" as if there was no concerted effort by the whites to place and keep blacks entrapped in second class citizenship.
Oddly enough, that time kinda came about because of the fact that blacks gained a lot pretty quickly after slavery was abolished. You had successful black businessmen, politicians, doctors, etc... Then as you point out white people basically went crazy on all levels from KKK to the advent of the Jim Crow laws. In other words, America took a big step forward after slavery then an even bigger step backwards shortly after that. -
Why is Slick taking this so personal? It's something Frederick Douglass wrote years before slavery ended, and considering the effects of slavery can still be seen till this day, there's nothing wrong with this thread. America has made great inroads since slavery, but there remains much more work to be done.
http://youtu.be/8tTkHJWxfP0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYGz5AreduU
