I recently read an anthology containing several narratives from African Americans who lived adjacent to the Civil War, slaves. Obviously, this time period is well known for the slavery institution. I have lived in a multi-cultural world my entire life. I feel that I have a heads up on the argument, thanks to my evenly split high school and city of origin. This anthology, specifically the pieces about slavery, was quite interesting and parallels some recent news stories. Today we again face this issue of race in our society, brought to the level of news with “Black in America.” We pummel ourselves with circumstances and statistics in an attempt to prove a point that was “solved” in 1865. I think the issues of slavery are over; what we face now is its own battle over culture.
I’ll state for the record my opinion: slavery is bad. In any form, the act of enslaving another human being is a bad thing. The act in itself affects both the slaves and the owners in a negative fashion. In the case of the American slave trade, slaves developed a sense of inferiority and owners developed a lack of human acknowledgment. In any instance, the entire situation was cruel and inhuman. The “end” of slavery in America was another horrendous situation inflicted on the African American race. Eventually, the situation resolved itself with the Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s. Reinforced by affirmative action, the situation appeared to be over.
Little did anyone know at the time that we were merely entering into a new form of segregation. Modern American society is now socially divided rather than legally divided. I attribute this to the modern desire to be miserable. This topic, without a doubt, will generate a lot of negative publicity as it has with the recent firefighter’s promotion testing and Sotomayor’s situation. I am willing to voice my opinion anyway.
I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with some arguments of the past, but at a point in time they justified slavery and therefore have a place in this article. During the slave trade, it was widely believed that slaves were better off in custody than as free Africans. This argument was fairly solid within the realm of society. If, in fact, any society is better than the lack of it, it is true and they were better off. Religion played a large role in this argument as it was considered that the lack of it would lead to sin, hell, and damnation. In the realm of humanitarian attitudes, this argument was completely false; society or not, abducting people is wrong. The mark of Cain was another widespread argument in favor of slavery. Biblically, Cain was “marked” for killing his brother Abel. Western culture deemed that the “mark” was that of the African skin color. Thus, people saw themselves as good people for “saving” the heathens, civilizing the evil in the world. Again, on its base level it is wrong, but if some religion is in fact better than none, they were again better off.
Culture is the main point of acknowledgement. The African American race has a very rich culture in modern American society. This culture is, in fact, the cause and effect of the problem. This culture is a product of the oppression and animosity that surrounds the fictitious idea of being African American. Besides the factual skin tone and sickle cell anemia, African Americans and Caucasians are biologically, mentally, and socially equal in a scientific context. The differences in culture can only be due to an inherent desire to cast out the natural culture of society in favor of one created for an individual race. The natural culture is the one that has slowly evolved due to natural events within a society. The rejection of that culture in favor of another will, without doubt, not be accepted by the current inhabitants. This is not due to racism or prejudice, but natural order. Consider nature; take a flock of geese in their natural setting and observe their demeanor. They act in complete unison, almost as one body containing many parts. If just one of these geese decided it would act differently, it would be cast out and would inevitably die without the support of the flock. If a group, a large group, decided the same, they would create a divide in the flock, creating problems among its members and eventually leading to a split in the population. There is a survivalist reasoning that cultures find their own place and stay separate, leading to prolonged survival. This is in no way saying we should separate the country; it is merely a fact of nature and should be considered when discussing racial topics.
I contend that this current ‘Black In America’ issue of race is self inflicted. African Americans can do whatever they want in this society. There are no more laws preventing them from gaining success, no more illegal ideals that hold them back. In fact, there is still a stipulation that everything should have a number of minorities proportionate to that seen in the population. Affirmative Action is now getting some negative press in that it is no longer needed. Any lack of success is now completely the fault of the party experiencing it. I apologize for putting it so bluntly, but I am tired of hearing these stories of oppression in this modern world. The desire of the African American race to uphold their own culture is commendable, but it is also the reason for their problems. The desire to be separate, to be different, and to be outcast is up to the African Americans in this country. We attend the same schools, we live in the same places, we work the same jobs, yet we see these differences. We all have the same opportunity in this world, and the fact that those who take advantage of it tend to be white is not an act of racism.
The effects of slavery on modern society are not that obvious; some are practically invisible. Black people being in this country is the most obvious result of slavery. If not for slavery, there would be no African American race. A point to notice is that the surviving African Americans in this country would statistically not exist if not for slavery. Not to promote slavery, but after the fact it is possible to point out that a large percentage of Africans die from starvation and disease. Modern America is not plagued with these problems. Therefore, the assumption can be made that a large percentage of African Americans wouldn’t exist if their ancestors had not been taken into slavery. If a great grandfather of an African American was brought close to death by an infection, it is safe to say that the same man would have died if slavery hadn’t brought his ancestor to America. The following generations also would not have existed. Another effect of slavery is the African American culture in general. This culture is heart and soul of most African Americans. It can very simply be stated that that culture would not exist if not for slavery. To all the African Americans who are angered by these statements, I offer you one final truth. The option of returning home was made available as soon as freedom was granted but was denied by the freed slaves. It was obvious that living in America was better, and if you disagree, why do you still live here?
I have many African American friends, mostly educated people, who have approved this article. I state this only to show that I am not some KKK member. I have debated this topic in public for many years to find my conclusions. If you disagree, I ask you to voice your own opinions, and I open my blog to you. I promise not to deny or discredit any articles posted; I am open to any argument.