How slave labor built and financed major U.S. cities

[JManc]

Originally Posted by initiald

We are undergoing the greatest redistribution of wealth in the history of the US right now, from the working class, who have had stagnant wages and no increase in wealth since the start of the 80s, to the 1% who control over half the wealth in this country.

What does this have to do with race and/or slavery? The 1% hasn't been a whites only club for quite some time. And it's not wealth redistribution. The same phenomenon that has made Jeff Bezos a gazillionaire has benefited most of our retirement accounts as well.

As for needing a social safety net, totally agree, we are long passed due to universal healthcare and help with higher education but not via the Robin Hood way.

[Segun]

Originally Posted by mademan404

I'm surprised to see some of the back and forth here. These subtle justifications for hundreds of years of American involvement in Trans-Atlantic slave trading are disturbing. People tend to forget about the part of slavery that included kidnapping, rape, torture, buck-breaking, and other insidious psychological, sexual, and physical violence. Instead, this shit stain of a historic period gets reduced to 'commerce' and 'commodities'. Cut it out. There is absolutely no way this country would have been able to do the great things it has done without the convenience of free labor over an extended period of time.

This is one of the few sensible things said in this thread. This thread is mostly the same ol "Negro problem" conversation with different terms and specifics.

White people, I'm going to be very non-pc right now. As a Black man raised in this country, I fight for equality, not just because its the right thing to do, but it keeps me from doing something I won't regret like grabbing a racist White Police Officer and choking him to death with my bare hands, mercilessly watching him gasp for air as I squeeze. I get a satisfying feeling just thinking about it, almost equal to the feeling of doing good.

I carry around a righteous rage that if pushed, will result in me losing all humanity and becoming a cold, calculating, killing machine.

I'm not alone, I'm far from alone. I see it not just in the inner city where I work, but in other successful circles. It shows up in the form of a smirk, a "told you so" or an "oh well, not my problem" reaction to mass shootings carried out by White people. It showed up when many Black people in Harlem went to the streets to celebrate after 911. We've been subjected to so much trauma, we'd be willing to sacrifice ourselves just to see everyone else burn. Collateral damage. I've seen an author describe it as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.

I would bet that every single descendant of a slave in this country has it. I see "Black on Black crime" and murder spoken about on this page all the time. That is due to years of misdirected Black rage manifesting itself on the streets of our cities. It also means that many of us have been raised in war-like conditions. We're trained guerillas if you will. If we don't have any qualms about killing each other........

This isn't 1960, we know the ins and outs of cities, and have infiltrated every single facet of society. To put it lightly, if Black people get pushed past the brink, we will be 100 times worse than any terrorist, we will sabotage this country and watch it burn and collapse with a smile on our collective faces. We also know we have many White allies who would join us, and with the right amount of communication, Latino allies. We've already been recruiting via Hip Hop culture, and not the one you see on TV.

This isn't a threat, it's a prophecy.

Have you ever really took a look at MLK's facial expression? He was analyzing things from a logical perspective. Ever wonder why he was so adamant about nonviolence?

Martin Luther King wasn't just marching for peace, he saw the level of Black anger, he saw and knew it, it was tangible. He had such profound love for all people. He truly didn't want to see the result of hate. Karma goes both ways. Always. If his dream was so magnificent, imagine his nightmare.

What are the mass psychological implications of systemic oppression? This isn't just an American problem. Everywhere you go, Worldwide, the darkest skinned people are always most oppressed and most feared. Has anyone ever considered that somewhere in the World, there may be a Black counterpart to Hitler; someone who is a sociopath, super-intelligent, skilled in gaining the trust of people and fueled by righteous vengeance? What I said about America is a microcosm for the World.

The day we stop giving a fuck is the day we will all suffer. Mark my word.

Peace.

[JManc]

^ who/what is this rage directed at?

Has anyone ever considered that somewhere in the World, there may be a Black counterpart to Hitler; someone who is a sociopath, super-intelligent, skilled in gaining the trust of people and fueled by righteous vengeance?

There have been several over the decades in Africa (Idi Amin for example) but Hitler had the Wehrmacht to project his power.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by initiald

Generally all white people do benefit because institutionalized racism is alive and well today, and it is a direct decedent of slavery and Jim Crow.

Not at all. Racism currently exists all over the world, often at much higher levels than in the U.S.; the tendency to associate with similar people while mistrusting strange-looking people is deeply-rooted in human brains and isn't easy to fight.

[Segun]

Originally Posted by JManc

^ who/what is this rage directed at?

Everyone and no one. That's what makes it so potent. It's that level of anger where all humanity ceases to exist and creates an emotional vacuum that can only be fueled by satisfying blood thirst.

Idi Amin only oppressed his own people. I'm referring to someone with Global ambition like Hitler, and knows how to galvanize people of different walks of life, who is skilled in appealing to the sense of the global struggle that all people of the African diaspora feel. Someone like that would also gain traction among the ISIS's of the World. This traction is not limited to extremists, it could include many other groups, from poor Latino farmers in South America to people living on the street in India. He/She may very well be living in America. Hitler had the Wehrmacht, today we have the Internet.

There could also be a movement of Global Peace from the same source. It would require a level of communication, listening, humility and mobilization the World hasn't seen yet. I'm always rooting for the good guys, but I know how often in the history of humanity, the bad guys win. Being Black, that fact is cemented in my brain. I'm a "positive" thinking person because I know how bad negative can get.

[Segun]

Originally Posted by lio45

Not at all. Racism currently exists all over the world, often at much higher levels than in the U.S.; the tendency to associate with similar people while mistrusting strange-looking people is deeply-rooted in human brains and isn't easy to fight.

Especially if those strange looking people are Black. Look at the psychological connotation of dark vs light.

[cannedairspray]

Originally Posted by Segun

This is one of the few sensible things said in this thread. This thread is mostly the same ol "Negro problem" conversation with different terms and specifics.

White people, I'm going to be very non-pc right now. As a Black man raised in this country, I fight for equality, not just because its the right thing to do, but it keeps me from doing something I won't regret like grabbing a racist White Police Officer and choking him to death with my bare hands, mercilessly watching him gasp for air as I squeeze. I get a satisfying feeling just thinking about it, almost equal to the feeling of doing good.

I carry around a righteous rage that if pushed, will result in me losing all humanity and becoming a cold, calculating, killing machine.

I'm not alone, I'm far from alone. I see it not just in the inner city where I work, but in other successful circles. It shows up in the form of a smirk, a "told you so" or an "oh well, not my problem" reaction to mass shootings carried out by White people. It showed up when many Black people in Harlem went to the streets to celebrate after 911. We've been subjected to so much trauma, we'd be willing to sacrifice ourselves just to see everyone else burn. Collateral damage. I've seen an author describe it as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.

I would bet that every single descendant of a slave in this country has it. I see "Black on Black crime" and murder spoken about on this page all the time. That is due to years of misdirected Black rage manifesting itself on the streets of our cities. It also means that many of us have been raised in war-like conditions. We're trained guerillas if you will. If we don't have any qualms about killing each other........

This isn't 1960, we know the ins and outs of cities, and have infiltrated every single facet of society. To put it lightly, if Black people get pushed past the brink, we will be 100 times worse than any terrorist, we will sabotage this country and watch it burn and collapse with a smile on our collective faces. We also know we have many White allies who would join us, and with the right amount of communication, Latino allies. We've already been recruiting via Hip Hop culture, and not the one you see on TV.

This isn't a threat, it's a prophecy.

Have you ever really took a look at MLK's facial expression? He was analyzing things from a logical perspective. Ever wonder why he was so adamant about nonviolence?

Martin Luther King wasn't just marching for peace, he saw the level of Black anger, he saw and knew it, it was tangible. He had such profound love for all people. He truly didn't want to see the result of hate. Karma goes both ways. Always. If his dream was so magnificent, imagine his nightmare.

What are the mass psychological implications of systemic oppression? This isn't just an American problem. Everywhere you go, Worldwide, the darkest skinned people are always most oppressed and most feared. Has anyone ever considered that somewhere in the World, there may be a Black counterpart to Hitler; someone who is a sociopath, super-intelligent, skilled in gaining the trust of people and fueled by righteous vengeance? What I said about America is a microcosm for the World.

The day we stop giving a fuck is the day we will all suffer. Mark my word.

Peace.

[Segun]

To further elaborate on what Mademan404 said, it didn't end in slavery. The psychological torture continued. Now you were a free slave, but at every turn in society, there were barriers built, whether it be:

- Jim Crow and the terror of the KKK
- Northern segregation and violence. Redlining, violent mob-like tactics to keep Blacks out.
- The preponderance of exploitative businesses in Black neighborhoods.
- The constant portrayal and funding of portrayals of Blacks as being subhuman - from the days of Minstrels, to modern Gangsta Rap, to nightly news reports of Black on Black crime.
- Remaking of laws to target Black people without directly saying "Black people" i.e the War on Drugs.
- Despicable scheming and conspiring from law enforcement and government agencies to infiltrate and subvert any form of Black mobility. Let's talk about J.Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO.
- The prison industrial complex.

If you bring it up to people who feel White guilt, the reaction is "Well ______ had it bad too", as if to negate the potency of what happened and its lingering effects. We often talk of the discrimination Irish Americans or Italian Americans faced, well, Blacks faced it 10X harder, and faced it 10X harder from Italian Americans and Irish Americans as well. Gang brutality is one thing, getting beat up is another thing. Its a whole different ballgame when 4,000 people, backed by the Police, surround your house and threaten to kill your family just because you moved into a White neighborhood. 4,000 people for ONE family. Its as if Italians, Germans, Irish, etc all united under one goal: prevent Black people from succeeding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero_race_riot_of_1951

Today its been reworked into a more sinister almost Orweilian double-speak type of racism. A world where racists are crying about being oppressed, where Black Lives Matter is a terrorist group. What.The.F**k.

This level of racism isn't just someone calling another person a n**ger. The people who made those executive decisions weren't and aren't living in conditions of oppression. This shows that there are White people who have such a deep-seeded hatred for Blacks, that, even in the face of success, they would be willing to go out of their way to scheme and plot to make sure you don't get an equal footing.

How would that make you feel? What does that do to the human psyche? What's the backlash?

[Segun]

Originally Posted by cannedairspray

I know nervous laughter and fear dressed as casual dismissal, even through the screen of a message board.

Yawn.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Segun

To further elaborate on what Mademan404 said, it didn't end in slavery. The psychological torture continued. Now you were a free slave, but at every turn in society, there were barriers built, whether it be:

- Jim Crow and the terror of the KKK
- Northern segregation and violence. Redlining, violent mob-like tactics to keep Blacks out.
- The preponderance of exploitative businesses in Black neighborhoods.
- The constant portrayal and funding of portrayals of Blacks as being subhuman - from the days of Minstrels, to modern Gangsta Rap, to nightly news reports of Black on Black crime.
- Remaking of laws to target Black people without directly saying "Black people" i.e the War on Drugs.
- Despicable scheming and conspiring from law enforcement and government agencies to infiltrate and subvert any form of Black mobility. Let's talk about J.Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO.
- The prison industrial complex.

If you bring it up to people who feel White guilt, the reaction is "Well ______ had it bad too", as if to negate the potency of what happened and its lingering effects. We often talk of the discrimination Irish Americans or Italian Americans faced, well, Blacks faced it 10X harder, and faced it 10X harder from Italian Americans and Irish Americans as well. Gang brutality is one thing, getting beat up is another thing. Its a whole different ballgame when 4,000 people, backed by the Police, surround your house and threaten to kill your family just because you moved into a White neighborhood. 4,000 people for ONE family. Its as if Italians, Germans, Irish, etc all united under one goal: prevent Black people from succeeding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero_race_riot_of_1951

Today its been reworked into a more sinister almost Orweilian double-speak type of racism. A world where racists are crying about being oppressed, where Black Lives Matter is a terrorist group. What.The.F**k.

This level of racism isn't just someone calling another person a n**ger. The people who made those executive decisions weren't and aren't living in conditions of oppression. This shows that there are White people who have such a deep-seeded hatred for Blacks, that, even in the face of success, they would be willing to go out of their way to scheme and plot to make sure you don't get an equal footing.

How would that make you feel? What does that do to the human psyche? What's the backlash?

This reiterates what I wrote a page or so back about events since slavery ended that did far more to influence race relations today and the state of affairs in black communities around the country than slavery itself. Had blacks been allowed to integrate into society 150 years ago upon abolition, things might be very different from now but Jim Crow and racist policies right up until the 60's perpetuated the racial divide that lingers today.

[Segun]

^ It didn't end in the 60's either. It just became more subversive and harder to track. Study the War on Drugs and the Prison Industrial Complex, two institutions that did and are still doing as much or more to destroy Black families as Jim Crow.

There are people doing life for selling harmful drugs, while there are people set for life doing the same thing. How is this possible? By creating laws that shroud racism in legal terms, or policing laws in a way that affects a certain group more than others. It goes hand in hand with classicism, but as I said earlier, the psychological scar of racism is still there.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Segun

^ It didn't end in the 60's either. It just became more subversive and harder to track. Study the War on Drugs and the Prison Industrial Complex, two institutions that did and are still doing as much or more to destroy Black families as Jim Crow.

There are people doing life for selling harmful drugs, while there are people set for life doing the same thing. How is this possible? By creating laws that shroud racism in legal terms, or policing laws in a way that affects a certain group more than others. It goes hand in hand with classicism, but as I said earlier, the psychological scar of racism is still there.

This is true. It merely become unofficial and implied after that.

[cannedairspray]

Originally Posted by Segun

I know nervous laughter and fear dressed as casual dismissal, even through the screen of a message board.

Yawn.

I'm laughing at your goofy race war threat the same way I laugh at the white guys that do it. You guys deserve each other.

Soooo spoOOOooooOOOOky!

[Mr Roboto]

Ive stayed quiet. No way I want to get in the middle of this as I know what side Im on already, its like a microcosm of the impending race war the evil racist whites always anticipated - but between skyscraper nerds. But some random comments:

- initiald is speaking pretty clearly and logically, I agree for the most part and in theory, but from any practical standpoint obviously there is little to be done in terms of actual policy that will address the past transgressions. And it is a slippery slope, where does it end, theres plenty of victims of slavery and colonialization across the globe across racial lines and generations. the covert white supremecists already hate libruls and libtards, the only thing they hate more with an insane murderous passion are smart brown skin libtards , so you'll see violence before any policy changes. But the point is yes, slavery helped build this nation to what it is, no denying that.

- There is alot of covert white supremacy on this site. Nothing new. America is full of these people, people at the gas station, people at the grocery store. Even skyscraper nerds.

- dc denizen really suprised me on this thread, have we seen him turn a new leaf? wow.

- segun always agitates the crap out of white people who react in many different ways, a mix of confusion, anger, WTFs. People need to keep in mind, he has a pulse on black america much stronger than many realize. The white supremacy in the white house is pissing off almost every brown person, blacks, and every other minority. I feel like fighting half the time myself..

carry on with the mini race war.....

[Segun]

^ Lol, I'm an MC, I crave wars of words.

I believe there is policy that can be implemented, it just can't be summarized on skyscraper message boards. It's complex and it will take a lot of time, effort and understanding to get it to work.

[Segun]

Originally Posted by cannedairspray

I'm laughing at your goofy race war threat the same way I laugh at the white guys that do it. You guys deserve each other.

Soooo spoOOOooooOOOOky!

https://www.amazon.com/Spook-Who-Sat...at+by+the+door

Sarcasm also psychologically masks fear. I know the game. Instead of addressing the truths of which I've stated in my post, you deflect the entire conversation with a selective wording of my message in an unsuccessful attempt to casually dismiss what I'm saying. A form of internet gaslighting, masked by a failed attempt at humor. Deep inside, you know what I'm saying rings true to you, otherwise you wouldn't have replied in the thread. Yawn.

Carry on.

[SLO]

In todays world, equality of opportunity is the only thing important. Anyone who spends their life mired in the inequities of the past is doomed for failure. This doesn't mean you don't strive to help people, but you have to put your best foot forward and not be mired in the past. You can not truly help others if you are not on the right track yourself.

Regarding the slave trade having built American cities, that is an over statement and is to me is intended to punish America for its past sins, when we are hardly unique in that arena. To acknowledge the sin is cleansing, and I agree it has lingered in many different ways, but there are far too many successful black Americans for me to believe in institutional racism.
Many people NOT just whites disagree with BLM, that does not make them racist. BLM is like an amoeba with a vast array of messages ranging from the obvious message in the name, to crimes as severe as killing people/cops in a fit of justified rage.

Today's issues of that equality of opportunity fall more on class lines than race.

[UPChicago]

I definitely agree with the feelings of resentment expressed by segun. I often feel like black people are nomadic within American society and are definitely effectively second-class citizens. People can't fully understand what its like to have to constantly be conscious of their own skin color unless they actually live it. I come from a low-income family and made it to the middle class but I am clear-eyed as to the reasons why so many others are not able to replicate my success.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by UPChicago

I definitely agree with the feelings of resentment expressed by segun. I often feel like black people are nomadic within American society and are definitely effectively second-class citizens. People can't fully understand what its like to have to constantly be conscious of their own skin color unless they actually live it. I come from a low-income family and made it to the middle class but I am clear-eyed as to the reasons why so many others are not able to replicate my success.

Then explain it to SLO, who doesn't believe you were discriminated against on your way up those crystal stairs.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Mr Roboto

Ive stayed quiet. No way I want to get in the middle of this as I know what side Im on already, its like a microcosm of the impending race war the evil racist whites always anticipated - but between skyscraper nerds. But some random comments:

- initiald is speaking pretty clearly and logically, I agree for the most part and in theory, but from any practical standpoint obviously there is little to be done in terms of actual policy that will address the past transgressions. And it is a slippery slope, where does it end, theres plenty of victims of slavery and colonialization across the globe across racial lines and generations. the covert white supremecists already hate libruls and libtards, the only thing they hate more with an insane murderous passion are smart brown skin libtards , so you'll see violence before any policy changes. But the point is yes, slavery helped build this nation to what it is, no denying that.

- There is alot of covert white supremacy on this site. Nothing new. America is full of these people, people at the gas station, people at the grocery store. Even skyscraper nerds.

No, initiald was not speaking logically, he was talking about lining people up against a wall and reliving the October Revolution.

Yes, we know the country's beginnings were facilitated by slavery. That and the total destruction and genocide of Native American tribes are a major shit stain on our collective history. There's no sugar coating that but what purpose does this article serve? Is it a history lesson? If it is, that's great, we need to learn more about the contributions slaves made to this country. A giant plaque or monument in front of the US Capitol commemorating the slaves that built it would be a starter. If this article is solely meant to invoke guilt and stoking tensions, then no..