"The pimp who became God"

[level_head]

It's an interview with Morgan Freeman.

I like this fellow, and have great respect for him. We have tremendous political differences -- and areas of agreement. Tucked into this interview are both sort of points, but here's one that relates to the slavery issues we've been discussing:(The interviewer:) For this reason he cites Glory, the heroic

Comments

[torakiyoshi]

I agree... Slavery most certainly could not have been caused by the US, since the Spanish started it a couple hundred years or so before the US was formed.

With your permission, I'd like to forward these remarks to my brother. He and I were discussing this last night.

Have the best

-=Kiyoshi

[level_head]

Of course. And all these posts are public to make just such arrangements as easy as possible.

Slavery goes back a long way before European involvement -- but generally, the Portuguese get the credit on that side. Ah, here's a link to that effect.

===|==============/ Level Head

[torakiyoshi]

Thank you, for permission and for the link.

Have the best

-=Kiyoshi

[sir_dave]

Generally this is right, but no one wants to admit it. Bob Geldof said in a documentary that before the Europeans became involved, 40% of African economic activity was conducted through internal slavery

which finally gave up the practice about a quarter-century after our civil war

[justgoto]

I've had the slavery argument in my journal before. The US, (and I,) were evil and all... Until I pointed out their country had slavery 50 years after it was abolished in the US. They deleted all their comments.

[witteafval]

I find it odd that the US could be blamed for slavery, the practice of which has been documented for thousands of years before Columbus ever sailed west. The Romans and Greeks had slaves, as did the Egyptians (anyone remember Moses?) and many other ancient cultures. Maybe there were subtle nuances in the differences between the slavery of ancient times and Euro-American slavery, but slavery's slavery in my opinion.

[deckardcanine]

I'll make the obvious comment that it's appropriate to hear this from someone whose last name is Freeman.

[level_head]

I'll make the obvious comment that it's appropriate to hear this from someone whose last name is Freeman.

That struck me as well.

And it reminds me of another cultural irony: The song including the lines "War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" being sung by people whose near ancestors were released from the bondage of slavery ... by war.

Perhaps the song can be covered by the children of Nazi concentration camps next.

===|==============/ Level Head

[deckardcanine]

OT, I wanted to show you this.

Slaves were not freed by war

[rainonlevs]

A war was started by Southern states that tried to secede by force. If the Southern states had not started a war, the slaves would still be free. In fact, I think a reasonable argument could be made that blacks in this country would very likely be farther along in the civil rights movement than they are now if the South had not resorted to war.