• @LePoisson@lemmy.world
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    54 days ago

    I know an older gent (like 65) who firmly believes the descendants of slaves should be thankful that the slaves were taken over here. Because it was better than living in Africa and their descendants wouldn’t be alive in the USA if it weren’t for this enslaved population.

    Blew my fucking mind but I guess that’s what growing up in (parts of) Tennessee will get you.

    For the record, that’s obviously a dumb as fuck take and slavery was abhorrent - particularly chattel slavery that the USA was the expert of.

    • @zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      44 days ago

      Because it was better than living in Africa

      This is mind-boggling. What could be so great about the US that it would make up for a lifetime of being enslaved? I’ll bet approximately zero of them thought it was better.

      • @LePoisson@lemmy.world
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        34 days ago

        Nothing, but the civil war was a thing for a reason and after the Union pussyfooted around during Reconstruction and didn’t enforce educational standards the Southern states adopted a history that isn’t exactly aligned with reality.

        Grow up in a system where you’re told you’re better, black people are lucky to even exist in the USA, segregation is normal and good, and plantation life wasn’t that bad for the slaves (comparable to just being regular farmers). Top it all off with the notion of “states rights” and that the Confederacy simply wanted to protect the idea of our founding fathers … Well that’s the result.