You weren't brought here as slaves 400 years ago. Those were your ancestors. You were born in Chicago, a free person, in the twentieth century.
After defeating George Foreman for the heavyweight title in Zaire, Muhammad Ali returned to the United States where he was asked by a reporter, “Champ, what did you think of Africa?” Ali replied, “Thank God my grand-daddy got on that boat!”
“You were born in Chicago, a free person, in the twentieth century.”
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Only partially correct in my view, I would say that not one of us, black or white was born a FREE person in this country. Less oppressed than many in other countries but not even close to my definition of free. The less oppressed part is becoming less applicable every day in the twenty first century.
Free is actually a superlative, if I sold you a mansion for a penny you could say that it is “virtually free” but not truly free. Likewise if there is ANY UNWARRANTED restriction of any kind placed on your activities you are not truly free. There are NO DEGREES OF FREEDOM, there are only degrees of oppression. If I sold you a mansion for a penny and you found that you could not keep it because the county insists that you owe them twenty thousand dollars for the first year’s taxes and you could not afford to pay it I would consider that oppression. Your opinion may be different.