It doesn't have anything to do with race - it's all about culture. While slavery was completely odious and morally wrong, African slaves *were* often baptized and became devout Christians. Even in the post-bellum century of dreadful treatment - Reconstruction, persecution and murder by the Klan and other lynch mobs, American apartheid laws, etc., the descendants of former African slaves became Americans and part of "the American dream." This is a testament to the transforming power of *America.*
But if you go to Africa today, there is very little freedom or development. It's not because of the race of the people; some cultures are deliberately and resolutely anti-freedom. You either have to remove the people from the culture, or destroy the culture to free the people.
I never thought of it that way. Removing people from the culture is the key.