Actually, Sharpton should be grateful that his relatives were slaves. Today, Sharpton claims to be a Christian Minister. That would not have happened had his ancestors been left on the shores of Africa, worshiping false gods in idolatry. God very well may have been judging those people by enslaving them, just as Israel was enslaved to the Babylonians for the soul purpose of judgment of sin, followed up by a restoration of the heart back to God.
I'm not saying that the early American slave owners were right and justified in their treatment of the slaves, (the Babylonians were a wicked people but God used them anyway to rebuke Israel), but they did end up being led to salvation of the soul here in America.
For that, Rev. Al should be grateful.
Obviously my opinion will not be a popular one since the term slavery in American has a very bad connotation. But in reality 'slavery' is very popular. Many of us are 'slaves' to these computers. Or to the TV's. In the Mosaic Law, if a person committed a crime and got caught, his punishment was that he had to pay 'restitution' to the offended. This usually was more than the actual value of the crime. Sometimes it was twice the value, sometimes seven fold. If the offender did not have the means to pay the fine, he became the 'servant' (slave) of the victim until his debt was paid off. This was God ordained as a punishment for sin. The offender was to be treated fairly and all his physical needs met. God even had a provision that if a slave had purchased back their freedom but enjoyed being a servant to their master, the master could enter a contract with the slave to keep the relationship going. The slave would have a mark placed on the earlobe with an awl signifying the contract.
Try teaching that in a public school during Black History Month.
I forget who it was, but some noteworthy black person said something to the effect that he was glad that his ancestors were slaves in the old South - because otherwise he would never have had the opportunity to become what he is.