Students, teachers re-create slaves' Middle Passage

The North Jersey Herald and News ^ | 02.28.03

[Coleus]

I don't seem to recall European immigrants being shackled and chained. Let's try another tact shall we?>>

Did they fly here?

And who is to say they were all shackled and chained?

[Coleus]

C'mon, let's take another tact than trying not to put a negative spin on the slave trade. Let's take issue with the fact that black people just keep beating a dead horse by talking about slavery over and over again.>>>>

If slavery was negative then why blame the blacks for beating a dead horse about slavery?

[goodnesswins]

All I'm going to ask is a question.....Would the slaves children/grandchildren/greatgrandchildren rather still be in Africa?

[Lizavetta]

The point seems to be to keep people feeling agrieved.

You got it. Keep ripping that scab off of the wound and never let it heal, and then act shocked - shocked! - when the races continue to hate each other after all these years of Black History months.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I don't seem to recall European immigrants being shackled and chained. Let's try another tact shall we?

*cough* while I don't disagree with you about finding another tactic you might want to read a little more pre-revolution history. Not all Europeans came over willingly.

Quite a few came over in chains and sold. Some were Scot or Irish rebels, some were men, women and children who committed petty crimes.

America was England's dumping ground, sort of like Australia became later.

[T Minus Four]

The word is tack.

And I dunno, I would be grateful to the suffering of my ancestors that made it possible for me to have an infinitely better life. I would honor them by taking every opportunity made available for me, rather than play victim. Hmmm, maybe that's what I am doing now as an ancestor of Irish famine victims.

[Coleus]

No way, even boxer Mohammad Ali said the same thing when asked.

[F16Fighter]

"I think these students should be more concerned with the way abortion, Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, Title X, eugenics and the DemonRat party has decimated (over 10 Million) the Black Race in the USA rather than with revisionist history..."

WELL worth repeating...

[yankeedame]

I'd strongly recommend they read Keith Richberg's "Out of America". That black man's reaction...

Oh, I agree. It is an excellent book and I am more than a little amazed that the NAACP didn't burn him in effegy somewhere.

[dennisw]

#1) I know it's a lie that their bodies litter the ocean floor. Any bodies have disintegrated and been eaten by now.  

#2) Am I going to have to pay repartitions for this one too? My family didn't get here until 1900.

[xm177e2]

This sounds to me like a little bit of revisionist history. Let's face it, a slave was a large investment in those days and the last thing the owner wanted was a dead slave. I know people died during the long route by sea; however, I think this is stretching the truth a bit by saying the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean is lined with bones. Where is the evidence that One-third died? So, what did really happen in this Middle Passage?

[tsomer]

I don't seem to recall European immigrants being shackled and chained...

How about Georgia? For some time before the War for Independence debtors and prisoners were sent there. Afterwards Australia served that purpose. Given the choice between death, a life at hard labor, or Georgia, I suppose I'd pick the latter. But you couldn't call my expatriation voluntary. (Nothing against Georgia, but its a world apart from England)

What were the conditions of their transport? If we are to judge the people of that era, then let's judge them by the standards of their day. My point is that the cross Atlantic voyages were unbelievably squalid for just about everyone who made them. I'd like to see statistics comparing conditions of transit: size of ship, space allotment per passenger, length of travel, and etc.

Why? Take the offhand claim of "400 years of slavery" for example; the first African slave was brought to Virginia in 1613. "400 years" sounds compelling, but is an exageration.

[Coleus]

Thanks for the pic.

Looks like the same ships I saw down in Jamestown which brought in the early white settlers like Sir Walter Raleigh.

[Coleus]

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