Posted on 07/08/2003 8:59:21 AM PDT by Brian_Baldwin
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal July 8 —
President Bush paid homage Tuesday to African slaves who passed through the port here, calling slavery "one of the greatest crimes of history" that nonetheless stirred America's commitment to freedom.
"Liberty and life were stolen and sold," Bush said after touring a centuries-old house that was used as a processing center for countless thousands of Africans who were herded aboard ships that took them into slavery in America.
"Human beings delivered, sorted, weighed, branded with marks of commercial enterprises and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return," Bush said. "One of the largest migrations in history was also one of the greatest crimes of history."
Bush did not apologize for slavery but noted Americans throughout history "clearly saw this sin and called it by name."
"For 250 years, the captives endured an assault on their culture and their dignity. The spirit of Africans in America did not break," Bush said.
"Yet the spirit of their captors was corrupted. Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience."
Bush said some have argued that "we should not judge their failures by the standards of a later time. Yet in every time there were men and women who clearly saw this sin and called it by name."
The president recited a litany of Africans and African Americans who made contributions to American society, from the arts to politics: abolitionist Frederick Douglass, slave-poet Phillis Wheatley and Martin Luther King Jr.
"The stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America," he said.
"America learned that freedom is not the possession of one race," Bush said.
Photo credit and caption: U.S. President George W. Bush takes a look out to sea from the departure portal of The Slave House, on Goree Island in Senegal, July 8, 2003. Goree Island was a slave trade depot for millions of Africans between the 16th and 18th centuries. Bush flew to Africa Tuesday with promises of aid and a message of hope, but his five-nation trip was likely to be overshadowed by the conflicts besetting the continent. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Sadly, your post will be in the minority on this thread.
We can fairly judge the past by the standards of President John Adams, who called slavery "an evil of callosal magnitude." We can discern eternal standards in the deeds of William Wilberforce and John Quincy Adams, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Abraham Lincoln. These men and women, black and white, burned with a zeal for freedom, and they left behind a different and better nation. Their moral vision caused Americans to examine our hearts, to correct our Constitution, and to teach our children the dignity and equality of every person of every race. By a plan known only to Providence, the stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America. The very people traded into slavery helped to set America free...This is fantastic stuff.
We've dealt and are dealing with that fact- and we're a better country for it.
The answer to all the people who point to ongoing slavery in Africa, or the involvement of Brazil, is that it is up to the government of those countries to address slavery within those countries. It is the responsibility of our President to address the actions committed within this country.
This whole "other countries did it so don't point the finger at us" excuse is lame. It's like a vandal who breaks car windows but pleads innocent because a lot of other people did it as well.
I didn't see anything in Bush's speech where he took personal responsibility for slavery, or blamed the current generations of Americans for the evil of slavery. He simply acknowledged the (presumably undisputed) truth that the institution of slavery in this country was morally wrong.
I agree, however there is a blind spot the media is creating, which is the myth that the USA was MOST GUILTY. I remember reading about slavery in South America, where the slaves lived about 10 years due to the harsh treatment. We need to emphasize that we were one of the first to eliminate slavery.
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