[nclaurel]

The comment was referencing those who claim their ancestors were brought here as slaves-—I was not clear apparently. If indeed their ancestors had remained there they would have faced that life. If it sounds so good to them I think they should return to the homeland of the ancestor. Although I doubt many have any idea of where they originated so they are welcome by me to just move anywhere since this country isn’t where they have allegiance.

[Shade2]

Well, this is my perspective. For one, if their ancestors had not been brought here, they would not have been faced with that life. They would not exist. The fact that 645,000 grew to nearly 40 million does not mean that if those 645,000 had not become slaves, Africa would have nearly 40 million more black people there. Africa’s population would probably be practically the same as it is today. Its like when you break off a branch of a bush and plant it, the branch will eventually spread into a full bush while the original bush will not have changed much at all.

Second of all, from my view, those slaves by default became American citizens the moment their feet hit the land never to return to where they came from. This is the modern view since all of those slaves are viewed officially today as having been American citizens from the time of arrival despite not being given such status back then. Thus we are speaking of a group of American citizens who were not given the rights and freedoms afforded to other American citizens. How their lives compared to blacks in Africa or how the lives of their descendants compare to the lives of blacks living in Africa currently is a moot point because they and their descendants were and are American citizens and thus should judge and be judged by AMERICAN STANDARDS, not African standards.

So consider how today’s black Americans would be if those first black Americans were given complete rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness other Americans had the moment they set foot on the land and this lasted until today. One can speculate that you have a far more fully assimilated and patriotic group.

Let me ask you this. If a black person complained intensely about American liberalism and liberal politicians, the liberal media, the current President, etc., would a liberal be justified in telling that black person that this socialized liberalized America is far better than Africa? Why must black people in America constantly have to judge their lives based on African standards as opposed to American standards?

You see, folks who harp over slavery don’t so much do so because of a group being taken from their lands (though I’m sure that all slaves would have preferred to live in freedom in Africa), but rather the fact that when they came to this land, they were relegated to being slaves as opposed to individuals with the freedom to pursue the American dream.