Of course, you're right, cloudmountain. And it's always made me wonder -- precisely when was it, and WHO was it, that began turning the particular American experience of slavery into a cause celebre? Is all of "race stuff" we've taught/learned/endured really just fallout from the Civil War? Was LBJ, all those years later, the one who recognized how to capitalize on it all? I don't know... knowing how modern politicians seem to seize an issue simply for the purpose of "divide and conquer", I have to believe someone or some organization, back in the day (early post-CW), decided race would be THE factor. Do South American cultures agonize over the whole issue (politically) as we have here? Europeans, Asians? Is it our unique Judeo-Christian foundation and independence that make it different here?
Well, MARY, our Lord's mother, is a unique feature of our Bible and of most faiths. Women don't SEEM to form an important part of other cultures' faiths.
Yes, there is an occasional empress and queen here and there, but mostly non-Judaic/Christian societies put women rather low on the totem pole. Even the well-to-do Chinese women had their feet bound so they would have "lily" feet.
Europeans are our "mother-race," so to speak, as we got our Judaic/Christian values from them.
Africans? I don't know enough about them to say anything here. We do have a Nigerian priest in our parish. Northern Africa leans to Islam.
Mexcio, Central and South America are nominally Christian-Catholic. Who knows how many people practice the faith in their hearts and lives.
Asia? I never read where there were many women involved in the faiths there. I taught yoga for decades but Hinduism is way too wacky complicated god-soaked -- never mind. I only taught yoga for its effects on strengthening, stretching, breathing and relaxing.
I ALWAYS told my students that if they wanted some faith and dogma about Hinduism from me, they were NOT getting it. There were PLENTY of books they could read on Hinduism.
I think that MARY is unique as the mother of our Savior.
Judaism had MANY women of faith and importance so our legacy from them is invaluable, as they were the seeds of Jesus.