Arkansas GOP state rep "Slavery was good for African-Americans"

[garbon]

I never argued that being enslaved was a favourable outcome, or anything. Note that what I said is that ending up born in America is something to be thankful for when compared to Africa, and that life -as a slave in the South-, which negates the issue of the transatlantic voyage but also ensures you lucked out and got one of the Americas' most genteel slave systems, is better than a life a an African tribesman.

Not a defense of the abhorrent transatlantic slave system or the odious institution of slavery or etc etc etc.

And Ide already spoke to what that is mornic.

Do you really deny that it is a far better deal to end up born in America than Africa?

God knows what the fuck that has to do with anything.  Should Irish-Americans be thankful the British starved their forebears out of Ireland?  Jewish-Americans be thankful for Krystalnacht?  That's retarded.

By doing something horrible some people in past quite accidentally and only barely arguably did some folks a good turn, maybe.  THEY'RE THE REAL HEROES.

This without even getting into how the attitudes that led to the slave trade in the first place fed directly into in situ enslavement on the continent later on and turned black Africa into the hellhole we know and usually don't think about today.

[Barrister]

I never argued that being enslaved was a favourable outcome, or anything. Note that what I said is that ending up born in America is something to be thankful for when compared to Africa, and that life -as a slave in the South-, which negates the issue of the transatlantic voyage but also ensures you lucked out and got one of the Americas' most genteel slave systems, is better than a life a an African tribesman.

Not a defense of the abhorrent transatlantic slave system or the odious institution of slavery or etc etc etc.

You don't get to call american slavery "genteel", and then throw in a bunch of etceteras about how you're not actually defending it.

[dps]

The way I recall it was taught to me in school was
- go with trinkets to Africa and trade for slaves
- take slaves to America
- ship Colonial produce to Europe
=> Profit!

Hopefully everyone realized that this was a history lessson, not a how-to course.

[Lettow77]

You don't get to call american slavery "genteel", and then throw in a bunch of etceteras about how you're not actually defending it.

Well, it is a matter of relatives, as indicated by the qualifier -most- genteel. It wasnt the Caribbean and it wasn't Brazil, and that's something to be thankful for.