How do you interpret this statement in regards to the South's slavery history?

cynatnite

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:06 PM
Original message

How do you interpret this statement in regards to the South's slavery history?

Edited on Sun Feb-20-11 09:06 PM by cynatnite

This was at the Commeration of Davis being sworn in as President of the Confederacy...

Asked about the prominent speeches and documents that described the protection of slavery as the primary cause of secession, Joe Dupree of Mobile, Ala., said the question itself was wrong.

�African slavery is a 4,000-year-old African institution that affected us a couple of hundred years,� he said. �It is, historically, an error.�

From the same article...

But even the politics on Saturday were tied up in a larger sense of grievance, a feeling of being marginalized and willfully misunderstood. Expressions of this feeling led to some rather unexpected analogies, like when Kelley Barrow, a teacher from Georgia, declared that people of Confederate heritage �have been forced to go to the back of the bus.�

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/us/21davis.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Is he saying that the South shouldn't be associated with slavery at all?

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muntrv

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:08 PM
Response to Original message

1. Since 1492 is more than "a couple of hundred years."

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hughee99

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:13 PM
Response to Original message

2. Here's my read on it...

"African's have been enslaving each other for 4000 years, we only enslaved them for a few hundred". I'm not sure what to make of the last part about an "error".

In any case, I'm not 100% sure I would have read it the same way if you didn't say who said it and where, first.

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cynatnite

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:15 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. I wanted to make sure I kept it in context...

It sounds weird.

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hughee99

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #4

11. I understand.

It was an oddly worded statement in any context, but without the context, I think people could interpret it differently.

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bluestateguy

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:15 PM
Response to Original message

3. I think it's all about nostalgia for them

It's the America of their dreams:

White Protestants run the show; black people are subordinate and know their place; businessmen (yes businessmen) have all the power; women are to be strictly homemakers or if they are upper class, a plantation mistress.

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npk

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:18 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. And it has been ingrained into their way of thinking

for generations.

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Name removed

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:16 PM
Response to Original message

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Dappleganger

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:19 PM
Response to Original message

7. "After all they did it to themselves."

Yes, I read that just TODAY on a local news site in response to an article calling for better minority relations in St. Augustine.

Get me outta here!

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bbinacan

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:21 PM
Response to Original message

8. I think he's saying

that many were complicit.

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JI7

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:23 PM
Response to Reply #8

10. the question was about secession and slavery being a factor in that

it's like the Wisconsin teachers are being paid more than someone at walmart so why are they protesting ..............

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Jamastiene

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:34 PM
Response to Reply #8

12. While there was slavery in African countries for a lot of years,

Edited on Sun Feb-20-11 09:35 PM by Jamastiene

pointing out that others did it too doesn't make it "ok" that it happened here too.

It sounds like that is what they are trying to say, but they are wrong to look at it that way. Trying to shift blame is like saying, "Look over there!" then running away. It's practically a playground level tactic.

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JI7

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:21 PM
Response to Original message

9. looks like he was trying to avoid answering the question

it's like when people bring up Muslims not having rights in some Islamic country to excuse taking away rights in America.

instead of admitting they support that negative thing they do the "but it's happens there also".

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DavidDvorkin

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Sun Feb-20-11 09:40 PM
Response to Original message

13. People have been mudering each other for hundreds of thousands of years

Therefore, if I murder someone it's just a mistake that should be overlooked.

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