Did all Blacks Descend From Slavery? Are They Oppressed?

It never fails. Every time there is a minority group being targeted, Some bigoted Whites crawl out from under their rocks to minimize and erase the oppression with fiction. Thus, when Muslims are targeted by the US as a matter of national and political policies, people seek to erase the oppression by saying they are only going after “Terrorists”…forgetting of course, that the same or worse act by REAL (Judeo-Christian and White) Americans (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-militia-idUSBRE82S1EX20120329) are sometimes, not even regarded as crimes, let alone “Terrorism”. Torture, when applied to Muslims, is recast as “Robust Interrogation”…I could go on…

Now many White groups who feel threatened by the facts that Blacks in America are starting to actually agitate for their rights and the “Black Lives Matter” is becoming stronger, introduce the false-flag notion that “White Lives Matter” as well. Of course, if White lives did not matter, Whites would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Blacks and the entire politics of this nation would be in an upheaval. White lives mattered when nobody ever thought of Blacks or, nobody wondered why Blacks were being lynched and not being allowed to vote as equals.

“Black-on Black” murders and other crimes are decried among many circles, even politicians and Police Chiefs have often brought this topic up yet, nobody ever talks about “White-on-White” murders and other crimes even though I am sure they happen with much greater frequency and ferocity.

I recall a friend telling me a couple of decades ago, that there had never been any rapes by slave-owners, only consensual sex. He soon became an ex-friend.

Back when I was studying at the school of business at the University of Washington (Seattle) my Marketing Professor told the class that no ad should include a white AND a Black because that would alienate the audiences.

That was then, let us not dwell on the past but think of the wonderful Today.

“plus sa change plus c’est le meme chose” (The more it changes the more it’s the same thing). Many actions are taken just to prove no minority is oppressed, least of all Blacks in this “Post-racial” society but those who insist they stand on positions of universal equality and universal justice, are deliberately deaf and blind to reality.

It was with this backdrop that I was pushed into the following dialogue on Police killings of Blacks, on Facebook:

 

• Richard Bradfield Lee: (RBL) “No one is equal to blue (Police). You don’t hear about it when they kill whites, because it does not fit the media narrative. white lives don’t matter.” Then he added that the only time there are followed in news or as an event when the victim is an attractive White blonde.”
• HP (host of the site) “Richard Bradfield Lee White Lives Matter they have to contact the police abuse sites to post their articles cop block or other sites don’t discriminate. White people just don’t have any useful civil rights organizations to defend them like blacks do. They have to make this for themselves”.
• Richard Bradfield Lee “I quote the root all the time, they list blacks owning slaves in america and the black confederates, both of which destroys the narrative. Only 17% of american blacks can trace back to a enslaved ancestor”.

 

I found it difficult to accept these “statistics” because I know of the old saw, “89.74% of all statistics are made up on the spot” or, as Churchill once said, “The only statistics you can believe are the ones you make up yourself”.

First, I did a web-search to see if Blacks are killed in the same numbers as White. I found the answer and I relayed it to HP and RB:

ME: “White people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49 percent of those who are killed by police officers. African Americans, however, account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed by the police despite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population. As The Post noted in a new analysis published last week, that means black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.

It’s not about “attractive blondes””

RBL did not respond, but HP said something bland.

Then I look to see if I could find the percentage of current American Blacks who were descended from Slaves in America. To my surprise, I could find no reliable source. Finally, I called ‘National Museum of African American History and Culture’ (https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/museum), It is amazing how difficult it is to get in touch with someone at the Museum. Finally I pretended to be offering a gift (I AM a founding donor) and then I asked for the info, the lady said she would have someone call me.
No response.

Finally I thought of calling the Black Studies Department at the University of Washington, I was given the e-mail address of Professor Dr. LaTasha Levy to whom I addressed my question.

Prof. Dr Levy was most helpful. She responded with the following information, which I found personally, most educational:

“You probably haven’t found that statistic because it is almost impossible to identify. I would venture to say that most African Americans cannot trace their family history back past 4 generations. I have no idea who my great grandparents are, for instance. My family has names, but do not have the names of their parents, or anyone before that. The sheer ability to keep track of family and family history is one aspect of human dignity that was systematically denied to African Americans during slavery. Many African Americans passed for white, if they could, erasing their family ties. And so many others were literally ripped from their families as a result of the domestic slave trade. Millions of people looked for family members after the Civil War.”

“I would venture to say that many families just assume they are not among the descendants of about 500,000 free Black people at the close of the Civil War. I am not aware of any numbers that can clarify any of this. And even more, the insidious racism that followed slavery disallowed Black families from keeping records of their origins. That gap is a fact of blackness. Your question, although basic and innocuous, is deeply traumatizing given the ways in which slavery and anti-Black racism ripped this type of family knowledge away from Black people. This is precisely why the questionable DNA “heritage” tests are so popular.”

“In order for you to understand the magnitude of what you are asking, I would suggest taking a look at Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Lost Family After Slavery. This is not a direct answer to your question, but it provides critical context. And while we are talking about lost individuals here, I would imagine that few families were willing or able to speak to their children in the era of freedom about the horrors of slavery. Some stories survived, of course. But passing down mere knowledge that your family was once enslaved was probably just too painful for most families, especially since millions of people lost mothers, children, fathers, and fictive kin through sell. I’m not sure what path you are on, but Africans were among the largest and oldest populations in the Americas, aside from indigenous populations, of course. When Europeans colonized these areas, Africans outnumbered them by far in places like Mexico, Peru, Colombia, one hundred years before Europeans brought enslaved Africans to North America. Many white people are descendants of slaves! And people who do not consider themselves “Black” throughout the Caribbean and South and Central America, well, millions of Africans were the first wave of [forced] “immigrants” in those areas.”

I shared Prof Dr Levy’s e-mail with RBL and with HP saying it was disgusting that anyone should pretend to know and send such un-researched, biased information without first doing some fact-checking.

The Professor then sent me some more information which I attempted to send to RBL via HP, but found that I had been “Un-friended” by HP! Oh well, pardon me while I cry.

Prof Dr Levy followed up with some more information that per force, remains with me and anyone who reads this, not shared with RBL or with HP.

• “Here are some quick articles with stats.

ttps://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/nyregion/more-africans-enter-us-than-in-days-of-slavery.html

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/14/african-immigrant-population-in-u-s-steadily-climbs/
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/african-immigrants-united-states

“(The above links) are some quick articles with stats. I didn’t read the NYT article, but the headline suggests that more Africans are now entering the U.S. (than) during slavery. Maybe your friend was informed by this headline? But remember, the number of Africans that were kidnapped and brought to the American colonies was small compared to the Caribbean and Latin America. Only about 400,000 Africans were brought here. One-third of kidnapped Africans were taken to Brazil, alone. And there was racial slavery in the Caribbean and Latin America for 100 years before slavery made its way to North American colonies.”

“Although the U.S. got the smallest number of African captives, the population increased faster than in other regions. African Americans reproduced themselves, and some were forced to “breed,” at an astronomical rate compared to other regions. Slavery did not just happen in the U.S. So although more Africans are now entering the U.S. now than were captive during slavery, that number is still small. Roughly 4 million slaves helped to liberate themselves during the American Civil War. You can track population growth of that 4 million up through the 1900s, and that population largely lived in the South until post-WWII. African immigration did not really kick off until recent decades. If you track the numbers of Afro-Caribbeans, it is probably similar. And as you stated, Black people from the Caribbean are also descendants of slavery. Not only did slavery start earlier in those areas, it also lasted longer. Some countries did not abolish slavery until 20 years after the American Civil War. I hope this helps!”

“Although the U.S. got the smallest number of African captives, the population increased faster than in other regions. African Americans reproduced themselves, and some were forced to “breed,” at an astronomical rate compared to other regions. Slavery did not just happen in the U.S. So although more Africans are now entering the U.S. now than were captive during slavery, that number is still small. Roughly 4 million slaves helped to liberate themselves during the American Civil War. You can track population growth of that 4 million up through the 1900s, and that population largely lived in the South until post-WWII. African immigration did not really kick off until recent decades. If you track the numbers of Afro-Caribbeans, it is probably similar. And as you stated, Black people from the Caribbean are also descendants of slavery. Not only did slavery start earlier in those areas, it also lasted longer. Some countries did not abolish slavery until 20 years after the American Civil War. I hope this helps!”

It is sickening how bigots stoop to lift “statistics” to prove their point that minorities are inferior or, that Whites are suffering as much as or, more than the minorities. I find people resort to misinformation or pass along baseless information without a second thought. I don’t have a problem when the information shows something positive but negative information MUST be fact-checked before it is forwarded in order to prevent more damage.