'I'm leaving and I'm just not coming back': Fed up with racism, Black Americans head overseas

Yeah, you're talking about the Cimbrian War -- way before Marcus Aurelius came along. No, no, I was talking about the period during which the Romans took my German ancestors slaves after they pillaged their land in Eastern Gaul, Germania, and those European regions. That's the part that I want 'reparations' from the Italian government for... as long as everybody is 'hitting everybody else up' for free money.... If we descendants of those Germans can lay a big 'guilt-trip' on the Italians -- and they're gullible and stupid enough to fall for it -- I'll be happy to take the money, along with whatever else I can get....

Those early Germans put up one hell of a series of fights, making Romans pay dearly for their conquests. But, those poor African negro slaves didn't even get to resist -- they were sold to Europeans, Middle-Easterners, and others by other African negro tribes!

I still don't understand fully the appeal to American negroes of going 'back-to-Africa', when it was African tribal warlords who sold many of their ancestors into slavery, to work in plantations for Americans, Frenchmen, the British, et al, but almost anything can seem desirable if you delude yourself heavily enough.

So, are you going...? I guess it depends on how sweet your own deal is there in Europe... right?

. My fantasy: to hit 'Rome' up for millions of euros, and, a Bugatti Veyron!

 

you appear to have no clue as to how this works bru. you invaded roman territory first. therefore you cannot claim reparations since YOU started the war, you were POW's, not slaves. if you had done nothing wrong, just sitting by the camp fire eating bratwurst in Frankfurt THEN you may have a case for reparations but alas, you wanted roman slaves and instead got enslaved yourself. you have no case for reparations.

 

And black individuals who wound up as slaves in the united states were sold to white travelers by their own fellow black countrymen in the nation of Africa. So the descendants of slaves should be seeking reparations from the home nation of their ancestors who facilitated the entire slave trade to begin with.

 

Meh, in Frankfurt they were more likely sensibly inside their wood huts (rains a lot there, you see), eating boiled eggs with grie soβ.... I take it you're in Germany, right? Gonna leave soon and go to Sub-Saharan Africa? I've only asked you about eight times....

Anyway, I'll play along. So you maintain that those proto-Germanic tribes organized themselves prior to the Roman invasions, fought the Gauls, and invaded Italy -- or -- in a display of sheer bravado -- marched across the Alps (quite a feat... even in summer... and without elephants!) and just went straight down into the Po Valley and the Northern Appenines to invade Rome...? A lovely, fanciful diversion for a rainy afternoon over a glass of rye whiskey....

But, more to the point, let's assume you're correct that those captured Germans were just "POW's"... so, it was OK for them to be forced into slavery... right? Now -- fast-forward to the plight of captured native negroes in Africa! Using your logic, it was OK for them to be forced into slavery by those negro tribal conquerors -- who then sold them to Arabs, English, Americans, et al...?

'Tut mir leid', Esau... I think you just 'kneecapped' your faction's 'reparations' argument! But, what the hell, go ahead and head on out to Africa anyway. You'll probably be happier, and I doubt that the Germans will miss you at all....

 

Pow's are not slaves per se. slaves would be somebody randomly enslaved. appreciate there are different forms but generally speaking pow's shouldnt be confused with slaves in the case of reparations, as was stated, pow's have no right to reparations if they initiated the war. they are lucky to be alive!
that said, the african americans enslaved in america for hundreds of years were not at war with americans and so there fore are not pow's and thus can make a rightful claim to reparations.

 

Yes, but, those African negro slaves (captured and enslaved by other African negro tribes) became the de facto PROPERTY of the conquerors -- nicht war...? Thus, according to African 'tribal law', those slaves could be sold if that is what the conquering tribes wanted to do with them.

The 'customers' -- those Arabs, English, other Europeans, Americans, etc., thus got 'clear-title' to that PROPERTY! They owe no one ANYTHING.

But, let's be magnanimous about this 'reparations' thing -- let's pay every negro who has been a slave in the United States a million dollars, tax free... or was it several more millions? Whatever... all any of these negro slaves need do is show that they were impressed into slavery at any point in their lives and -- ka-ching! -- they get the money!

By this point, they'd probably be a bit OLD to enjoy the money very much, considering that slavery was abolished in the United States 157 YEARS AGO, but some of those old negroes were quite famous for living very long lives, in spite of their having been slaves.... Fair enough?

Also, fahren Sie bald nach Afrika?

 

I got a question regarding slavery in Africa prior to white man buying slaves from African traders. Did the slaves that white men bought from African slavers come from POW's from African wars or were they just enslaved by one tribe over another. Because, I wonder if reparations should be endowed from those slavers as well?

Anyways, I am starting to come around to the Reparations side of things in some way or form. I am sure over the next decade compromise can be accomplished. Unfortunately, for those who are eternally angry people, there will never be enough to satisfy them. They will blame any act by humanity to be against them.

Also, I read an interesting story you will find interesting as well. It is a mini bio about a black man in England who researched his family tree. What I found interesting is that some of the largest banks of England did generate their power and wealth directly from the Abolition of Slavery act. Because, England gave slave owners the equivalent of $17 billion to offset the profit loss of losing their slaves. Ends up the author of the story who went through horrendous racial injustices in the 70's-80's found out his ancestors were wealthy slave owners at one time in the 1800's.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/3k9u8lh178/Searching_for_my_slave_roots

 

yet they were not the property of americans as POW's, that is when they became slaves.
this is without going into the whole episode of europeans entering the interior in order to fight wars and arm kingdoms for the express purpose of creating more POW's for benin and such, that the european could then purchase.

 

for sure there are many so called mixed black/white descendants. thats where it gets tricky.

the discourse over african civil wars and pow's prior to colonization can lead to many conclusions. dates are important, for example, to ask what happened before the "so called trade" began we can look to portuguese records. these archives show that originally it was no "trade" at all and just kidnappings by european pirates, when the so called trade did began it could be seen as entrapment or a racket. like how security firms work [they hack your computer under an alias then offer you security under another alias]

the spread of guns throughout the continent was a defining factor. the africans needed guns to fight off the ever increasing raids by portuguese ships. this is where the dutch stepped in and became a major exporter of gunpowder to the west coast of africa. dutch and portuguese interests clashed and they began to arm kingdoms and in proxy wars, the slave trade increased dramatically during this time.
it appears the europeans would only trade guns for human cargo.

 

You are right! They most definitely were "not the property of americans (sic) as POW's). They were in fact already -- SLAVES!

The African slave negroes were slaves when their African negro conqueror overlords seized them as prisoners (detainees?) AND MADE SLAVES OF THEM!

So, what the customers of these 'African negro conqueror overlords' purchased was merchandise -- slaves! It was perfectly legal in Africa, and had been for thousands of years. It was perfectly legal in England to buy them from abroad, or import them... and that was also true in France, in America, in the Middle-East, etc., etc., on and on. I'm glad we can finally agree on something!

So, are you leading a 'caravan' of negroes to back to Africa when you go? I hope so... and I wish you the best of good fortune if you do.

 

I can approve an initiative to pay 'reparations' to negroes who have actually been slaves at some point in their lifetimes -- but NOT going back over 150 years in history. That is nothing but quivering-lip hyperliberal gush!

Did you ever own a slave? Yeah, neither did I. Neither did anyone in my family going back as far as I can trace any of them -- way back in Germany. Hell, my people didn't even get to this country until after 1900, long after slavery was abolished in the U. S.

Therefore, I have absolutely NOTHING to be put on a 'White boy guilt-trip' about. But, by all means, these simple-minded twits can empty out THEIR wallets to these con artists if you want to -- but they'd damn well better leave MY wallet alone!

 

they were pows in africa but when the europeans purchased them they became chattel slaves.

 

youve already paid millions to descendants of holocaust survivors so that must mean you have an anti black prejudice.

 

Slaves were freely bought, sold, traded, and killed even in their home nations, by their own people. As was the case in every other nation at the time, dating as far back as the human species itself.

 

Where did you get the idea that the govt will only spend money on things YOU like?

 

Once again, you are right! The African negroes who became captives of other, victorious African negro tribes were captives of the victors. You could call them "prisoners-of-war" or categorize them in other ways, but became PROPERTY of the victors, who sold them to all these adventurers, entrepreneurs, etc. who visited those Sub-Saharan African ports-of-call.

Quick definition of the word "chattel" for those who are unfamiliar with it: Chattel is a category of property mostly associated with movable goods. At common law, chattel includes all property that is not real estate and is not physically attached to real estate.

Thus, the Europeans, Americans, and Middle-Easterners who bought the slaves bought PROPERTY, and this PROPERTY became theirs, because they paid for it. I know this sounds kind of 'elementary', but I'm enjoying this opportunity to agree with you about something.

At any rate, and as I've said a dozen times, slavery ended in the United States 157 years ago. Good! Very good indeed!

And, after 1965, the very last vestiges of inequality between ALL races ended in this country. Good! Very good indeed!

Now, if American negroes are still upset, and feeling that they must go back to Africa in order to be happy, THEN LET THEM GO!

And, I suppose, let the European negroes go, too. I don't think you'll find that any Caucasians or Oriental peoples would mind that at all!

 

I think the most accurate histories of World War II state that it was the Nazis who conducted the Holocaust. And yes, the German government still pays large sums to those survivors, even after all these years, even though Nazi Germany ended in May 1945.

And, I don't believe there were any reports that African or American negro slaves were victims of the Holocaust....

 

read it again;

youve already paid millions to descendants of holocaust survivors so that must mean you have an anti black prejudice.

 

The government of the nation of Germany is ultimately paying to compensate the descendant of those who were harmed by official government policies.

The government of the united states, by contrast, played absolutely no part in slavery, and thus is under no obligation to pay compensation to the descendants of anyone that was victimized by the ancestors of private individuals.

 

I am a hard right conservative, but even the USA paid 80,000 Japanese people living in America reparations after incarcerating them in camps during WWII. Now, if we go back to the 50's thru 80's where blacks were confined to Ghetto's with limited job opportunities by white people due to the color of their skin, then I think at least a free college education or vouchers on purchasing a house assistance can be the least we can do to build a better future for all. And, this is from someone who grew up extremely poor living in Shacktown, Detroit. I worked 6 days a week to help my mother pay rent in high school. I have seen how white privaledge helped me succeed despite my surroundings.

Especially, when we see Democrats proposed covid bill providing billion dollars on stupid stuff like the performing arts buildings etc. If politicians on both sides throw money at stupid crap, then may as well make amends with those who don't get the same opportunities on the job market even though nowadays the job market is a great deal better for black people than it was 10 or 20 years ago already. It would be easy to divert that stupid spending to help others and still wouldn't dent our tax payments.

 

American negro slaves, the last of whom reportedly died in 1937, were never held as 'prisoners of war' by the Government of the United States, nor were they ever incarcerated by the government in 'camps' against their will.... What is the rationale for the Government of the United States to pay of their descendants any 'reparations' 157 years after slavery ended in this country...?

American negroes, along with everyone else born in this country, was guaranteed citizenship as a result of the 14th Amendment, but only those World War II-era Japanese Americans were forcibly put into 'relocation camps' without regard to what THEY wanted to do.

I'm sure you see the large chasm of difference between American negroes and Japanese-Americans in the context of this situation.

***********

Next, I'm in complete agreement with you about the government throwing around hundreds of billions of imaginary dollars at all kinds of crap -- including stock market gamblers and many others who never saved a damned DIME for a 'rainy day'. They got their 'teat caught in the wringer' by this virus, and now they come crying and wailing for 'Uncle Sugar' to get them out the mess they're in. That is such BULLSHIT!

Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 WE HAVE ALL BEEN COMPLETELY EQUAL BEFORE GOVERNMENT, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE LAW! Everyone is free to 'make it' or 'break it' -- according to each person's willingness to work and achieve! But, a lot of Americans don't want to do that because they've learned for the last 20 years that if they just lay back on their asses and whine, the government will step in and 'rescue' them....

Conclusion: This fugged-up mess we're in now will not end well....

 

reparations could be a tax refund, private property owners paid taxes using slave labor

the government could give the descendants of masters money back

 

But, what are the legal or ethical arguments to support giveaways for 'reparations' of ANY kind...? There aren't any....

The last known American negro slave died in 1937. Slavery ended in the United States 157 years ago. This is NONSENSE and attempted extortion, playing on 'white-guilt'... and it's total 'shakedown' BULLSHIT!

 

The 'research project' involved in trying to determine who actually owned slaves way back in the middle of the 1800's would do primarily one thing -- give nice, fat salaries and life-long careers to hundreds of Sociology majors who would take decades trying to sort this out....

Look, just like the fact that the last known slave died in 1937, when did the last slave-OWNER die...? Were there any of them still alive by 1937...? How would they shake the slave-OWNERS down for 'reparations' money when they've all been dead for DECADES? Do you see how silly this whole 'reparations' thing is -- and on top of that, how unfair it is to ALL U. S. taxpayers to even think about having the U. S. Government (which actually LIBERATED the slaves) pay for any 'reparations' nonsense!

How many of today's American citizens even had ancestors who owned negro slaves? Example: my people didn't even get over here from Germany until the American Civil War had been over for more than 40 years!

We have MANY more important REAL things to focus the national attention on today....