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Has The Legacy of Slavery Made The World A Better Place?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Now I'm certainly NOT defending slavery, or it's practise.
What I'm thinking of is the fact that due to slavery and the fact people were taken from around the world from one country to the next 100's of years ago - the world as it stands today is now a more culturally diverse, mixed and intersting place to live?
If slavery had never happened do you think the world today would be better or worse - it would mean for example there being far fewer African American in the USA? or Hardly any people orignally from Africa in the Caribean? World sports as we know it would be totally different. Our relationships with other would be totally different. Do you think people would be more afriad of other races if the world wasn't as diverse and mixed as it is today?
Let's hear your thoughts?
What I'm thinking of is the fact that due to slavery and the fact people were taken from around the world from one country to the next 100's of years ago - the world as it stands today is now a more culturally diverse, mixed and intersting place to live?
If slavery had never happened do you think the world today would be better or worse - it would mean for example there being far fewer African American in the USA? or Hardly any people orignally from Africa in the Caribean? World sports as we know it would be totally different. Our relationships with other would be totally different. Do you think people would be more afriad of other races if the world wasn't as diverse and mixed as it is today?
Let's hear your thoughts?
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I don't think that slavery helped races mix, it would have at the time made white Westerner's think that they are superior (attitudes would stay the same way for well over a 100 years after it was abolished in the mid 1800's - i.e.- civil rights riots 1960's). I can't imagine it done much for the dignity of the slaves or the bitterness that would be passed on to the next generations growing up in the western world.
I'm pretty sure that there would be just as many in America and Britain through immigration (1950's from the West Indies) due to the need for workers.
I think that the western world may have a bit more respect & for Africa, but I don't think it would be much different as I think there would have been plenty of immigration without slavery.
I'm not Black (I'm not white either), but my mother's family is from East Africa and I still have family there and visit often.
Perhaps I didn't phrase my question clearly enough - I agree obviously at the time it was happening it wasn't doing anything for race relations - but I mean NOW in 2003 has the legacy it's left made the world a better place?
It still sends shivers down my spine to think if I'd been in America and born even 30 years earlier I'd have have been dealing with laws that said I had to sit at the back of the bus, etc.
Only half the story, the other half being colonialism.
Considering the mineral wealth in Africa I do believe it could have rivalled America and Europe in terms of economic power but thats just a guess. The Us certainly would be a vastly different place as it was mainly built on the economic benefits it achieved through slavery.
This also goes for Britain.
Instead of slavery our governments merely sow discord and fund and train guerilla movements to do their dirty work and then once the place is flooded with arms, spark a genocide. Keeping africans fighting Africans allows so much easier acquisition of resources without the stability need for those countries to effectively tax and control those acquisitions.
The dawning of the New Robber Barons of the 21st Century.