slavery has been around a long, long time.
it was not invented in Africa.
want a little history?
go back to the Bible, the Old Testament. It first starts in Genesis, with Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers (all Hebrews) to Egyptians.
eventually, all the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, and were only set free due to the pleadings of Moses.
Go a little further in the OT and we find that the Jews had their own slaves from among themselves and from conquered countries around them.
But slavery was not always viewed negatively then. some slaves loved their masters, and after 7 years of service, the law said you had to set your slave free. but if the slave wanted to serve his master for all his life, he could do so. he had his ear pierced by his master as a sign of that.
so this is not something invented in the last 400 years.
fast forward to the New Testament, the Romans had all kinds of slaves. some were good masters, some not. some took good care of their slaves, gave them food, housing, and employed them in all manner of endeavors.
For those who like to hang their politics off the Bible, the Bible never says anything against the idea of slavery. It is silent on that.
And to a degree, even today, if you depend on your job to feed yourself and your family, you are dependant on your employer. he doesn't own you as personal property, but you still depend on his good graces to keep the checks coming on a regular basis.
So if you want to speak about slavery, speak from a basis of knowledge grounded in history, not just emotion about the color of someone else's skin.
No one in America owns any slaves anymore. There are no slaves.
but if you are stuck fighting a battle that was won 150 years ago, or 50 years ago, it's time to move on with your fight. no one is stopping you from doing whatever you want to do except yourself.
end of sermon.
