Would you feel guilty if....

• dwccrew

  

  Wouldn't feel guilty at all. I would feel very sorry for the people that were treated so inhumanely and I would wish that it didn't happen to them. But how can I feel guilt for other people's actions that I didn't even know?
• DeyDurkie5

  

  hundreds of years from now, if abortion is illegal, are they going to feel bad that we had legalized abortion? No, it's how history works, you change for the better or worse and can't dwell on what happened back when it was an accepted part of society.
• Trueblue23

  

  Nope
• dwccrew

  

  DeyDurkie5 wrote: hundreds of years from now, if abortion is illegal, are they going to feel bad that we had legalized abortion? No, it's how history works, you change for the better or worse and can't dwell on what happened back when it was an accepted part of society.

  Bingo
• hang_loose

  majorspark wrote:

  Sonofanump wrote:

  Apple wrote: Probably the only way I would feel guilty is if my family has "old money" that can be directly traced to slavery.

  I was thinking close to this, that the only way I would feel guilty is if I lived on a southern plantation.

  Do you feel guilty about living on land taken from native Americans?
  
  I have no control over what some distant relative may or may not have done 150 years ago. So I do not feel guilty.
  
  As for the slavery issue many of our ancestors shed alot of blood over the issue. The Civil War took the lives of just under 2% of the population of the US at the time. That would equate to around 5.7 million dead using todays US population. I would say it had quite an impact on most of our ancestors.

  I voted no on this also. Majorspark, that is a very good arguement but native Americans also took land away from native Americans. Do you think they felt guilty? I think every civilization (from who knows when) has depended on dominance for survival. Just because their decendants are still alive does not make their fault.
• Belly35

  

  What about ( misspelling sorry) the Irish Slaves … why is slaver only identified with Africans?
  The fact is more Irish where sold as slaves, murdered and where tortured worse that many Black slave because they where of less value that the African slave purchased at auction. In the mid 1600 over 300,000 Irish where sold as slaves.
• FatHobbit

  

  ManO'War wrote: So should a black person feel guilty if they learned that their ancestors were involved in the triangular trade from the African side??

  I would feel horrible about that if I found that out.
  

  bigkahuna wrote: Playing Devil's Advocate here. If you are of German Decent; would you feel guilty if your ancestors were Nazi Officers during the Holocaust? Being this was only 50-60 years ago, "intelligence" was more advanced.

  I am of German decent and if I found out my ancestors took part in the Holocaust I would be ashamed. I don't know if I would feel bad if they were in the war, but if they actually had a part in the prison camps and knew what was going on I would not be proud of that.
  

  Belly35 wrote:What able the Irish Slaves …

  I wouldn't care what color/race/etc the slaves were.
• Gblock

  i dont even know who my ancesters were...i know many blacks cant really trace their ancenstry very far for various reasons.....it would be interesting to know more about where im from or what different ethnicities i might have in me
• bigkahuna

  Hobbit, that's what I meant, an officer in the Camps. Not someone fighting for on the lines.
• j_crazy

  

  my family was slaves in germany, never owned any.
• Society

  Gblock wrote: i dont even know who my ancesters were...i know many blacks cant really trace their ancenstry very far for various reasons.....it would be interesting to know more about where im from or what different ethnicities i might have in me

  There is a chance that your ancestors were slave owners. I know...we don't celebrate that possibility in Black History Month.
• UA5straightin2008

  

  Belly35 wrote: What about ( misspelling sorry) the Irish Slaves … why is slaver only identified with Africans?
  The fact is more Irish where sold as slaves, murdered and where tortured worse that many Black slave because they where of less value that the African slave purchased at auction. In the mid 1600 over 300,000 Irish where sold as slaves.

  i find that a little hard to believe seeing that there were 11 million Africans brought to the New World and enslaved, compared to just 300,000. Not that either was right..
• JamesDeWolf

  For what it's worth, I'm one of the people in the film being discussed, one of the ten descendants of the DeWolf slave-traders, and *I* certainly don't feel guilty about what my ancestors did. So I hope students are free to express similar opinions, without being labeled racist!
  
  On the other hand, the film was intended to show that the responsibility for slavery was widespread, and this thread shows just how misinformed most Americans are on the subject. To take one example, having ancestors who were just simple Ohio farmers doesn't mean they weren't involved in slavery. Another poster said, "the only way I would feel guilty is if I lived on a southern plantation." The documentary explains that slavery was actually widespread in the northern and midwestern states, and the economy in each region of the country depended heavily on slavery.
  
  James DeWolf Perry
  http://living.jdewperry.com/
• justcompete

  UA, this is a college class. You had better say what the teacher wants to hear and receive a good grade. It doesn't matter what you think. Been there, done that, got burned.
• Society

  UA5straightin2008 wrote:

  Belly35 wrote: What about ( misspelling sorry) the Irish Slaves … why is slaver only identified with Africans?
  The fact is more Irish where sold as slaves, murdered and where tortured worse that many Black slave because they where of less value that the African slave purchased at auction. In the mid 1600 over 300,000 Irish where sold as slaves.

  i find that a little hard to believe seeing that there were 11 million Africans brought to the New World and enslaved, compared to just 300,000. Not that either was right..

  You are taking 2 completely different time periods and 2 different land areas, as an entirety, and trying to compare the two.
  
  The New World is not just the United States as it is today and slavery wasn't just in the very late 1700's and most of the 1800's. It was going on long before then.
• UA5straightin2008

  

  justcompete wrote: UA, this is a college class. You had better say what the teacher wants to hear and receive a good grade. It doesn't matter what you think. Been there, done that, got burned.

  that is what i was thinking
  
  but i dont know for sure that she will think i am "racist" or not for saying that i would not feel guilty...yes i wouldnt be proud of it or brag about it..but i would feel no guilt whatsoever
  
  i have only been in the class for a few weeks, and she has been sick so we have only really had 4 in class meetings...so honestly i really dont know what she will think, its just a definite possibility she could pull the race card
• UA5straightin2008

  

  Society wrote:

  UA5straightin2008 wrote:

  Belly35 wrote: What about ( misspelling sorry) the Irish Slaves … why is slaver only identified with Africans?
  The fact is more Irish where sold as slaves, murdered and where tortured worse than many Black slave because they where of less value that the African slave purchased at auction. In the mid 1600 over 300,000 Irish where sold as slaves.

  i find that a little hard to believe seeing that there were 11 million Africans brought to the New World and enslaved, compared to just 300,000. Not that either was right..

  You are taking 2 completely different time periods and 2 different land areas, as an entirety, and trying to compare the two.
  
  The New World is not just the United States as it is today and slavery wasn't just in the very late 1700's and most of the 1800's. It was going on long before then.

  i understand that
  
  i was responding to the bolded statement....300,000<<<<<<<11,000,000
  
  and where did i ever say the New World only consisted of the United States?
  
  (i almost said united states in my post, but i corrected myself because i know many of the slaves went through cuba, the caribbean, etc)
• Society

  Also, if that is what your professor is teaching you, which wouldn't be surprising, then you should kindly explain to him/her the difference.
• Society

  UA5straightin2008 wrote:

  Society wrote:

  UA5straightin2008 wrote:

  Belly35 wrote: What about ( misspelling sorry) the Irish Slaves … why is slaver only identified with Africans?
  The fact is more Irish where sold as slaves, murdered and where tortured worse than many Black slave because they where of less value that the African slave purchased at auction. In the mid 1600 over 300,000 Irish where sold as slaves.

  i find that a little hard to believe seeing that there were 11 million Africans brought to the New World and enslaved, compared to just 300,000. Not that either was right..

  You are taking 2 completely different time periods and 2 different land areas, as an entirety, and trying to compare the two.
  
  The New World is not just the United States as it is today and slavery wasn't just in the very late 1700's and most of the 1800's. It was going on long before then.

  i understand that
  
  i was responding to the bolded statement....300,000<<<<<<<11,000,000
  
  and where did i ever say the New World only consisted of the United States?
  
  (i almost said united states in my post, but i corrected myself because i know many of the slaves went through cuba, the caribbean, etc)

  I shouldn't need to explain.
• JamesDeWolf

  In response to the PM I just received, yes, I really am in the film. Because several of us are descended from James DeWolf, the nation's leading slave-trader, two of us in the film have similar names; I'm the 32-year-old identified as James DeWolf Perry.
  
  I haven't posted enough to PM back, but until then, you can ask me questions here, or we can take this offline. (You can reach me through my web site, below.)
• UA5straightin2008

  

  how did you come across this forum?
• JamesDeWolf

  UA5straightin2008 wrote: how did you come across this forum?

  I spend a lot of time doing outreach with the film, so I came across this thread while doing an unrelated search for publicity connected with one of the events we're doing. (It happens a lot!)
• UA5straightin2008

  

  well along with what a lot of people on here said, i find it a bit odd how bad some of your relatives felt about the whole being descendants....you guys did nothing wrong, you didnt choose to be born to this family, you had no control over what they did, i really have no trouble saying that if I were a descendant of the biggest slave trader in all of US history (let alone any slave trader) that i wouldnt feel any guilt about it
• Gblock

  Society wrote:

  Gblock wrote: i dont even know who my ancesters were...i know many blacks cant really trace their ancenstry very far for various reasons.....it would be interesting to know more about where im from or what different ethnicities i might have in me

  There is a chance that your ancestors were slave owners. I know...we don't celebrate that possibility in Black History Month.

  much greater chance they were the former than the latter
• Sonofanump

  JamesDeWolf wrote: Another poster said, "the only way I would feel guilty is if I lived on a southern plantation." The documentary explains that slavery was actually widespread in the northern and midwestern states, and the economy in each region of the country depended heavily on slavery.
  
  James DeWolf Perry
  http://living.jdewperry.com/

  That was me, it was more of an allusion than factual example. I know that my family was not involved, so I was trying to think of any example that might make me think such a way.