re: Ben Affleck wanted his slave owner ancestor 'censored' from Finding Your Roots

Why is revisionism bad? History is constantly being revised, all history being taught is revisionist. It's a dumb term to use because we are constantly discovering new information and adjusting our interpretations of the past. I'm glad I don't teach the same historical interpretations as historians did in the 1920s.

2/10

White people- the original slaves

So black people aren't given more opportunity nowadays?


I would have to disagree

Just that if I apply your theory to slavery throughout history it shows that every race or sub-race feels superior to every other race not just the mean old white people.

Slavery was predominantly a racist Institution. Humans were treated as property and forced labor as a matter of Law and they had very little protections either under that law, or even in a general societal sense. Slavery was and is Human Primitivism, as is racism. Slavery was also hundreds of years of individual human interactions.

But there was also Benevolent Slavery. It occurred THOUSANDS of times over hundreds of years. Many of the black "free black" slave-holders (despite what you say it actually was fairly common-especially in Louisiana) were Benevolent slave-holders. They basically "owned" slaves to protect them from falling into a a far worse slavery. They lived with the owner, and usually provided services and labor and were given "the protection of ownership" in return by enlightened whites or benevolent black slave-holders. In other words there actually were numerous different levels of slavery, from the absolutely inhumane to the intentionally protective benevolent and humanitarian. These were in fact ancient human arrangements perfectly in line with human nature and the history of Man (sordid more often than not), and common across Continents and Civilizations.

I'm sorry if these facts makes you squirm on some ideological level. Are you sure you should be a teacher, if objective fact makes you lash out with demeaning generalities and personal invective? Maybe you should seek the advice of Professor Gates or write Ben a fan letter instead? Or you could attempt to argue your points like a confident adult, rather than an angry close-minded Ideologue?

In my opinion, there is no such thing as benevolent slavery, under any circumstances it is cruel and twisted.

do you know who started the Atlantic slave trade or should I say who funded it

I’ve watched this show a few times and it’s the same format everytime. Prof Beer Summit Gates traces some white persons ancestry and it always leads to their ancestor was a slave owner, then overwhelms that person into white guilt.