re: Black North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson. No one owes you anything

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When the slaves were freed, could you imagine how hard it must've been to make a living without being able to read, write, or have any education?

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This is actually a good point, but likely not for the reasons you think it is.

This was a HUGE issue during the decade leading up to the emancipation proclamation. The overwhelming majority of the country wanted to end slavery, save for a few southern plantation owners. The question was.. HOW do we free millions of people totally unprepared to live and survive in a civilized society? Even for those owners who wanted to free their slaves, they couldn't just do it. There were laws against it. And what would instantly changing the laws really do? What if 30 million Americans had let tigers today, and suddenly we decide that it should be illegal? Ok... so what it's illegal now. Do we just set them free? What might the consequences of that be? This was not a simple answer or a simple solution. That's why we are the only country to go to war and spill blood over this matter.

I'm all ears if you have a better solution. Frankly, the issue goes back much further than the 1850s and 1860s. Today, some people vilify G Washington for being a slave owner, yet they have zero clue to his opinions on the matter. A strong desire to end slavery was in America before America was founded. But the big question was always... HOW? How do we end it? This cannot be looked at through the lense of today's society.