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[BocoDragon]

My girlfriend has recently been hinting at wanting "a diamond", so I'm gonna use that whole blood diamond excuse. Good one.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Give me a break. Slaves from Africa were being used in the middle-east long before the Europeans got involved. Do you think they were treated much better? And it's still very much in effect in some African countries, like Mauritania. Being a slave is never nice.

That being said; sons should not bear the sins of their father.

Actually, yes.

 

[Gnub]

A black co-worker just said this about Africans in Africa. It blew my mind.


Backstory:

We were bullshitting talking about what we're going to get our wives for Mother's Day. He told me to get her some diamonds. I laughed and said it wasn't even an option. He said diamonds are forever. I answered that I didn't want anything to do with blood diamonds. He asked 'why not?' and I said I didn't want it on my conscience that some kids probably lost their hands over it. He asked why I cared and I said because we're all humans and we should care about our people... to which he dropped:

"Those aren't our people. They sold us into slavery."


My jaw dropped and I was just trying to process what he had just said. He then said "It's true."

I'm actually still trying to process it. I mean, is this a thing?

I always thought the slave trading whites and the African chiefs (who agreed to trade/sell slaves) were the ones who were to blame. Was I just being naive in thinking it was that simple?


Anyone want to chime in?

At that time slavery wasn't even close to what it became in the Americas (and eventually the rest of the world). Slavery in Africa, among Africans, was more akin to indentured servitude. When the Africans traded slaves to outsiders they had no idea what they were getting those people into.

Edit: PheonixPause dropped the knowledge before I got here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=57094316&postcount=97

 

[Chie Satonaka]

QED, LIEberals

Knowing is half the battle.

Seriously, I don't even have something smart alecky enough to say for how stupid this is.

 

[shanshan310]

I was the one taliking about blood diamonds. He didn't care about them suffering, because they sold his people into slavery.

Whut. That was hundreds of years ago. It maybe could have been their ancestors but that doesn't have much to do with people living there now.

 

[zon]

It's a misconception. Most African slaves were stolen from Africa, not sold. And I would argue those that initially did sell to American and European slavers didn't know how brutal the process was. Chattel slavery didn't exist in Africa, their system was instead similar to indentured servitude; African tribes would take prisoners after tribal wars, but those prisoners had the opportunity to rise from their low social rank.

Most African slaves were, in fact, sold. It was warmongering African tribes who raided the more peaceful ones and supplied both themselves and later Islamic/European traders with slaves. The earliest Portugese explorers did try to raid villages themselves but they soon realised that trading with the African slave traders were faster and guaranteed that they would get their hands on slaves. Their own raids quickly became ineffective as African villagers would simply flee when they saw the Portugese deploy their row boats into the ocean and row towards land.

And you can be damn sure that African slave traders knew what they were doing when they sold slaves to foreigners. This was a process that went on for centuries, do you really think Africans were so much dumber than their European/Middle Eastern counterparts that they wouldn't realise what was happening to the people they sold? European and Middle Eastern slave traders sure as hell knew what was happening to the people they sold, why wouldn't the African slave traders?

What you describe as indentured servitude and the leniency of it was reserved for slaves born into the household. Slaves that were bought or taken through war did not have to be given any such kindness if the owner didn't wish it. And there are records from many civilisations where slaves have risen through the social ranks (e.g. the emperor of the Roman Empire put his slaves in very powerful positions who would run parts of the empire for him). Some slaves became very rich and many well off slaves had slaves themselves that would do the chores that the owner had set up for the now slave owning slave.

 

[phaze]

No, the British, Spanish, and French killed most of the Native Americans. And then we killed some more and forced them into reservations.

I must say if we're talking about North America I find that hard to believe. Are you counting pre-1776 colonists as British?

Actually, yes.

Does widespread castration really constitute better treatment ? Besides, agricultural slavery existed in Middle East as well.

 

[botty]

A lot of the stuff in this thread is really interesting, but can we get some citations up in this bitch.

 

[besada]

I must say if we're talking about North America I find that hard to believe. Are you counting pre-1776 colonists as British?
.

Yes, but by the time the first of those set foot here, most of the Native Americans were dead already. Explorers had brought smallpox, among other diseases, to which Native Americans had no immunity. It's estimated 90% of the population died from epidemics before the first settlers arrived.

 

[AnathemicOne]

Next thing we are going to whining about "Blood I-Phones" ....

 

[Burger]

Us? Since when was your co-slav.. I mean co-worker a slave?

 

[zon]

A lot of the stuff in this thread is really interesting, but can we get some citations up in this bitch.

What I have written here, I have read in a book by Dick Harrison (Slaveri: En historia om ofrihet). It's the first book in a trilogy about slavery, the first book deals with slavery in Africa, Asia and Europe from 2000BC to 1500AD. It is based on sources from that time period. I think it's only available in Swedish though.