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Failing to understand something does not make it a lie.

• turc1656 9y ago
  Would you mind elaborating a bit? What am I not understanding? The way I see it is that tens of millions of immigrants came to this nation since slavery has ended, most with little or nothing and were able to make lives for themselves and in many cases set up their descendants for middle class (or better) lifestyles. I see no reason this wouldn't apply to freed slaves and their offspring. To be clear, the issue being raised is slavery, not racism or discrimination, which I specified as separate in my original post. I would be very curious as to how slavery specifically is still affecting modern economic inequality when not lumping it in with the separate issues of racism and discrimination. EDIT - I would also like to point out that a fundamental point of this article was that the economist discovered it was basically more fair and easier to escape poverty prior to 1970.
  • reubenswartz 9y ago
    Sure, slavery was outlawed 150 years ago, after several centuries of practicing it, but after it ended, there was a separate regime of laws and extralegal terror that made it hard for former slaves to build wealth. There's a direct line to today, where most middle class families got a big chunk of their wealth from home ownership, which was explicitly racially segregated (not just the housing itself, but the loans). Now, is this technically "slavery"? No, but it comes from that past. Of course, millions of immigrants and descendants of former slaves have achieved economic "success", but it seems pretty clear to me that the shadow of slavery still shapes our economy in important ways. You may disagree, but calling it a "lie" seems a bit much.