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You stated that you don't want to "diminish this piece", but then go on to describe American slavery (this project's sole focus) as "one particular (and, indeed
by martey 7y ago
You stated that you don't want to "diminish this piece", but then go on to describe American slavery (this project's sole focus) as "one particular (and, indeed, relatively small-scale) instance". Your comment also contains multiple points (e.g. "slavery wasn't invented in America", "American slaves were enslaved in Africa", "slavery still exists in non-American places today") that are regularly used by people trying to diminish or erase the impact of slavery and racism on American culture today.
Because the project is investigating the legacy of American slavery, I think discussing current global slavery is at best off-topic.
- nilkn 7y agoI acknowledge whole-heartedly that this is a difficult topic, but I really don't think it's that off-topic. The articles available so far focus a lot on the economic incentives involved in slavery and how the American economy was boosted because of it. The observation that those same incentives are still sustaining slavery and that the economy is still boosted by it seems relevant to me.
- martey 7y ago> The articles available so far focus a lot on the economic incentives involved in slavery and how the American economy was boosted because of it. This is incorrect - only two articles out of twelve (about American capitalism and the sugar industry) focus on "how the American economy was boosted because of [slavery]". The rest talk about medicine, music, housing segregation, and democracy. Modern day slavery might be primarily an economic issue, but I think it's wrong to only consider American slavery in this context because doing so ignores its "racial component" and its current day ramifications.
- mcguire 7y agoYou are dancing perilously close to what-aboutism, though. The context of American slavery within global and historical slavery is an important topic, but within this context, it sounds like an attempt to minimize the effect and power of American slavery.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dustfinger 7y ago>"American slaves were enslaved in Africa" No, this is what was written by nilkn in the parent post above: > many of the first slaves imported by Europeans were already enslaved in Africa Which means something very different then what you quoted. Maybe those quotes were intended to paraphrase, but with topics like this it is important to not change the meaning of someone elses words.
- pathseeker 7y agoYou're quoting statements that aren't there. Why? Was the parent comment edited?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]