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They didn’t enslave people because they were racist, they enslaved people because it was effectively free labor. Sure, they chose Africans because they were rac

They didn’t enslave people because they were racist, they enslaved people because it was effectively free labor. Sure, they chose Africans because they were racist and thought them savages, but that isn’t why the institution of slavery existed.

jfengel 5y ago
The institution of slavery didn't exist until they came to the New World. The medieval practice of serfdom was pretty brutal, but serfs were at least considered human. Slavery was introduced in the New World and not in Europe, because that's where the non-Europeans were. When the native Americans proved poor slaves (among other things, dying in droves from disease and being better able to escape due to knowing the area), they imported slaves from Africa. The Africans had been practicing slavery all along, but the Europeans had considered it barbaric until then. They still didn't tolerate it within Europe, but only safely out of sight in the New World. The institution of slavery only came into existence after colonizing places inhabited by people of other races.
- hef19898 5y ago
  Slavery played a huge role in antique Rome and Greece. Across the Mediterranean in fact. But that kind of slavery was very different from the cattle slavery practiced in the American colonies, especially the US. It was also much less routed in race, besides the POWs being enslaved.
  - brodouevencode 5y ago
    Race has played a huge role in slavery throughout time, but to your point it depends on when and where that time is. My original point was someone can be racist without believing in slavery (and the other way around), and they can not like a particular culture/class without being racist. These differences are important because once we start making blanket statements about what people really think it only encourages that tribalism they're trying to fix in the first place.

jfengel 5y ago

The institution of slavery didn't exist until they came to the New World. The medieval practice of serfdom was pretty brutal, but serfs were at least considered human. Slavery was introduced in the New World and not in Europe, because that's where the non-Europeans were. When the native Americans proved poor slaves (among other things, dying in droves from disease and being better able to escape due to knowing the area), they imported slaves from Africa. The Africans had been practicing slavery all along, but the Europeans had considered it barbaric until then. They still didn't tolerate it within Europe, but only safely out of sight in the New World. The institution of slavery only came into existence after colonizing places inhabited by people of other races.

hef19898 5y ago
Slavery played a huge role in antique Rome and Greece. Across the Mediterranean in fact. But that kind of slavery was very different from the cattle slavery practiced in the American colonies, especially the US. It was also much less routed in race, besides the POWs being enslaved.
- brodouevencode 5y ago
  Race has played a huge role in slavery throughout time, but to your point it depends on when and where that time is. My original point was someone can be racist without believing in slavery (and the other way around), and they can not like a particular culture/class without being racist. These differences are important because once we start making blanket statements about what people really think it only encourages that tribalism they're trying to fix in the first place.