Quote:
Originally Posted by aklim
How do you atone for something you didn't do? But lets say you could. I'm Chinese and if I looked hard enough, I could find some relation that was in the railroad crew that was mistreated. So what now? At the rate you go, you will be paying for the sins of everyone since time. Your debt will never end. You can spend your life atoning for "sins of the father" and it will never be enough. Besides, only the sinner can atone for his/her sins. What good is my apology for my father ripping off your father? Only my father can apologize to your father for his crimes.
|
Ok, Ok. I'm not suggesting that even white southerners hang their heads in shame for the next 200 years. And as a Chinese person, yes, it's a tad different. But the economy of the south was built on the backs of slaves and the war didn't destroy all of it.
And the lucrative triangle of trade from the late 16th to early 19th centuries had a good bit to do with getting the American economy off the ground: slaves from Africa to the West Indies; sugar, molasses, and rum to the American colonies, the same to Europe along with tobacco and hemp from Virginia; copper, cloth, beads, guns and ammo to Africa to trade for slaves and repeat.
So on some level, at the end of the civil war it really wasn't enough to say 'we're sorry, here's your freedom, now get the hell off'n a my land.'
04-29-2014, 01:54 AM
Threaded Mode
