Racism, prejudice and slavery

This entry is not intended to be offensive but rather educational.
Racism and slavery are wrong no matter who does it to whom. It is not just whites who are racially prejudiced; there have been blacks who were bigoted against whites, Jews and Asians. Racial prejudice and bigotry can be practiced by any one of any ethnicity against anyone else of any other ethnicity. 
While the legacy of slavery in the United States is one of the shameful stains on our otherwise glorious history it is not as simple as it seems: it was not just whites committing injustice against blacks. Where did Europeans and white Americans get their black slaves? Sometimes from African tribal chiefs who conquered and enslaved neighbor tribes and saw the opportunity for profit when whitey came along. Sometimes whites purchased black slaves from Moslem Arabs who opportunistically enslaved anyone that they could; selling black slaves to whites and enslaving Europeans for themselves or possibly selling them to African masters, an event which led to the Barbary pirate wars. It is ironic that some African-Americans have taken Moslem names to separate themselves from their “slave names” when some of their ancestors were purchased from Muslim slave traders. Another irony that I have heard of is that in Ante-bellum New Orleans there were free blacks who had black slaves. Unfortunately, slavery still exists in some parts of the world: In the African nation of Sudan black Moslems enslave black Christians and animists.
Another complication about slavery: many white southerners during the pre-Civil war era called themselves Christians but totally ignored what the bible says. In the Torah or Pentateuch slavery was tolerated but there were laws to limit slavery and establish rights for slaves, in fact slaves had more rights guaranteed to them under the Torah than under our bill of rights. But these “good Christian people” in the ante-bellum south totally ignored these passages and abused their slaves. The teachings of Jesus Christ contain subtle condemnation of slavery: He said, “Whatsoever you want others to do unto you, do so even to them,” This is echoed in the words of Abraham Lincoln: “If you would not be a slave then you should not have a slave”. Jesus also said, “ The workman is worthy of his wages.” Slavery is by it’s very definition forcing someone to work and not paying them a wage for their labor. They also ignored the Apostle Paul’s teachings to those who owned slaves: “ Treat your slaves with fairness remembering that you yourselves have a master in heaven and He does not play favorites.” How often did preachers in southern churches teach these passages to their congregations during this era?          
We also need to understand the context of slavery in the time of Moses: in the ancient Hebrew culture people sometimes sold themselves or their children into slavery to alleviate poverty believing that their masters and mistresses could provide food and shelter in exchange for their labor. 
While there has been conflict and strife between human beings on the basis of differences in skin color, there has even been strife and intolerance between people of the same coloring. Before white Europeans came to the American continents and oppressed the aboriginal peoples (American Indians), the various tribes of American Indians oppressed each other, (The word “Apache” means enemy, that is what other tribes called them because of their raids), at the same time Europeans oppressed each other in Europe, before Africans were brought as slaves to Europe and America they were oppressing and enslaving each other in Africa, before Asians came as immigrants to the west and were oppressed by westerners they oppressed each other in Asia.
Another example: Never make the mistake of confusing a Korean for someone who is Japanese or a Scotsman for an Englishman. This would be a vile insult to them due to certain injustices and atrocities committed by Japanese against Koreans before and during World War Two and by the English to the Scots before and leading up to the shotgun wedding known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Wars were fought between people of the same color in the same continent before they traveled to different lands to oppress and enslave people of other colors.
 
When European immigrants came to the U.S.A. during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the native white population (mostly of English, Scottish, and Dutch descent) oppressed Irish, Polish, Italian and other newcomers, whites practicing prejudice against other whites. Ethnic slurs like “polock” and “dago” and “kraut” and ugly stereotypes against Irishmen and Poles and others were hurled against Caucasians by other Caucasians. Most people who tell “polock jokes” are ignorant of Poland and it’s history and their brave struggle against the Nazis and the communists and are ignorant of the   renowned beauty of Polish women (such as Paulina Porizkova or Leelee Sobieski)
Even in Europe before contact with people of darker skin there was prejudice between whites against other whites based on different hair colors. Stereotypes abounded like: “blondes are dimwitted,” “brunettes are impure”, “redheads are witches” and such. I no longer tell “dumb blonde” jokes because they are essentially racist. That kind of humor is no different that jokes about people of differing skin colors.
In Africa there has been oppression between blacks against other blacks: the genocide between Hutus and Tutsis among other examples. In America it has been said that the biggest killer of black men is other black men. 
I am not “colorblind”; I notice the color of people’s skin. The difference is that I don’t hate people because they are different in pigmentation. I enjoy the diversity that God created in us in the good order that He made. Sexual orientation is not on the same level as ethnicity (see my article “Disapproval is not hate, tolerance is not acceptance?). But it is illogical to hate others based on differences in the color of skin, hair, eyes, nipples or their continent of origin. The rap/rock trio Dctalk in their song “Colored people” describe the human race as a “skin kaleidoscope” </div>
Some people take ethnic slurs used against them and use them for themselves and each other to neutralize the sting of the terms, such as blacks using the “N” word to describe themselves. I won’t use that word because it is an ugly word; to me it is as ugly as the “F” word. Whites who were racist used to refer to black males as “boy” as a way to demean them. Recently I was watching a music video show and one of the hosts, a black guy who seems to be really cool, while introducing himself has referred to himself as “your boy”. Considering the racist legacy in our culture I find myself uncomfortable with a black guy calling himself “my boy”, although it may be a trend: I was watching a show where the Hispanic female host called herself “your girl”. I don’t know if the meaning of that has any racial or sexual connotations or not.

I don’t like ethnic slurs as they are ugly and convey hate, but since some people use them in reference to themselves I could do that to myself as an example: my ethnicity includes kraut, dago, frog, hymie or kike, and injun as well as honky gringo goy paleface. (In more appropriate terms I am German, Sicilian, French, Ashkenazic Jew, Blackfoot Amerindian, Scottish, and English.) There is nothing wrong with being proud of your ethnicity as long as you don’t hate or oppress others for their ethnicity. It is those who are insecure about who they are who have to tear others down to make themselves feel significant.