Conservatives in the USA argue that black people were better off under slavery...

[shaykh]

Were blacks better off under slavery?...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/24/these-politicians-praise-slavery.html

These Politicians Praise Slavery

Rogue rancher Cliven Bundy recently shared his thoughts on African Americans and whether or not they were better off as slaves. While Bundy can, and probably should, be dismissed as fringe nonsense, he is hardly alone.

Not quite ready to let his 15 minutes of fame expire, unlawful Nevada rancher-turned-Fox News celebrity Cliven Bundy has continued to hold daily news conferences in his driveway even after his standoff with federal rangers ended. Only one reporter showed up Saturday, but that didn’t matter much to Bundy, who, with the help of a homegrown militia of mostly armed supporters, managed to stave off the Bureau of Land Management from confiscating the cattle he’s been illegally grazing on public land for over 20 years. Bundy took advantage of the small platform in his driveway Saturday to rant about the tyranny of the federal government and share his thoughts on race—securing himself at least a few more minutes of media attention.

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the *****,” Bundy said, describing a North Las Vegas public-housing project he apparently used to drive past, where “the door was usually open” and “at least half a dozen people,” adults and kids alike, were always sitting on the porch because “they didn’t have nothing to do.”

It gets worse.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he continued. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

The fact that this man—who claims “ancestral rights” exempt him from paying grazing fees for land his family has only owned since 1948—believes African Americans might be better off as slaves is offensive, but not necessarily shocking. What’s more disturbing is that similar sentiments have been expressed by elected officials and political figures with much more influence than Bundy. Here are a few:

Trent Franks, the Republican Rep. from Arizona, said in 2010 that “far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery.”

“They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves…”

While vying for the Republican presidential nomination in 2011, both Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum signed “The Marriage Vow,” a pledge against same-sex marriage circulated by a Christian conservative group, that included a line about how much stronger African-American families were during the era of slavery. The line, which read, “Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African American President,” was removed from the pledge once word got out—but not until after both Bachmann and Santorum had signed it.

“America has been the best country on earth for black folks,” conservative commentator Pat Buchanan wrote in “A Brief for Whitey,” his 2008 essay on the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. “It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.”

While he was running for re-election in 2012 (a campaign that was backed by the Arkansas Republican Party), the Arkansas Times exposed state Rep. Loy Mauch’s history of writing pro-slavery letters to the editor. In one such letter, the Republican wrote, “If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?”

Again, these are just some of the politicians and prominent political voices to have praised slavery in the past decade—not all of them. If attention is going to be paid to Cliven Bundy’s outrageous views on African Americans and slavery, it’s important to note that he isn’t the only one spoutin

 

[Bhaijaan]

If the master is caring, slavery could be less bad sometimes than freedom in a world where everyone is mean. But as long as you can't ensure 100% Good Slaver Practices, there will always be doubts. If i was a a slaver, i would definitely allow my slaves to have good food, milk, biscuits and sometimes chicken too but thats just me, generous folks are just rare. People could seriously abuse their slaver right, its those people that you have got to be careful about.

 

[blackanhyellow]

what is this obsession about slavery on PP all of a sudden? Seems like every week there is a new thread regarding slavery, and certain posters actually think slavery is okay if its under the right conditions...

 

[OZGOD]

I had mentioned this on another thread. It's easy for us who are non-black to talk about this intellectually and impartially. I think if you ask a black person if they would be better off as a slave the answer would be a unanimous no.

 

[shaykh]

I had mentioned this on another thread. It's easy for us who are non-black to talk about this intellectually and impartially. I think if you ask a black person if they would be better off as a slave the answer would be a unanimous no.

Dunno if you have seen the Boondocks but there is a real life Uncle Ruckus around...the level of self hate is incredible...

I do agree...a unanimous no...i was reading some words of these guys and it kinda echoed with some of the views on here...ie 'the treat slaves well' justifying its existence argument...

Some black conservatives on the topic...

Reverend Jesse Lee has some appalling gems...

“Thank God for slavery, because if not, the blacks who are here would have been stuck in Africa.”

he wishes he could take 'all black people back to the South and put them on the plantation so they would understand the ethic of working.'

Although his thoughts on black people aren't even the most ridiculous of his notions...

'I think that one of the greatest mistakes America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote,' Peterson said in the sermon.

Mychal Massie:

'blacks can’t understand what’s best of them because of their low IQs.'

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

what is this obsession about slavery on PP all of a sudden? Seems like every week there is a new thread regarding slavery, and certain posters actually think slavery is okay if its under the right conditions...

There isn't any obsession, it's just one poster droning on about it within a narrow context. Child labour is the worst kind of slavery but despite a nobel laureate bringing this to world attention it seems no one is interested.

 

[Buffet]

LOL, ask this to blacks and pretty much every single person will say no to slavery. It's an idiotic claim. No one likes to be a slave.

 

[OZGOD]

Anyone who thinks that it's better should put themselves in that position. You have no rights as a slave. You are at the mercy of your master, whether he is kind or not. You have no say in the direction of your life.

 

[CricketCartoons]

There isn't any obsession, it's just one poster droning on about it within a narrow context. Child labour is the worst kind of slavery but despite a nobel laureate bringing this to world attention it seems no one is interested.

Not just one poster. There are two. akher and shaykh. At least shaykh does not put slavery within quotes to make it look better.

 

[Saeed]

Not being able to do anything without your master's will is hardly close to "better off" in any way. They used to work for long hours, lived without their families, life expectancy was low and even you children were put to work. Those 2 statements by Bundy are height of ignorance.

 

[Robert]

It is because of slavery, and the Jim Crow laws which succeeded it that so many American black people have low self-respect and negative attitudes and are therefore in their current pickle with regard to crime, unemployment and substance misuse.

 

[Abdullah719]

Stunning victory for Bundy family as all charges dismissed in 2014 standoff case

A judge has dismissed conspiracy charges against rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons, marking an extraordinary failure by US prosecutors and a decisive victory for the Nevada family who ignited a land rights movement in the American west.

The Bundys, who led armed standoffs against the government in Nevada and Oregon, galvanizing far-right militia groups, saw all charges dismissed in Las Vegas on Monday. It was the second major court win for the ranchers in their decades-long battle to oppose federal land regulations.

Cliven Bundy, 71, and his sons Ammon and Ryan were accused of assault, threats against the government, firearms offenses and obstruction, stemming from the family’s refusal to pay grazing fees for their cattle in Nevada, which escalated into an armed conflict at their ranch in 2014. The judge declared a mistrial in December and ruled on Monday that prosecutors could not retry the case, arguing that the US attorney’s office had willfully withheld evidence and engaged in misconduct.

Angie Bundy, Ryan’s wife, said she hoped the ruling would boost states’ rights and encourage federal regulators to leave ranchers alone.

“The federal government is overstepping so many bounds. I’m hoping they will let states and counties do their jobs and stay out of our land,” she told the Guardian by phone from court. “I hear from ranchers all the time about the horrible abuses they are enduring. I’m hoping this will give some people relief.”

The stunning defeat for the government – which has also been accused of lying and deceptive tactics in their prosecution of the Bundys – outraged environmental groups that have advocated the punishment of ranchers who defy land-use laws and have supported tighter regulations to protect public lands.

“It’s just a horrific outcome,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is going to empower both the militia and the politicians who want to steal America’s public lands. It’s an absolute disaster.”

The Bundys first made international headlines in 2014 when the government attempted to seize their cattle, but retreated in the face of hundreds of supporters at the family ranch in Bunkerville, some heavily armed. Emboldened by the victory, Ammon and Ryan helped lead a takeover of the Malheur national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon in January 2016 to protest against the imprisonment of two local ranchers.

That standoff ended after police killed one of the leaders and arrested the Bundys and their followers. US prosecutors subsequently charged the family and dozens of other men with conspiracy and other charges for both the Nevada and Oregon cases.

A jury found the Bundys not guilty in Oregon in 2016, a surprise verdict that increased pressure on the federal government to secure a conviction in Nevada. But the case unraveled after defense attorneys argued that prosecutors failed to disclose evidence relating to government surveillance cameras and snipers at the ranch during the 2014 dispute. Last month, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, directed a US justice department expert to assist in the case.

Suckling pointed out that Bundy’s cattle continue to graze on federal lands in violation of the law and argued that the decision could encourage supporters to launch new conflicts to fight for unregulated grazing, mining and logging on public lands. “I’m really distraught and outraged at the prosecution and the FBI for their incompetence.”

Cliven Bundy, who became a hero to some rightwing activists in the west and has been in jail for nearly two years, emerged from court on Monday wearing a cowboy hat, telling reporters: “I’m feeling pretty good … I’m not used to being free. I’ve been a political prisoner.”

Angie said she was grateful to hear the judge Gloria Navarro reprimand prosecutors.

“Her words today gave me some hope in the justice system,” she said, adding, “We are so excited to get grandpa home and get our family back together.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/08/bundy-family-charges-dropped-nevada-armed-standoff

 

[Markhor]

The American conservative intellectual tradition has gone to the dogs. Instead of William Buckleys you now have the Shapiros, O'Reillys, Coulters and Bundys who spout this type of nonsense.

Unarmed black men get gunned down without a moment's warning but this terrorist Bundy was able to defy the federal government for weeks.