"In a country whose self-identity has been warped by racial prejudice from the beginning..." These loathesome words from the odious Associated Press greeted readers of the MDJ Wednesday morning on Page 1. They were contained in a story that should have been content to exult over the successful nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. But no, the writer felt obliged, as Leftists usually do, to insult their opponents even in triumph.
This country was conquered and settled by white, anglo-saxons for their own use. Diversity was not a primary goal. They came initially from England, Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, and a few other countries in Europe. These people were hard-working and sober family men, who wanted to worship in freedom, and realize profit and wealth from their toils. Since slavery was a legal and established institution as old as civilization itself, and since blacks in West Africa were rounding up their neighbors to sell, and since the Portuguese and others had boats with sufficient capacity to bring them here, and because there was a large need for manpower here, our forefathers decided to avail themselves of this apparently inexhaustible supply. It was, in hindsight, a bad decision. But they didn't have hindsight. Germans, in point of fact, simply declined the offer of slaves. They preferred doing for themselves. There are nearly zero black folks with German surnames.
There was no moral baggage attached to slavery. The Bible instructs slaveowners to treat their servants well, but does not enjoin them from having them. Civilization has evolved. It didn't simply spring up as an instant entity. It began to occur first to white Europeans, imbued with Christian charity, and striving towards righteousness, that owning another person, no matter how different that person might be, was not a charitable enterprise. We can read in Jefferson's copious journals the first inklings he had in that regard. However, those dark forebodings didn't strike every person at the same time. It was a slowly evolving, much thought out and talked about topic that took a circuitous path. It was the crux of a horrible and bloody war. The main point I want to make is that it was indeed white Europeans who took the initiative in ending slavery.
It didn't end because the sources in Africa dried up. Further, when it did end, it
would never have occurred to 99% of whites to include blacks in their social strata, asking them to dinner and suggesting that they become members of their clubs, etc., whether in the North, or in the South. It just wasn't on.
Segregation and discrimination have always been around, and they likely will continue. Northern Italians look down their noses at the southern Italians. Light-skinned blacks have similar attitudes towards their darker bretheren. Ashkenazi Jews have a history of condescension towards Sephardim. Yankees in this country have historically held us Southerners in high disregard, and they have had much aid and comfort in this from the radio and TV media.
Could I move to Israel and become a citizen? Or to Japan, or to China? No.
Do those countries have a "warped sense of self-identity"? I doubt it. It seems to be only white folks who are sent on extended guilt-trips. We should have no sense of racial or cultural pride. Our ancestral stock produced Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Goethe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and thousands and thousands more writers, theologians, artists, inventors, composers, architects and jurists. In short, white, European men and women achieved and designed the apex of civilization, here and in Europe. It is estimated that Americans, or Europeans, invented at least 90% of everything one can see, hear, or name. The world's masses are flooding our gates, not we theirs.
So WE should have a "warped sense of self-identity"? Only if we allow the dark princes of the Media and the Academy to so convince us.
