UPDATE: Sharpton wants a blood test to see if he and Strom were related!
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Talk about irony…
Sharpton, Thurmond linked by slavery
Prominent black activist Al Sharpton has learned he is descended from a slave who was owned by ancestors of the one-time segregationist U.S. senator, the late Strom Thurmond, the Daily News reported on Sunday.
The series of revelations came to light after the newspaper offered Sharpton a chance to delve into his family history with the help of genealogy experts from Ancestry.com.
Sharpton learned of the connection this week, and told the News that ‘nothing — nothing — could prepare me for this.’
According to the genealogists’ research, Sharpton’s great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was a slave in South Carolina, who along with a woman and two children — believed to be his wife and children — were given as a gift to Julia Thurmond and forced to move to Florida.
‘It’s chilling,’ [Sharpton] said. ‘It’s amazing,’ before adding ‘Maybe I’m the revenge of Coleman.’
On a somewhat related note, Virginia has officially apologized for slavery:
“The moral standards of liberty and equality have been transgressed during much of Virginia’s and America’s history,” the resolution says. It calls the enslavement of millions of Africans and the exploitation of native Americans “the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation’s history”.
[…]
The collective expression of remorse is believed to be the first of its kind to recognise that the foundations of America were built on exploitation.
American denial over slavery, the racism required to justify it – and the continuation of the latter — probably matches “overlooking” the genocide practiced against the folks already living here when first we arrived on the scene.
The rationales defending racism and genocide are fairly modern — since the former is a fairly recent historic piece of crap — even though the latter was a part of several chunks of economic aggrandizement.
I don’t know whether Americans will ever develop enough of a collective conscience to deal with either. Most don’t seem to feel it’s as important as being part of the 2-party shuffle.
Prominent black activist Al Sharpton has learned he is descended from a slave who was owned by ancestors of the one-time segregationist U.S. senator, the late Strom Thurmond, the Daily News reported on Sunday.
Maybe if they can find the reciept they can ask for their money back.
I am an American, and I accept slavery as part of our past. It is one of the most ugly parts of our past (not to mention the slaughter of Native Americans), but it is a part of our past. I just don’t know what we can do to get over it. It was a horrible and inhuman, but I didn’t own any slaves, nor did anyone in my family in the past at least 4 generations (none ever did to my knowledge, but I know it’s something that would not probably be a proud thing pasted down). I don’t know what needs to be done to get past it. I think the Civil Right Movement made big strides, but we are not all equal yet, nor do I know if we ever will be.
The only two solutions I can see is 9/11, and time. 9/11 when Americans all came together (at least all non-Arabic) with a common enemy. This is one of the best ways to get two opposing forces to join together, though not the best by any means. The other is time and more and more “mixed marriages”. In a few more generations, with all the technological advances in travel and communications, the world gets smaller and different people get together and have kids. It’s harder to hate someone based on race if they are part of your family.
Any other ideas or comments? I know I don’t have all (if any) of the answers, but I do like to explore the idea. I guess th is is just me being a Trekkie (Trekker) with a optimistic view of the future.
#1 …probably matches “overlooking” the genocide practiced against the folks already living here when first we arrived on the scene.
I don’t know about you but I arrived on the scene in 1947. Never owned any slaves, although there was a time when my kids would argue that point. Slavery was and, in many parts of the world, continues to be a human tragedy. I bear no responsibility for the inhumane actions of those who preceded me by 300 years as I am sure the Rev. Sharpton bears no responsibility for the African tribal chiefs who sold his family to the slave traders.
#4 – thanks for illustrating my point.
#3 – I think the only way to get past it is to stop dwelling on it. Let’s face it, the majority of whites in this country now did not own slaves, as the largest waves of European immigration came in the late 1800s and early 1900s (including both sides of my family).
Honestly, I refuse to feel guilty for what my white non-ancestors had done in the past. My family was simply not a part of it, so I believe that for me to feel guilty over this is about as effective as feeling guilty over Jeffrey Dahmer.
This is rumination at its worst. Let’s get past our differences by focusing on our racial problems here and now and move on from there. Otherwise (and I’ll probably get flamed for this, but I don’t care), I’m tired of the whining. If you don’t have (or are willing to explore) a solution and only want to focus on America’s very ugly past, shut up. Your complaints fall on deaf ears.
I always get a chuckle out of people today apologizing for things they had nothing to do with, and couldn’t change if they wanted to.
re: >>I always get a chuckle out of people today apologizing for things >>>they had nothing to do with, and couldn’t change if they wanted to.
They may have had nothing to do with, but they continue to benefit from the long term economic consequences of those policies. This is part of why giving people a few extra breaks in life, like affirmative action in admissions, makes sense.
#6
I was going to say something similar but you said it better!
Those that forget the past may be doomed to repeat it, but those that dwell on the past will doom them and the rest of us to never get past it.
I always get a chuckle out of people today — refusing to acknowledge injustice by their forebears and ignoring any responsibility to (1) compensate the injured parties — something about Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence comes in here — and (b) blathering that they wouldn’t change anything that happened anyway — because they might not own such a nice house, drive an SUV, watch NASCAR, own Iraq or whatever else is this week’s profound reactionary rationale.
Good thing we don’t live in Germany, eh? Oh —
If they benefitted so much from slavery, then how come the slave states are all poorer? How come the ones that got rid of slavery first are wealthier? It’s also true internationally, with Britain leading the way in eliminating slavery.
And how does giving middle class blacks affirmative action help the poor blacks who don’t get in or can’t afford college?
For that matter, how does it help to place medium-level black students in high-level colleges where they are more likely to fail?
#9, I really don’t think you want to get into a debate about who has gained benefit from the various policies of the past. I seriously doubt you could name very many people who don’t benefit in one way or another from living in this country today, regardless of the long path that was taken to get here.
The fact of the matter is, nothing in this world would be as it is today (for better or for worse) without various aspects of the past having occurred, so excuse me if I don’t look down on the past with the same smug 21st century condescension as those who would have me feel remorse for the actions of people from a different time, with different standards and views, and a different set of needs than we have today.
yeah, slavery was bad. but what really makes me angry is what followed the end of slavery. Look at the history of how blacks were denied entry into any number of professional fields and unions, difficulty or denial of the right to vote, restrictive housing covenants, etc, etc, etc. the legacy of that continues today. in the past several years there have been stories about retired black Atlanta police officers who are receiving less pensions than their fellow white officers due to being shut out from a particular pension. and even older story(late 90s) involves some insurance companies that charged blacks higher premiums regardless of education, occupation, health, etc, etc
large numbers of people who weren’t around for slavery either practiced or passively allowed the above mentioned things to happen.
large numbers of people who weren’t around for slavery either practiced or passively allowed the above mentioned things to happen.
There are a lot of injustices going on RIGHT NOW, TODAY.
What are you doing about any of them? Who have you called this week? Written letters to? Sent money to? Marched in the streets for?
Or are you all talk?
#13 – I’ll follow this tangent very briefly. After the Civil War, the Southern states (which had prospered due to “free labor” in its highly agricultural economy) had been largely destroyed in their infrastructure. As a result, yes, Southern states tend to have higher poverty than Northern states.
Back on track – I think we’ve all said the same thing in our comments: it was an ugly past that is, unfortunately, OUR past. But let’s not forget that it was our PAST, and that we still have much more to accomplish. Let’s focus on the goals ahead of us and stop this rumination. This story, while interesting, only feeds into said rumination, and it accomplishes very little in terms of progress.
Pedro, I’m trying to determine if that was your usual sarcasm. 🙂
Attention black people.
Stop trying to explain your positions on slavery to white people. They will NEVER understand. Just succeed. The best revenge is success.
Venom Monger? Wasn’t that one of Cobra Commander’s henchmen?
anyway, you probably aren’t serious since you didn’t state any causes you are helping out. but just in case, take a look. this group won’t save the world, but it is helping people in need.
http://www.centerforprogress.org/
Jeeze. Who cares!
First: The fact is that no one should be held accountable for the crimes of their forefathers. I sure has hell am not responsible for some of the things my dad did. So is the fact that there is a connection make Thurman’s family somehow liable to Sharpton? I hope not.
Second: Ever heard of “6- degrees of separation”? I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I too am somehow connected to both of these men. BFD.
So Al Sharpton’s forefathers were owned by Strom Thurmond’s family. Wow !!! Imagine that, small world, isn’t it?
#25….Mr. Fusion….yep…..and if the DNA tests prove a family connection…..it will prove that a-holes run in families!!! 🙂
I wonder if Al knows that some of his current buddies may have owned slaves?
Black Slaveowners
As much as I disagree with slavery and view everyone equal in the sight of God, let me post a question to those who would have us pay retribution for mine and their ancestor’s part in selling slaves. Where would you be had your ancestors not come to America? Could it be that you might still be enjoying the many benefits of Africa such as starvation and disease? How about the genocide Africans see from their own people, isn’t there a chance you could be affected if you still lived there? At least as an American, we all enjoy the chance to become what ever we wish. To say otherwise would be a total insult to all successful black Americans. Get over it and work for a better life, don’t ask someone to give it to you! My family and I aren’t millionaires but I don’t complain about people who are. If I wanted what they have, I’d work hard to get it!
Rob from the still ridiculously racist state of Virginia asked: “Where would you be had your ancestors not come to America?” I will stoop to answering such an ignorant question.
If Africa has not been exploited by slavery and colonialism, its inhabitants would likely be economically and socially successful today, considering that much of Africa has significant natural resources. Mercantile capitalism and trade would have developed, and probably technology, too. Instead, the continent remains hobbled mainly by the abuses it suffered at the hands of Europeans.
The assumption that neo-Confederate bigots like Rob operate under is that there is something inherently wrong with Africans that white people ‘fixed’ by enslaving them. If you go read the Confederate states rationales for seceding from the Union you will see the same nonsense there. According to them, they were helping Africans by turning them into chattel. Those slave owners were helping someone all right — themselves. Any ‘richest people in America’ list from the 1800s would included mainly slave owners. Yet, we have nimcompoops like Rob still making that foolish, self-serving claim. If slavery improves people, why hasn’t he located a slave owner (there are still some operating below the radar) and signed up?
Kudos to those who have expressed an enlighted perspective on this very serious issue. As long as white people continue their long history of simultaneous subjugation and denial the race problem will remain unsolved.
Truth of the matter is that anyone in America with ‘white’ skin benefits from it every day of his or her life. And, most know it, despite some coming on threads like this one and lying their arses off.
> If you go read the Confederate states rationales for
> seceding from the Union you will see the same nonsense
> there.
Not entirely true. African slaves WERE generally better off than they were in Africa *at the time* (assuming they survived the voyage). We can quibble all we want about where they might have eventually gotten on their own with no intervention from anyone but let’s not forget that at the time they were still tribal, hunting with spears and wearing animal skins. Furthermore, more tribes were constantly at war with each other (on this last point, I guess there was only a slight improvement. ;->)
Let me preface this next point by saying that there is no justification for slavery. It is an abominable institution that absolutely had to go. That said, one of the primary tenements of the Civil War was that the States, being part of a united group of States, had the right to withdraw from the union if they wished to do so. On that point, the South was absolutely correct.
> Any ‘richest people in America’ list from the 1800s would
> included mainly slave owners
You realize that many of those slave owners included people that were previously slaves, right? Read that link I posted in #27.
The race problem will be solved when people stop thinking in terms of race both “black” and “white” and every other “color”.
> Truth of the matter is that anyone in America with ‘white’
> skin benefits from it every day of his or her life.
What about the “black” people that benefited from slavery both in a better life and being slave owners themselves?
So, another racist weighs in. Anyone who thinks racism is no longer an issue need only read this thread and the bigoted neighings of the Robs, Thomases, etc., on it.
• The notion that African societies needed to be ‘saved’ by Europeans is the very essence of white supremacist thinking. There were high functioning, literate cultures in Africa long before there were in Europe. Furthermore, slavery does not ‘save; people. It steals their lives from them.
•A relative handful of slaves purchased family members after buying their own freedom. However, anyone who thinks that the four million slaves in the South at the time of the Civil War were owned by blacks is not just ignorant, but delusional.
•People who say that slavery was wrong and then go on to claim it was a good thing suffer from an incredible degree of cognitive dissonance.
BTW, people, including (gasp!) white folks are still wearing animal skins.
Intelligent persons who want to learn about the decline of African societies might want to start by reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Literary types would also find Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart edifying.
#31,
Actually, it is you that cannot get past race because all you see both past and present is race motivation.
At the time of European colonization, African societies were still hunter gathers. Perhaps you need to read Diamond’s book (which I have read thank you very much) a little closer in terms of the hardships that go with living in a hunter-gatherer society. We know now that African societies had been around much longer than European, Asian or Middle-Eastern societies and yet they had not evolved beyond their simple hunter gatherer roots. Thus, the claim that they would have evolved into a modern society on their own without outside influence is specious. No one here is claiming that the European’s “saved” them (whatever that means). Rather, most would agree that their overall quality of life was better in America than it was in Africa.
Furthermore, no one said that slavery as an institution was a good thing but it is clear that some slaves benefited from slavery. There are more than a few instances where slaves that had previously been freed asked to become slaves again. When you add in the fact that there also wealthy black slave owners and that they were some of the cruelest slave masters, the argument for reparations is weak. No one said or is saying that ALL slaves were ALL owned by white or black people.
> BTW, people, including (gasp!) white
> folks are still wearing animal skins.
Yep. No question there. However, in modern societies, families are not required to personally kill the animal to make their clothing.