How could slavery effect todays African Americans?

Question

Slavery is over.My great grandparents were rich they went bankrupt before my mother was even thought off.Does that effect me today?I know it's not the same because slaves were forced to work.Why can someone blame the past for thier actions of today?

Answer 1

Jews: After holocaust, received their own country, (Granted in the middle of the Middleast & they fight) but its theirs.

Japanese: After their internment during WWII, received money back from their lost of business, status of internment, able to go from there.

Now here's some historical 'sticking points' that still upset people.

Koreans: Forced over to Japan & still treated like 2nd class citizens, while they are in a great country, they still struggle for acceptance. (Which coincidentally, Japanese still are struggling to honor their WWII heroes, b/c everytime they do the atrocities come up & many asian nations are upset)

Irish Catholics: After HUNDREDS of years of discrimination, they are still unable to officially 'get it together' still some rivalry with the protestants, (Thanks Orange men!) and are having a harder time to 'give it a go' Will take a while to mend that bridge.

Native Americans: After hundreds of years of killing/assimilation, they were given crappy land to live on, finally were able to get a casino, but then, have you seen what the outskirts of Las Vegas/Reno/Atlantic City are like? Alcoholic addictions prevail, suicide rates unchecked, and in some places the general family structure hard to keep together. Just because you have money, does not solve all your problems.

Blacks: Promised 40 acres & a mule, freedom to do whatever, immediately taken away & then jim crow/lynching began.

So yes, there are still effects, but at the same time, you do need to get out & do something, but then that is again another by product of african-american culture (Whites would generally kill/run away successful black businesses in the south, so if you knew that was going to happen, why even try to start one?)

Old habits die hard, you can blame, but you gotta move forward!

Answer 2

Slavery didn't just affect blacks of the past, it CRIPPLED them. And that crippling effect, sadly enough, still happens today. They separated blacks when they brought them here from Africa and that separation still runs deep. I'm not saying it's an excuse, because it's not. Some people are generally lazy. And people need to stop making a generalization of all black people. We are not all lazy, we are not all ghetto, we don't all complain, and all of us do not blame "the man" for our problems.
The same could be said for some white people who are lazy, complain all the time, and blame minorities as the reason why they can't find work or live in nice neighborhoods anymore.
Give me a break. People are people, we live and learn by the mistakes we make, and some of us are smart enough to become better than what others think.

Answer 3

to correct one of the answerers, it is not only the state America is in. the whole world is in that state with south Africa at the top. ask me!!!
when you have a past like south Africa with 'apartheid' etc. you normally get the feeling that it all is the 'white' people's fault. rather not say that because to take south Africa for instance: we are a democratic country for only the past 12 years and it is not the black people who was poor back then which they thought was the matter back then!!! the difference between today and yesterday is that we rely on what happened yesterday and not think of tomorrow as we should today.

I am white and my dad used to be a farmer until he went bankrupt in 'apartheid', the state didn't even support my dad to keep the farm that was in our family for over 60 years!! today the state easily disown white farmers and give their farms to black people who doesn't even have the knowledge of how to run a farm. it is insane as i also now blame others for my family's misery. but the concept is that my father, who didn't even graduated from school back in his days, went out to start working in a field he had the least interest in and today we are wealthy despite our bankruptcy back in the day.

so no one is to blame for your unlucky life, get your act together and seize the day by working you a*s off.

Answer 4

True, the people that once had slaves are long dead. However, that does'nt mean that the views of blacks died with it. Slavery is over, yes. Slave mentality remains. Not all white peole are racists, just like not all black people lay up and blame others.

For example: White people complain about how we need to do this and that. But when we work for ours, go to certain schools, (which are hard for us to get in because of our color) and get decent jobs, they want to blame us because we took all of the good jobs.
I guess they want us to go to college for four to twelve years only to work at McDonald's or clean people's houses and smile while doing so!

Answer 5

It's hard for people to blame the past for there actions today unless they are good actions even then it's just a point of view. Just like any other book, history books are a good thing to read. What you bring to a book will determine what you get out of it

Answer 6

I think lots of people heard from generations and so on about the past and when they are not a success they blame others..remember there are good people and bad in all Races...but my GOD...I am a Mexican-American and my generations behind me suffered too...but we all have to better ourselves and teach our children...I am married to an African-American and we do just fine...

Answer 7

Because that is the sad state this country is in. No one wants to do anything for themselves, so they blame others instead.

Answer 8

because to take responsibility for themselves means they would have to give up blaming thier lousy lives on someone else.

Answer 9

It doesnt, they just want to get paid for something that doesnt warrant it.

Answer 10

I don't know, but it makes them whiney, doesn't it?