Pat Buchanan: Black Americans should be grateful we brought them over on slave ships!

[GabiandVi 34]

I disagree with Buchanan, though having read the article, it seems that is not what he said. However, that is basically what Keith Richburg said about himself in his book, Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa. This is a very interesting, very well-written book about Richburg's years as bureau chief for the Washington Post in Nairobi. He says he was glad his ancestors were brought over as slaves. I'm glad my husband's forefathers were not brought over as slaves, and there can be no excuse for slavery regardless of how Richburg feels he ultimately benefited from it. He, too, would have had it never have happened despite his expression of happiness that he was born American and not African. But it is a very interesting read anyway.

[almaty 19]

And many young black men and women do, charles. Recruitment has been largely from poor areas: urban blacks and Hispanics, rural whites. Still not sure that's a solution; we won't fix our schools, so we'll have a military largely made up of poor people with no other options, and politicians who never needed to serve. Sounds like a bad idea, long-term, to me.

Please don't go there. Most people in the military are there because they want to serve. I didn't go because I was poor and didn't have any other options. My counterpart at work just left a $30/hour job to rejoin the army because he wanted to serve. (he had already done one enlistment) People sacrifice their time and sometimes their lives because they feel they have a debt to their country and join for that reason. Don't lessen their service by making statements like that.

my son was not poor and had a college paid scholarship and went in.........

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

And many young black men and women do, charles. Recruitment has been largely from poor areas: urban blacks and Hispanics, rural whites. Still not sure that's a solution; we won't fix our schools, so we'll have a military largely made up of poor people with no other options, and politicians who never needed to serve. Sounds like a bad idea, long-term, to me.

Please don't go there. Most people in the military are there because they want to serve. I didn't go because I was poor and didn't have any other options. My counterpart at work just left a $30/hour job to rejoin the army because he wanted to serve. (he had already done one enlistment) People sacrifice their time and sometimes their lives because they feel they have a debt to their country and join for that reason. Don't lessen their service by making statements like that.

my son was not poor and had a college paid scholarship and went in.........

The Volunteer Army: Who Fights and Why?

[almaty 19]

And many young black men and women do, charles. Recruitment has been largely from poor areas: urban blacks and Hispanics, rural whites. Still not sure that's a solution; we won't fix our schools, so we'll have a military largely made up of poor people with no other options, and politicians who never needed to serve. Sounds like a bad idea, long-term, to me.

Please don't go there. Most people in the military are there because they want to serve. I didn't go because I was poor and didn't have any other options. My counterpart at work just left a $30/hour job to rejoin the army because he wanted to serve. (he had already done one enlistment) People sacrifice their time and sometimes their lives because they feel they have a debt to their country and join for that reason. Don't lessen their service by making statements like that.

my son was not poor and had a college paid scholarship and went in.........

The Volunteer Army: Who Fights and Why?

good artice and point, my son had been working since age 15 and when he decided to go into the service was working out a mall 20 hours a week for mimium wage..decided after scoring high in language and guarantee to go inot Intelligence as an interogator to sign up..he just re-enlisted for 4 more years

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Just goes to show that Klansmen like to have fun like everybody else.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just goes to show that Klansmen like to have fun like everybody else.

They certainly do. A day at the funfair and then eating candy floss with the kids while they watch the weekend lynching.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Just goes to show that Klansmen like to have fun like everybody else.

They certainly do. A day at the funfair and then eating candy floss with the kids while they watch the weekend lynching.

Family values.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just goes to show that Klansmen like to have fun like everybody else.

They certainly do. A day at the funfair and then eating candy floss with the kids while they watch the weekend lynching.

Family values.

Yep. Back home for banjos and buggery.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I haven't seen anything in Buchanans article that sez: "Black Americans should be grateful we brought them over on slave ships."

America has been the best country on earth for black folks. 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.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

PJ, you can interpret that passage however you want. I know how it reads to me and many others.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I haven't seen anything in Buchanans article that sez: "Black Americans should be grateful we brought them over on slave ships."

America has been the best country on earth for black folks. 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.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

PJ, you can interpret that passage however you want. I know how it reads to me and many others.

Reading through the rest of the article - its not as overt as it seems - but that passage does seem rather crass, at best. And of course he's saying it as the beneficiary of a culture that is partly responsible for the current condition of the African continent.

Apparently when an African American sees people on TV living in squalid conditions, flies buzzing around their mouths or with their bodies ruined with machete wounds they should feel gratitude for the well-meaning slavers who after all - weren't out to line their own pockets on the backs of the flesh and blood of someone elses ancestors, but did it to give those people a new start.

He's also saying it with the benefit of several generations of White American and immigrant culture behind him. The problem in the black community, from what I understand, arises out of an cultural identity crisis.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Number 6

[Heracles 417]

Last time I checked no Oprahs or Will Smiths came from Africa. Can anyone deny the resources and opportunities available to so many black Americans which people in various African nations can only dream of. Like it or not the reality is that a clown like Wright would be lucky if he drank orange juice once a month if he lived in so many nations in Africa.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Last time I checked no Oprahs or Will Smiths came from Africa. Can anyone deny the resources and opportunities available to so many black Americans which so many people in various African nations can only dream of.

No. But noone can deny the existence of social inequalities either.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Number 6

[panamania79 2]

Just goes to show that Klansmen like to have fun like everybody else.

[Heracles 417]

Last time I checked no Oprahs or Will Smiths came from Africa. Can anyone deny the resources and opportunities available to so many black Americans which so many people in various African nations can only dream of.

No. But noone can deny the existence of social inequalities either.

Yes. All too easy for someone in the NE east to blame slavery, lol, because there where so many plantations in the NE. Especially in Chicago. lol.

The first step to equality requires an effort on their behalf. Stop using history as a justification. Bill Cosby has the right idea but not everyone is listening. Easier to play the victim than take responsibility for one's circumstances.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!