Is Racism Against Blacks Birthed from Politics?

[tomspug]

I heard about this, and I wanted to know the validity of it. Many of us don't really think about WHERE black racism came from, as if it has simply always been a part of our country's "dark history". Is the "white man" really to blame, or is the politics of the early American government to blame?

 

[Ringer]

I heard about this, and I wanted to know the validity of it. Many of us don't really think about WHERE black racism came from, as if it has simply always been a part of our country's "dark history". Is the "white man" really to blame, or is the politics of the early American government to blame?

Racism of any kind seems to stem from ignorance and fear of those that are different. It just so happened that we were able to control a group of people, exploit them free labor, and because this was great for a flourishing economy, the government didn't step in to condone such a system. I don't think it's birthed from politics. It's rooted in the human condition and politics just took advantage of it.

 

[tomspug]

Racism of any kind seems to stem from ignorance and fear of those that are different. It just so happened that we were able to control a group of people, exploit them free labor, and because this was great for a flourishing economy, the government didn't step in to condone such a system. I don't think it's birthed from politics. It's rooted in the human condition and politics just took advantage of it.

You see! This is the kind of things we are TOLD, but what evidence do we actually have of it?

But I don't think that's true at all. The government did NOT condone racism. That is clearly a lie. Do you honestly believe that every single person in the constitutional convention, as they were penning the outlines of a Constitution promoting equality, condoned slavery? Au contraire, mon ami! That is so BS.

Why do you think there was less slavery in the North? Because slavery was inconvenient? There has clearly been an argument about slavery since the slaves arrived from Africa.

That just seems to make sense to me, but I was wondering if anyone had any historical references to point towards to clarify this argument.

 

[Ringer]

I think slavery was less prevalant in the north because from an agricultural standpoint, most of the crops that benefited from slave labor (ie. cotton) were in the southern states. I imagine that if those in the northern states had as much as need for slaves as those in the southern states, it would have been a completely different ball game. But, that's just speculation on my part.

 

[tomspug]

Again, this is what I assumed too, because it all that I have known, but I realized that in my imaginary historical past there is no definition of the opposition to racism. We are never given any indication that there WAS any... Is that really a correct view of history?