Update
Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Chris Rock got a LOT of flack for this tweet some years ago…

But exactly what did he say that wasn’t fact ? 😳
And I seem to recall the folks who generally complain about "political correctness" being angriest about it. Go figure.
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
Nope, the slaves weren't freed, but many free blacks fought in the Continental Army.
@ChipmunkErnie Those who were fortunate enough to not be enslaved. And ironically, the Brits offered enslaved people who fought against the US freedom.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Yup. Some of them were even slave-owners themselves.
@ChipmunkErnie The Brits were slaveowners originally. They abolished slavery at home and in all their colonies in 1833, thirty years before we did.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Yup, AND they went onto the high seas to stop other nations from slave-trading. On the other hand, slavery in Africa wasn't finally abolished -- on the major level anyway -- until the 1920s. There pretty much isn't any nation /people who didn't indulge in slave owning at some point.
@ChipmunkErnie Slavery in subsaharan Africa was largely interethnic, not interracial. That’s a huge difference from the US and European countries, who targeted blacks during the Trans Atlantic trade. And regardless of how many other countries were slave-owning, only the US claims to be the land of the free—even with its National Anthem (written by a slaveowner). Slavery shouldn’t have been possible here.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Slavery throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia was also essentially inter-ethnic until fairly late in human history. Europeans enslaved other Europeans, etc. There was neither the wealth nor the transportation facilities during most of human history to transport slaves across oceans in large numbers. And I WISH America actually lived up to its ideals, we've not been terribly good at it throughout our history. Claiming that slavery shouldn't have been possible here because "land of the free" is in a song? That was written in response to white men freezing themselves from a symbolic slavery under the rule of a king, nothing to do with freeing everyone. I wish it had meant everyone, but it never did.
@ChipmunkErnie Obviously in practice it didn’t mean everyone. That’s the hypocrisy I’m talking about. But I’m supposed to celebrate it anyway ? My guy friend (Native American) wished me a "Happy Barbecue Appreciation Day" this morning and that works just fine.
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
@ChipmunkErnie Hypocrisy. It’s "us first" in your own home, not after you’ve stolen someone else’s home and kidnapped strangers to work the land. Then you’re involving others.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard No, it's "us first" in tribes, nations, ethnicities, whatever. Humans tend to be tribal. Nationalism, racism, religious bigotry are all just different versions of tribalism.
This comment is hidden. Show Comment
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Didn't understand that at all. We're all the foreigner to those outside our own tribe.
@ChipmunkErnie You don’t understand. That’s kind of the bottom line. 😞
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Right -- I couldn't understand what you were trying to say. I talk in terms of humanity, you always seem to want everything to be limited to the American black experience only.
@ChipmunkErnie When I’m speaking about the American black experience (which is why I posted this under "African American") you’re correct, I’m not looking for a global treatise.