Black People : Slavery and the Origins of Racism

HODEE

Alonewolf
PREMIUM MEMBER
Jul 2, 2003
5,990
1,023
In my post I ask.....
IS RACISM A DIRTY GAME?

http://www.destee.com/index.php?threads/is-racism-a-dirty-game.79863/
=========================================

Racism and Capitalism have been intertwined since the beginning of capitalism. You can’t have Capitalism without Racism.
Below is a insight to how the game is played and started.
It also offers the problem.. which is Capitalism.

The solution has been discussed on this forum here by many. Time and time again..
I will leave it up to the reader to absorb what is found in the article.

It shares how slavery was in early Greece and Rome and was not based on race. Racism was invented to feed the capitalist machine.
======================================

http://www.isreview.org/issues/26/roots_of_racism.shtml

Slavery and the origins of racism

by Lance Selfa

From time immemorial?

The classical empires of Greece and Rome were based on slave labor. But ancient slavery was not viewed in racial terms. Slaves were most often captives in wars or conquered peoples. If we understand white people as originating in what is today Europe, then most slaves in ancient Greece and Rome were white. Roman law made slaves the property of their owners, while maintaining a “formal lack of interest in the slave’s ethnic or racial provenance.” Over the years, slave manumission produced a mixed population of slave and free in Roman-ruled areas in which all came to be seen as “Romans.”The Greeks drew a sharper line between Greeks and “barbarians,” those subject to slavery. Again, this was not viewed in racial or ethnic terms, as the socialist historian of the Haitian Revolution, C.L.R. James, explained:

Historically it is pretty well proved now that the ancient Greeks and Romans knew nothing about race. They had another standardcivilized and barbarian—and you could have white skin and be a barbarian and you could be black and civilized.

IT IS commonly assumed that racism is as old as human society itself. As long as human beings have been around, the argument goes, they have always hated or feared people of a different nation or skin color. In other words, racism is just part of human nature.

Representative John L. Dawson, a member of Congress after the Civil War, insisted that racial prejudice was “implanted by Providence for wise purposes.” Senator James Doolittle of Wisconsin, a contemporary of Dawson’s, claimed that an “instinct of our nature” impelled us to sort people into racial categories and to recognize the natural supremacy of whites when compared to people with darker skins.”

Capitalism forces workers to compete for jobs, for affordable housing, for admittance to schools, for credit, etc.

When capitalism restructures, it replaces workers with machines and higher-paid workers with lower-paid workers. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, U.S. bosses used the surplus of cheap labor immigration provided to substitute unskilled workers for skilled (generally white, native workers), “triggering a nativist reaction among craft workers.”Today, restructuring in U.S. industry makes many U.S. workers open to nationalist appeals to “protect their jobs” against low-wage competition from Mexico.

Racism serves the bosses’ interests and bosses foster racism consciously, but these points do not explain why workers can accept racist explanations for their conditions.

The competition between workers that is an inherent feature of capitalism can be played out as competition (or perceived competition) between workers of different racial groups.

Because it seems to correspond with some aspect of reality, racism thus can become part of white workers’ “common sense.” This last point is important because it explains the persistence of racist ideas.

Because racism is woven right into the fabric of capitalism, new forms of racism arose with changes in capitalism. As the U.S. economy expanded and underpinned U.S. imperial expansion, imperialist racism—which asserted that the U.S. had a right to dominate other peoples, such as Mexicans and Filipinos—developed.

As the U.S. economy grew and sucked in millions of immigrant laborers, anti-immigrant racism developed. But these are both different forms of the same ideology—of white supremacy and division of the world into “superior” and “inferior” races—that had their origins in slavery.

What does this discussion mean for us today?

First, racism is not part of some unchanging human nature. It was literally invented. And so it can be torn down. Second, despite the overwhelming ideological hold of white supremacy, people always resisted it—from the slaves themselves to white anti-racists.

Understanding racism in this way informs the strategy that we use to combat racism. Antiracist education is essential, but it is not enough. Because it treats racism only as a question of “bad ideas” it does not address the underlying material conditions that give rise to the acceptance of racism among large sections of workers.Thoroughly undermining the hold of racism on large sections of workers requires three conditions: first, a broader class fight back that unites workers across racial lines; second, attacking the conditions (bad jobs, housing, education, etc.) that give rise to the appeal of racism among large sections of workers; and third, the conscious intervention of antiracists to oppose racism in all its manifestations and to win support for interracial class solidarity.

The hold of racism breaks down when the class struggle against the bosses forces workers to seek solidarity across racial lines. Socialists believe that such class unity is possible because white workers have an objective interest in fighting racism. The influence of racism on white workers is a question of their consciousness, not a question of some material bribe from the system they receive. Struggle creates conditions by which racism can be challenged and defeated.

Racism and capitalism have been intertwined since the beginning of capitalism. You can’t have capitalism without racism. Therefore, the final triumph over racism will only come when we abolish the source of racism—capitalism—and build a new socialist society.
 
In my post I ask.....

http://www.destee.com/index.php?threads/is-racism-a-dirty-game.79863/
=========================================


Below is a insight to how the game is played and started.
It also offers the problem.. which is Capitalism.

The solution has been discussed on this forum here by many. Time and time again..
I will leave it up to the reader to absorb what is found in the article.

It shares how slavery was in early Greece and Rome and was not based on race. Racism was invented to feed the capitalist machine.
======================================



From time immemorial?

The classical empires of Greece and Rome were based on slave labor. But ancient slavery was not viewed in racial terms. Slaves were most often captives in wars or conquered peoples. If we understand white people as originating in what is today Europe, then most slaves in ancient Greece and Rome were white. Roman law made slaves the property of their owners, while maintaining a “formal lack of interest in the slave’s ethnic or racial provenance.” Over the years, slave manumission produced a mixed population of slave and free in Roman-ruled areas in which all came to be seen as “Romans.”The Greeks drew a sharper line between Greeks and “barbarians,” those subject to slavery. Again, this was not viewed in racial or ethnic terms, as the socialist historian of the Haitian Revolution, C.L.R. James, explained:

Historically it is pretty well proved now that the ancient Greeks and Romans knew nothing about race. They had another standardcivilized and barbarian—and you could have white skin and be a barbarian and you could be black and civilized.

IT IS commonly assumed that racism is as old as human society itself. As long as human beings have been around, the argument goes, they have always hated or feared people of a different nation or skin color. In other words, racism is just part of human nature.

Representative John L. Dawson, a member of Congress after the Civil War, insisted that racial prejudice was “implanted by Providence for wise purposes.” Senator James Doolittle of Wisconsin, a contemporary of Dawson’s, claimed that an “instinct of our nature” impelled us to sort people into racial categories and to recognize the natural supremacy of whites when compared to people with darker skins.”

Capitalism forces workers to compete for jobs, for affordable housing, for admittance to schools, for credit, etc.

When capitalism restructures, it replaces workers with machines and higher-paid workers with lower-paid workers. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, U.S. bosses used the surplus of cheap labor immigration provided to substitute unskilled workers for skilled (generally white, native workers), “triggering a nativist reaction among craft workers.”Today, restructuring in U.S. industry makes many U.S. workers open to nationalist appeals to “protect their jobs” against low-wage competition from Mexico.

Racism serves the bosses’ interests and bosses foster racism consciously, but these points do not explain why workers can accept racist explanations for their conditions.

The competition between workers that is an inherent feature of capitalism can be played out as competition (or perceived competition) between workers of different racial groups.

Because it seems to correspond with some aspect of reality, racism thus can become part of white workers’ “common sense.” This last point is important because it explains the persistence of racist ideas.

Because racism is woven right into the fabric of capitalism, new forms of racism arose with changes in capitalism. As the U.S. economy expanded and underpinned U.S. imperial expansion, imperialist racism—which asserted that the U.S. had a right to dominate other peoples, such as Mexicans and Filipinos—developed.

As the U.S. economy grew and sucked in millions of immigrant laborers, anti-immigrant racism developed. But these are both different forms of the same ideology—of white supremacy and division of the world into “superior” and “inferior” races—that had their origins in slavery.

What does this discussion mean for us today?

First, racism is not part of some unchanging human nature. It was literally invented. And so it can be torn down. Second, despite the overwhelming ideological hold of white supremacy, people always resisted it—from the slaves themselves to white anti-racists.

Understanding racism in this way informs the strategy that we use to combat racism. Antiracist education is essential, but it is not enough. Because it treats racism only as a question of “bad ideas” it does not address the underlying material conditions that give rise to the acceptance of racism among large sections of workers.Thoroughly undermining the hold of racism on large sections of workers requires three conditions: first, a broader class fight back that unites workers across racial lines; second, attacking the conditions (bad jobs, housing, education, etc.) that give rise to the appeal of racism among large sections of workers; and third, the conscious intervention of antiracists to oppose racism in all its manifestations and to win support for interracial class solidarity.

The hold of racism breaks down when the class struggle against the bosses forces workers to seek solidarity across racial lines. Socialists believe that such class unity is possible because white workers have an objective interest in fighting racism. The influence of racism on white workers is a question of their consciousness, not a question of some material bribe from the system they receive. Struggle creates conditions by which racism can be challenged and defeated.

Racism and capitalism have been intertwined since the beginning of capitalism. You can’t have capitalism without racism. Therefore, the final triumph over racism will only come when we abolish the source of racism—capitalism—and build a new socialist society.

Another good post! We however will not be in the business of changing anything OUTSIDE of ourselves until we first see that we need to change things INSIDE of ourselves...and as I last checked, we really don't think that we have any INTERNAL problems...but we do...and it ain't pretty at all!!
 
Another good post! We however will not be in the business of changing anything OUTSIDE of ourselves until we first see that we need to change things INSIDE of ourselves...and as I last checked, we really don't think that we have any INTERNAL problems...but we do...and it ain't pretty at all!!

I agree Brother Keita.

We have internal problems. Flip that for a second. If the things outside were changed or minimized. The bombardment of negative thoughts, influence, dependance and need eliminated. The inside will heal.

The sickness inside is anger, for many. That will eat them alive. They will be destructive even to themselves. They will tear down efforts and understanding and will forever be lost.. trying to find something. Not holding on to anything and never letting down guard long enough to respect first another in order to be heard at least.

Take away a mans mouth. His ability to speak and be heard.. and you can destroy that man. I wrote that out of experience.

My hands and ability to go ( bound from hand to feet ) do something about something happened.

THE MIND

Take away a man's mouth>
Not let a man speak
Having no form of outlet
Bound from hand to feet he looses his mind.

A man with-out words will lose his spirit. A man with-out giving, has no chance of return.
 

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