It's fascinating how no one considers Hitler killing his own people in Poland, Russia, and France. No one ever says Caesar killed and enslaved his own people in Gaul and Germania. ONLY black people have this special designation of being shamed into this narrative. Nevermind the fact that Africa isn't a country, it's a continent. A continent that has 54 counties, countless tribes, and over 2000 languages. 500 years ago had no concept of race... only their specific group. Just like the native Americans and the clans of Scotland/Ireland.
I keep saying that the boat ride had to be the most horrible thing to go through and those who survived it are some strong ( mental, emotional and physical) people. The endurance of the living conditions, the physical abuse and not knowing what the hell is going to happen to you are scary as hell. Not to mention that they were raping the women.
When it comes to reparations, African groups/tribes/nations that were involved in capturing and trading slaves to outsiders should also be held accountable. Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, among other African nations have apologized for their involvement in the slave trade, even one going as far as to say, (paraphrased) "we cant only blame the white man as we are also responsible". And lets not forget, Africans were trading slaves to outsiders before the white man`s involvement, during the white man`s involvement, and even after the white man eliminated slavery in their respective countries, Africans were STILL trading slaves to outsiders. As a black American, Iam blessed. Because of this, I would feel selfish to ask for reparations when there is still slavery in the African country of Mauritania that never gets talked about.
Correct, except that Africa has already paid a heavy price for it's involvement in the slave trade. Reparations should be paid by those who profited. By and large, that doesn't include Africans. Slavery today is a direct byproduct of European colonialism. Repairing the damage from Western colonialism (which is what reparations is all about) would address the past and current problems of slavery on the African continent.
@@AfricanElements Definitely, the fact that Africans enslaved one another along with trading them to outsiders only solidified ethnic fragmentation within their countries, weakening them. Africans I believe profited in the short-term, but had long-term negatives. As for Mauritania, they were colonized by the French but have been independent for over have a century. I dont get how slavery is illegal yet slavery is still taking place there. What kind of reparations would you find appropriate? Is it monetary? Something like the previously promised 40 acres and a mule? I have my thoughts on this, but honestly I need to look more into what the desirable forms of reparations are.
Reparations for colonization on the African continent would be super complicated, but immediate forgiveness of all debt would be a good place to start. Beyond that, former colonial powers need to work to put African resources back in the hands of African people. In the United States, I would also look toward a comprehensive approach. Beyond monetary compensation, I would say at the very least, land and/or zero interest loans as well as full and _unconditional_ community control over policing and education. That would be a good place to start in terms of repairing the structural intergenerational inequity and repression of black communities that's rooted in slavery.
@@AfricanElements Seems really complicated to manage when there was a decolonization period in Africa half a century ago. But I guess some people say those very countries that were decolonized are still colonized. I gotta read up more on this. For the USA, Ive always thought that monetary reparations would be too surface level. I know its satire, but Im reminded of that "Reparations" Dave Chappelle skit lol. Its like people who win the lottery, 70% of them go broke within a year or two. Doesnt matter the race, if a person is not good with managing money, they will most likely squander it. Zero interest loans sounds like a good start, but loan companies will most likely suffer I would think. I agree with community control of education, I recently came across the young King Randall who is doing his part. As for policing, I wish BLM or other black leaders would tell blacks to just simply "obey the law", dont resist, and be cordial. There are bad cops out there, but there are also bad civilians. Before I started driving, my mother told me if you get pulled over, be cordial, do everything to cop says, and dont make fast movements. Im one to think that if the black community had a crime rate that was as low as say, the Korean community, then there would be less run ins with cops. But all that probably starts in the home, along with environment. Its like the "Black ppl vs Niggaz" Chris Rock bit, there has to be some level of personal responsibility, as its not always someone else`s fault. There are blacks who make it out of wretchedness, my mother for example started out poor and made it to middle class through hard work and sacrifice. And even Nigerans who come to America do very well for themselves. Now if the black community as a whole had work ethic like the Nigerians who migrate to the states do, maybe we wouldnt be having this conversation. But majority are trapped, repeating the same cycle as the environment they reside in. Meaning that blacks have to work harder than, not just white people, but any person who was born to a middle class/high class household. Im one to think that repression and oppression is more a product of the mind. There are race hustlers out there like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, news media, etc, who have blacks convinced. Convinced enough to blame everything on white people, society, racism, slavery and what not. Its no longer about what I can do for myself, its about what can the government do for me. That only takes the power out of the hands of the individual. But I digress because I realize that not everyone is born with a "boot". If any person, any race sits in the thought process of , "what can the government/outside person do for me?", then I doubt that individual will ever make it out of their wretchedness. In these times, I really think it starts with the individual and the community, not the government. My parents, namely my mother, who busted her butt to make it to upper middle-class, for all the other successful black Americans out there, and Africans who migrated to the States and became successful, I highly doubt any of them sat around waiting for the government to come in and help them. Its like the story of the guy whos car broke down on the side of the road. Stuck out his thumb to get help but nobody bothered. But once he started pushing his own car, thats when passers felt the need to lend a hand.
1. To the extent to which that wealth can be traced generationally and to the extent to which descendants of those African traders continue to benefit from the slave trade, I agree that reparations are due. I do not believe you will find any such beneficiaries. Even if people benefited in the short term, in the long term the overwhelmingly the slave trade caused devastating harm to the continent. 2. The state of Mauritania (and most of the continent) today is directly attributable to its colonial past. Present day slavery cannot be divorced from the colonial past. 3. The descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas do not share the benefits of the wealth that was generated by their free labor.
excellent introduction to the middle passage and a few of the many differences between slavery in Africa and chattel slavery. thank you so much for doing the work of giving the video equivalent of in-text citations... any educational channel that does so gets a sub from me.
You are so knowledgeable about our history. And you serve it out well. I always knew that selling of our own people was one a GREAT MYTH. They used so they don't look so guilty on their part. Thanks for sharing another one of your great videos.
Historian chiming in here, excellent as always. My grandfather born in 1880 said the same thing "They sold their own" also his in law was from indentured on Eastern Shore, MD. Also, with great respect to a president of his older brother's era he postulated to me that Abe Lincoln was part black, Abe did not know his birth mother, any information on this?
Thanks for your comment! I'm not aware of any information that suggests that Abraham Lincoln was black, but I know there are memes floating around. I don't put much stock in them.
@@AfricanElements I do not know either, but my ancestor knew of this rumor early on as noted he was born in 1880 and lived until the 1970's. I enjoyed the film Lincoln and Viola Davis is great as Mrs. Keck I recommend the film but it is a big slow so have a lunch and bourbon to go with it. Best to you from DC. I do know Abe was nice to Mrs. Keck and had a best pal in Pascal Beverly Randolph a gent who deserves his own film. Occultist and son of a doctor and black dancer. Cheers. Also, the film is based on archival info that Gore Vidal was brave enough to request, but Abe's early family are not noted. ENJOY.
3:00 good point and many people get this sooo wrong, even in other unrelated racial discussions. "African" was a term the Spanish and Dutch, English used mostly. Nobody was selling their "own people" just cause their skin was the same color. They didn't speak the same language or even look the same. It's the equivalent of "black people look the same to me!" that some say today. Just ignorant broad brushes.
This really contextualized the importance of capoeira as an adaptation. And also the importance of protecting the art and using it for what it was intended for by my ancestors. And realize that some of the white mestres unfairly denigrated condomble as evil witch craft and that it was likely an adaptation as well.
it still doesn't the white man off the hook. Just because I offered you my kids doesn't mean the people buying them it's okay. If I'm a human I wouldn't Wana buy humans. It was all savage and doesn't let America off hook.
So,it’s okay. For other slave to practices the religion of voodoo, and other countries have issues with Haitian people practicing voodoo and treat Haitian like nothing. When they fight hard to gain their independence for freedom.
I read that book while Incarcerated. And to me that dude was a sell-out. Also, there was an article in time magazine, with this Nigerian women, who stated that her grad-father was a slave trader. And how men like him was respected in their communities. She want on to say that her ancestor was a hard man, because one had to be in order to be in that business. She also, talked about how his slave business Left her family with generational wealth. And she to this day was able to go to school in both Europe, and the United States. She said that she was not embarrassed by her family's participation in the middle passage/trans-atlantic slave trade. There are also, accounts of Nigerians who was in the business, saying they never wanted to see the people they just sold, because they played the class game too. Look at Shaka Zulu, he sold land to whites, he seen whites with black slaves, also, their culture was so crazy, that a king or a big business man die and they would kill some of his servants so they could have them service them in death. That's a culture that was crazy. So, I'm not to liking to a lot of African culture. I really believe, we as blacks in America have developed our own culture. And because of that we are so far removed from Africa, and the many cultural practice they have. Like all of them don't see themselves as the same people. But, we over here say that they are all one people. And that's so far from the truth.
Me, I'm FBA, not African. That has look been out of us over here and if it's better to connect on ancestry bases, or just to do what China is doing, and they are there not because of a shared ancestry, but just business, and big exploitation. Because none of them want to hear that come back home my brother. They see us, and their cash registers go ching ching. And they double charge us. Where is this called African Unity, Or Pan Africanism? We over here on some African culture studies, for want? To do business with them, or to live back over there what the hell are we study a culture for that is not ours anymore. We are Black Americans. We have our own shit. Africans should study our culture. Because, we the leaders of the out numbered. We have created so much without that culture, why are we study their shit. We have so many scholars so many black writers talking about African culture that old past that we can't see that we got some good right in front of us foundational black Americans have set the stage in the standard of what it is to be a successful people after coming from so much pain oppression in agony what the hell do I need to study some African culture for Africans themselves over there in the continent haven't been through what we have been through over here in America and we still standing I'll be damned if I study that b******* culture that was a part of contributing to my losing so much f*** Africa. And I'm a black man from New York City Brooklyn up queens up. You look stupid with that dashiki on
@@grantredman4958 no one called you African. As an African I too would love for black Americans to leave our cultures/ history alone. Black Americans don't have an ancient history like Africans. So they need to borrow from Africans.
Nothing he stated was incorrect, Truth spoken 🤜 Although Religion is a European creation. Africans had Spirituality. Religion and Spirituality is not the same.
Reparations are probably not possible. What is the value of the millions of lives lost and how would one determine who received the reparation and what form would it take? But a starting point in the healing process is to acknowledge the full history, loss, and pain caused by slavery, not to whitewash it, and seek to cover it up.
Correct. Monetary compensation is only a start. What must be done is to fix the broken educational , criminal justice, lending, healthcare, and political systems that continue to harm black communities.
It is realistically impossible to do it accurately. Not to mention you cannot justify making a family that moved here during the holocaust that went through similar atrocities or any other immigrants that came here after slavery to pay for slavery. They endured class stratification also and lived in poor communities. That’s why it is unwise to compare hardships on a grading scale. It is reductive and does not allow us to feel for one another.
Mr. Spearman, have you read Ivan Van Sertima's book, "They came before Columbus"? If so, what's your take on Ivan's work? Also, have you done a study on The Hidden Colors Documentary series?
Yes. I think Dr Van sertima's work is important in moving the discipline forward. It has to be put in the context of establishing black studies as a serious discipline, though, at a time when was facing constant attacks and discrediting of black people. So, it was framed as essentially a defense of black people. At that, it was good. Unfortunately, the research and methodology was heavily flawed. The problem is that instead of building on his research, a lot of folks have taken it at face value simply because they wanted to believe the conclusions without putting them up to serious question and scrutiny. _Hidden Colors_ is HIGHLY guilty of that. In short, we need to move beyond trying to defend ourselves from white people and the white establishment. Doing so will help us better follow the evidence wherever it leads.
... btw, I'm guilty of that too. There was a time when I more or less uncritically accepted Van Sertima's conclusion. When I held it to further (honest) scrutiny, though, it just doesn't hold up. I actually explored that in more detail in a much earlier video here... th-cam.com/video/mCOI6d_6lgM/w-d-xo.html
@@AfricanElements "In short, we need to move beyond trying to defend ourselves from white people and the white establishment. Doing so will help us better follow the evidence wherever it leads." i so agree with that statement, and i have said it not in the exact words but the same. I usually say this, " we as African Americans (blacks), are always in warrior mold that we rarely take the time to allow the scholar to come out" so everything we do as the warrior no matter how Nobel, will always seem suspect without research and thought, and allow the evidence to lead to the conclusion instead of allowing the conclusion to be the evidence.
When you stated "Africans did not sell their own people" what you're referring to is the fact that one specific tribe would not sell members of that tribe, rather they would sell members of a competitive tribe or an enemy tribe therefore they were not selling their own people they were selling people from other tribes not thought of as their own. So let's cut the bullshit here and call it what it is, black Africans regardless of what tribe they belong to, black Africans sold other black Africans in exchange for weapons alcohol and gold that is a historical fact! And a fact that did not come from one narrative or one specific book but rather multiple accounts spanning a multitude of years. So at the end of the day when all is said and done yes black men who lived on the African continent traded other black men from the African continent to White Europeans in exchange for guns alcohol and gold... Your basing an entire historical narrative on one guy's recollection of what happened to him specifically. If I get roughed up by the police and I write a book about it then 300 years from now somebody reads that book it would be wrong for them to say every single person who got arrested was beat up 300 years ago because this one guy wrote a book and stated that was his experience therefore it must have been everyone's experience. But as we know that would be wrong, dead wrong. So you cannot take Equianos experience and apply it to everyone that was just HIS experience.
Wow! It never ceases to amaze me how a person with his head lodged so firmly up his ass can speak as if they actually know what the fu¢k they're talking about! The people you speak of didn't consider themselves Africans, and the notion of blackness would have been foreign to them as well. So no, Africans didn't sell Africans and blacks didn't sell blacks. These were people who considered themselves as different from one another as French, English, and Spanish - groups who had no qualms slaughtering one another for hundreds of years. If you want to argue that Africans were selling their own, that's only true to the extent to which you would consider it accurate to say that Europeans were slaughtering "their own people."
... Also, the point I made about Equiano had nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not Africans were selling their own people. The point I was making that what he was experiencing as a slave on the middle passage was nothing like what he experienced as a slave in his homeland. So in the future, before commenting, kindly clean the shi† out of your ears so that you can better respond to the point I'm _actually_ making.
@@AfricanElements Yes....now you finally get it. To assert that there is this homogeneous tribe called White people is historically a pretty untenable position. So the idea that all the White people on the planet have to get down on their hands and knees and apologize to "Black people" and pay reparations is going to have a lot of push back from the other White tribes that weren't involved in SubSaharan African slavery.
@@drmodestoesq Wow dude! I have made every effort to try to have a rational conversation with to no avail. As you are clearly either too stupid or too stoned to have a conversation with, I'm going to put this conversation on pause for the moment. I'm not blocking you... Yet! Take a step back, look at what I ACTUALLY said, and try to come back and have a conversation about a statement or argument I ACTUALLY made instead of having an argument with some weird ghost in your head. Ummkay?
Except at that time, there was no such thing as "Black." As I explained, they would not have called themselves Black. They would have called themselves. Ashanti, Akon, Ibo, Dahomey, Yoruba, etc. So no, they did not sell each other. They sold groups that they considered distinctly different from one another.
Actually, about 30% of Blacks died on the passage, which was about the same percentage of deaths from the White crews, who mostly died of disease, although the crew was of course on the ship for twice or three times as long as the slaves. Things were tough all over back then!
As a said in the video, the middle passage represents only a portion of the deaths. Many died before even reaching the ships, and many more over the two year seasoning process. If your point is that white colonization claimed white lives as well as blacks lives, though, I agree.
Jack- not quite the same amount died but alot of white men died, too. They were on the ship more but were not kept in those diseased, unsanitary conditions. Those captives were laying in their own bodily waste and the people that they were chained to. Fecus, urine, vomit, blood, sweat and whatever food they did not eat. The white men did have to clean up sometimes but they were not laying around in it all day.
@@TYB1970 Over several hundred years, in ships of many nationalities, I’m sure there were plenty of instances of slaves wallowing in “fecus, urine, vomit, blood, sweat and whatever food they did not eat” on slave ships, especially after the slave trade was outlawed. I’m also sure there were plenty of instances you don’t want to talk about, where slaves wallowed in their filth on their way to holding prisons (called "forts") run by Black African slavers, where they were kept, sometimes for months, awaiting the arrival of slave ships. The African slave trade could never have existed without Black African slavers. Anyway, dead and sick slaves don’t sell. So slave captains had a strong incentive to keep their slaves healthy. Disease was a constant concern. As a general rule, slave quarters were swabbed and dusted down once a day with (I believe) lime. Weather permitting, female slaves were usually all allowed up on deck during the day, unchained. The males were allowed on deck in groups, sometimes chained, sometimes not. They were forced to exercise to keep them healthy. The food was awful, for both slaves and the crew, but the slaves were fed as well as possible, usually with the same gruel they were accustomed to in Africa, again, to keep them healthy.
I don't agree with africans selling africans they knew who they had just because your brown doesn't mean they are the same people. After 70AD the Israelites ran down into Africa which is now known as the slave coast and settled there which back then was known as Judah according to historical maps so just because you have brown skin doesn't mean they are the same read from Babylon to Timbuktu Igbo is a derivative of Ibrew
You said African People did not Sell African People , you mentioned they were Captured , Who Captured Them and Transported Them from The Interior ? It's very difficult to believe that a Group of European People could simply walk into a Village or whatever and gather African People and simply march them miles away to waiting ships. Please Help me with that
There were a very few that were sold for debt, but that was the exception rather than a rule to the point of being insignificant. The overwhelming majority were sold by rival groups. To characterize the Atlantic slave trade Africans as selling their own people as if that were anything other than an anomaly is just plain dishonest.
It's fascinating how no one considers Hitler killing his own people in Poland, Russia, and France. No one ever says Caesar killed and enslaved his own people in Gaul and Germania. ONLY black people have this special designation of being shamed into this narrative. Nevermind the fact that Africa isn't a country, it's a continent. A continent that has 54 counties, countless tribes, and over 2000 languages. 500 years ago had no concept of race... only their specific group. Just like the native Americans and the clans of Scotland/Ireland.
The stat of 50% of people not surviving the journey just to get to the ships is also mind boggling. So devastating. :(
I keep saying that the boat ride had to be the most horrible thing to go through and those who survived it are some strong ( mental, emotional and physical) people. The endurance of the living conditions, the physical abuse and not knowing what the hell is going to happen to you are scary as hell. Not to mention that they were raping the women.
this is a great channel, it's very professional and i'm sure it will grow
Thank you so much for watching! If you're interested, I'll be doing a live stream on Thursday evening.
You're one of the best teachers I've seen, Darius. Thanks for what you're doing here.
Thank you so much! That's very kind of you.
When it comes to reparations, African groups/tribes/nations that were involved in capturing and trading slaves to outsiders should also be held accountable. Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, among other African nations have apologized for their involvement in the slave trade, even one going as far as to say, (paraphrased) "we cant only blame the white man as we are also responsible". And lets not forget, Africans were trading slaves to outsiders before the white man`s involvement, during the white man`s involvement, and even after the white man eliminated slavery in their respective countries, Africans were STILL trading slaves to outsiders.
As a black American, Iam blessed. Because of this, I would feel selfish to ask for reparations when there is still slavery in the African country of Mauritania that never gets talked about.
Correct, except that Africa has already paid a heavy price for it's involvement in the slave trade. Reparations should be paid by those who profited. By and large, that doesn't include Africans. Slavery today is a direct byproduct of European colonialism. Repairing the damage from Western colonialism (which is what reparations is all about) would address the past and current problems of slavery on the African continent.
@@AfricanElements Definitely, the fact that Africans enslaved one another along with trading them to outsiders only solidified ethnic fragmentation within their countries, weakening them. Africans I believe profited in the short-term, but had long-term negatives.
As for Mauritania, they were colonized by the French but have been independent for over have a century. I dont get how slavery is illegal yet slavery is still taking place there.
What kind of reparations would you find appropriate? Is it monetary? Something like the previously promised 40 acres and a mule? I have my thoughts on this, but honestly I need to look more into what the desirable forms of reparations are.
Reparations for colonization on the African continent would be super complicated, but immediate forgiveness of all debt would be a good place to start. Beyond that, former colonial powers need to work to put African resources back in the hands of African people.
In the United States, I would also look toward a comprehensive approach. Beyond monetary compensation, I would say at the very least, land and/or zero interest loans as well as full and _unconditional_ community control over policing and education. That would be a good place to start in terms of repairing the structural intergenerational inequity and repression of black communities that's rooted in slavery.
@@AfricanElements Seems really complicated to manage when there was a decolonization period in Africa half a century ago. But I guess some people say those very countries that were decolonized are still colonized. I gotta read up more on this.
For the USA, Ive always thought that monetary reparations would be too surface level. I know its satire, but Im reminded of that "Reparations" Dave Chappelle skit lol. Its like people who win the lottery, 70% of them go broke within a year or two. Doesnt matter the race, if a person is not good with managing money, they will most likely squander it. Zero interest loans sounds like a good start, but loan companies will most likely suffer I would think. I agree with community control of education, I recently came across the young King Randall who is doing his part. As for policing, I wish BLM or other black leaders would tell blacks to just simply "obey the law", dont resist, and be cordial. There are bad cops out there, but there are also bad civilians. Before I started driving, my mother told me if you get pulled over, be cordial, do everything to cop says, and dont make fast movements. Im one to think that if the black community had a crime rate that was as low as say, the Korean community, then there would be less run ins with cops. But all that probably starts in the home, along with environment. Its like the "Black ppl vs Niggaz" Chris Rock bit, there has to be some level of personal responsibility, as its not always someone else`s fault. There are blacks who make it out of wretchedness, my mother for example started out poor and made it to middle class through hard work and sacrifice. And even Nigerans who come to America do very well for themselves. Now if the black community as a whole had work ethic like the Nigerians who migrate to the states do, maybe we wouldnt be having this conversation. But majority are trapped, repeating the same cycle as the environment they reside in. Meaning that blacks have to work harder than, not just white people, but any person who was born to a middle class/high class household.
Im one to think that repression and oppression is more a product of the mind. There are race hustlers out there like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, news media, etc, who have blacks convinced. Convinced enough to blame everything on white people, society, racism, slavery and what not. Its no longer about what I can do for myself, its about what can the government do for me. That only takes the power out of the hands of the individual. But I digress because I realize that not everyone is born with a "boot". If any person, any race sits in the thought process of , "what can the government/outside person do for me?", then I doubt that individual will ever make it out of their wretchedness. In these times, I really think it starts with the individual and the community, not the government.
My parents, namely my mother, who busted her butt to make it to upper middle-class, for all the other successful black Americans out there, and Africans who migrated to the States and became successful, I highly doubt any of them sat around waiting for the government to come in and help them. Its like the story of the guy whos car broke down on the side of the road. Stuck out his thumb to get help but nobody bothered. But once he started pushing his own car, thats when passers felt the need to lend a hand.
1. To the extent to which that wealth can be traced generationally and to the extent to which descendants of those African traders continue to benefit from the slave trade, I agree that reparations are due. I do not believe you will find any such beneficiaries. Even if people benefited in the short term, in the long term the overwhelmingly the slave trade caused devastating harm to the continent.
2. The state of Mauritania (and most of the continent) today is directly attributable to its colonial past. Present day slavery cannot be divorced from the colonial past.
3. The descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas do not share the benefits of the wealth that was generated by their free labor.
I love this class. I didn't have any information about black history and this class is very informative. Thanks professor.
excellent introduction to the middle passage and a few of the many differences between slavery in Africa and chattel slavery. thank you so much for doing the work of giving the video equivalent of in-text citations... any educational channel that does so gets a sub from me.
You are so knowledgeable about our history. And you serve it out well. I always knew that selling of our own people was one a GREAT MYTH. They used so they don't look so guilty on their part. Thanks for sharing another one of your great videos.
Thanks for watching! I just finished premiering a new video that I think you might like.
@@AfricanElements Thanks I will check it out
Brother I love your channel great information thank you 👍👍
Historian chiming in here, excellent as always. My grandfather born in 1880 said the same thing "They sold their own" also his in law was from indentured on Eastern Shore, MD. Also, with great respect to a president of his older brother's era he postulated to me that Abe Lincoln was part black, Abe did not know his birth mother, any information on this?
Thanks for your comment! I'm not aware of any information that suggests that Abraham Lincoln was black, but I know there are memes floating around. I don't put much stock in them.
@@AfricanElements I do not know either, but my ancestor knew of this rumor early on as noted he was born in 1880 and lived until the 1970's. I enjoyed the film Lincoln and Viola Davis is great as Mrs. Keck I recommend the film but it is a big slow so have a lunch and bourbon to go with it. Best to you from DC. I do know Abe was nice to Mrs. Keck and had a best pal in Pascal Beverly Randolph a gent who deserves his own film. Occultist and son of a doctor and black dancer. Cheers. Also, the film is based on archival info that Gore Vidal was brave enough to request, but Abe's early family are not noted. ENJOY.
3:00 good point and many people get this sooo wrong, even in other unrelated racial discussions. "African" was a term the Spanish and Dutch, English used mostly. Nobody was selling their "own people" just cause their skin was the same color. They didn't speak the same language or even look the same. It's the equivalent of "black people look the same to me!" that some say today. Just ignorant broad brushes.
Thank you. This is new to me. I'm starting to understand, grow in empathy, and own up to working for reparations.
Thank you for watching!
This really contextualized the importance of capoeira as an adaptation. And also the importance of protecting the art and using it for what it was intended for by my ancestors. And realize that some of the white mestres unfairly denigrated condomble as evil witch craft and that it was likely an adaptation as well.
it still doesn't the white man off the hook. Just because I offered you my kids doesn't mean the people buying them it's okay. If I'm a human I wouldn't Wana buy humans. It was all savage and doesn't let America off hook.
Excellent point!
So,it’s okay. For other slave to practices the religion of voodoo, and other countries have issues with Haitian people practicing voodoo and treat Haitian like nothing. When they fight hard to gain their independence for freedom.
I read that book while Incarcerated. And to me that dude was a sell-out. Also, there was an article in time magazine, with this Nigerian women, who stated that her grad-father was a slave trader. And how men like him was respected in their communities. She want on to say that her ancestor was a hard man, because one had to be in order to be in that business. She also, talked about how his slave business Left her family with generational wealth. And she to this day was able to go to school in both Europe, and the United States. She said that she was not embarrassed by her family's participation in the middle passage/trans-atlantic slave trade. There are also, accounts of Nigerians who was in the business, saying they never wanted to see the people they just sold, because they played the class game too. Look at Shaka Zulu, he sold land to whites, he seen whites with black slaves, also, their culture was so crazy, that a king or a big business man die and they would kill some of his servants so they could have them service them in death. That's a culture that was crazy. So, I'm not to liking to a lot of African culture. I really believe, we as blacks in America have developed our own culture. And because of that we are so far removed from Africa, and the many cultural practice they have. Like all of them don't see themselves as the same people. But, we over here say that they are all one people. And that's so far from the truth.
Me, I'm FBA, not African. That has look been out of us over here and if it's better to connect on ancestry bases, or just to do what China is doing, and they are there not because of a shared ancestry, but just business, and big exploitation. Because none of them want to hear that come back home my brother. They see us, and their cash registers go ching ching. And they double charge us. Where is this called African Unity, Or Pan Africanism? We over here on some African culture studies, for want? To do business with them, or to live back over there what the hell are we study a culture for that is not ours anymore. We are Black Americans. We have our own shit. Africans should study our culture. Because, we the leaders of the out numbered. We have created so much without that culture, why are we study their shit. We have so many scholars so many black writers talking about African culture that old past that we can't see that we got some good right in front of us foundational black Americans have set the stage in the standard of what it is to be a successful people after coming from so much pain oppression in agony what the hell do I need to study some African culture for Africans themselves over there in the continent haven't been through what we have been through over here in America and we still standing I'll be damned if I study that b******* culture that was a part of contributing to my losing so much f*** Africa. And I'm a black man from New York City Brooklyn up queens up. You look stupid with that dashiki on
@@grantredman4958 no one called you African. As an African I too would love for black Americans to leave our cultures/ history alone. Black Americans don't have an ancient history like Africans. So they need to borrow from Africans.
She was lying. There is no one living in modern times with a grandfather that lived during the slave trade
Nothing he stated was incorrect, Truth spoken 🤜 Although Religion is a European creation. Africans had Spirituality. Religion and Spirituality is not the same.
Reparations are probably not possible. What is the value of the millions of lives lost and how would one determine who received the reparation and what form would it take? But a starting point in the healing process is to acknowledge the full history, loss, and pain caused by slavery, not to whitewash it, and seek to cover it up.
Correct. Monetary compensation is only a start. What must be done is to fix the broken educational , criminal justice, lending, healthcare, and political systems that continue to harm black communities.
This should never happens in the first place how sad black Africa will Rise against
It is realistically impossible to do it accurately. Not to mention you cannot justify making a family that moved here during the holocaust that went through similar atrocities or any other immigrants that came here after slavery to pay for slavery. They endured class stratification also and lived in poor communities. That’s why it is unwise to compare hardships on a grading scale. It is reductive and does not allow us to feel for one another.
Are you sure you're commenting on the right video? Did you watch this video? This comment has absolutely nothing to do with anything you just said.
In benin slaves were hacked to pieces for celebrations
Mr. Spearman, have you read Ivan Van Sertima's book, "They came before Columbus"? If so, what's your take on Ivan's work? Also, have you done a study on The Hidden Colors Documentary series?
Yes. I think Dr Van sertima's work is important in moving the discipline forward. It has to be put in the context of establishing black studies as a serious discipline, though, at a time when was facing constant attacks and discrediting of black people. So, it was framed as essentially a defense of black people. At that, it was good. Unfortunately, the research and methodology was heavily flawed. The problem is that instead of building on his research, a lot of folks have taken it at face value simply because they wanted to believe the conclusions without putting them up to serious question and scrutiny. _Hidden Colors_ is HIGHLY guilty of that. In short, we need to move beyond trying to defend ourselves from white people and the white establishment. Doing so will help us better follow the evidence wherever it leads.
... btw, I'm guilty of that too. There was a time when I more or less uncritically accepted Van Sertima's conclusion. When I held it to further (honest) scrutiny, though, it just doesn't hold up. I actually explored that in more detail in a much earlier video here... th-cam.com/video/mCOI6d_6lgM/w-d-xo.html
@@AfricanElements "In short, we need to move beyond trying to defend ourselves from white people and the white establishment. Doing so will help us better follow the evidence wherever it leads." i so agree with that statement, and i have said it not in the exact words but the same. I usually say this, " we as African Americans (blacks), are always in warrior mold that we rarely take the time to allow the scholar to come out" so everything we do as the warrior no matter how Nobel, will always seem suspect without research and thought, and allow the evidence to lead to the conclusion instead of allowing the conclusion to be the evidence.
When you stated "Africans did not sell their own people" what you're referring to is the fact that one specific tribe would not sell members of that tribe, rather they would sell members of a competitive tribe or an enemy tribe therefore they were not selling their own people they were selling people from other tribes not thought of as their own. So let's cut the bullshit here and call it what it is, black Africans regardless of what tribe they belong to, black Africans sold other black Africans in exchange for weapons alcohol and gold that is a historical fact! And a fact that did not come from one narrative or one specific book but rather multiple accounts spanning a multitude of years. So at the end of the day when all is said and done yes black men who lived on the African continent traded other black men from the African continent to White Europeans in exchange for guns alcohol and gold... Your basing an entire historical narrative on one guy's recollection of what happened to him specifically. If I get roughed up by the police and I write a book about it then 300 years from now somebody reads that book it would be wrong for them to say every single person who got arrested was beat up 300 years ago because this one guy wrote a book and stated that was his experience therefore it must have been everyone's experience. But as we know that would be wrong, dead wrong. So you cannot take Equianos experience and apply it to everyone that was just HIS experience.
Wow! It never ceases to amaze me how a person with his head lodged so firmly up his ass can speak as if they actually know what the fu¢k they're talking about! The people you speak of didn't consider themselves Africans, and the notion of blackness would have been foreign to them as well. So no, Africans didn't sell Africans and blacks didn't sell blacks. These were people who considered themselves as different from one another as French, English, and Spanish - groups who had no qualms slaughtering one another for hundreds of years. If you want to argue that Africans were selling their own, that's only true to the extent to which you would consider it accurate to say that Europeans were slaughtering "their own people."
... Also, the point I made about Equiano had nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not Africans were selling their own people. The point I was making that what he was experiencing as a slave on the middle passage was nothing like what he experienced as a slave in his homeland. So in the future, before commenting, kindly clean the shi† out of your ears so that you can better respond to the point I'm _actually_ making.
@@AfricanElements Yes....now you finally get it. To assert that there is this homogeneous tribe called White people is historically a pretty untenable position.
So the idea that all the White people on the planet have to get down on their hands and knees and apologize to "Black people" and pay reparations is going to have a lot of push back from the other White tribes that weren't involved in SubSaharan African slavery.
@@drmodestoesq Wow dude! I have made every effort to try to have a rational conversation with to no avail. As you are clearly either too stupid or too stoned to have a conversation with, I'm going to put this conversation on pause for the moment. I'm not blocking you... Yet! Take a step back, look at what I ACTUALLY said, and try to come back and have a conversation about a statement or argument I ACTUALLY made instead of having an argument with some weird ghost in your head. Ummkay?
Some black people's did sell each other however their were raid by the Arabs and the Portuguese.
Except at that time, there was no such thing as "Black." As I explained, they would not have called themselves Black. They would have called themselves. Ashanti, Akon, Ibo, Dahomey, Yoruba, etc. So no, they did not sell each other. They sold groups that they considered distinctly different from one another.
Actually, about 30% of Blacks died on the passage, which was about the same percentage of deaths from the White crews, who mostly died of disease, although the crew was of course on the ship for twice or three times as long as the slaves.
Things were tough all over back then!
As a said in the video, the middle passage represents only a portion of the deaths. Many died before even reaching the ships, and many more over the two year seasoning process. If your point is that white colonization claimed white lives as well as blacks lives, though, I agree.
Jack- not quite the same amount died but alot of white men died, too. They were on the ship more but were not kept in those diseased, unsanitary conditions. Those captives were laying in their own bodily waste and the people that they were chained to. Fecus, urine, vomit, blood, sweat
and whatever food they did not eat. The white men did have to clean up sometimes but they were not laying around in it all day.
@@TYB1970 Over several hundred years, in ships of many nationalities, I’m sure there were plenty of instances of slaves wallowing in “fecus, urine, vomit, blood, sweat and whatever food they did not eat” on slave ships, especially after the slave trade was outlawed. I’m also sure there were plenty of instances you don’t want to talk about, where slaves wallowed in their filth on their way to holding prisons (called "forts") run by Black African slavers, where they were kept, sometimes for months, awaiting the arrival of slave ships. The African slave trade could never have existed without Black African slavers.
Anyway, dead and sick slaves don’t sell. So slave captains had a strong incentive to keep their slaves healthy. Disease was a constant concern. As a general rule, slave quarters were swabbed and dusted down once a day with (I believe) lime. Weather permitting, female slaves were usually all allowed up on deck during the day, unchained. The males were allowed on deck in groups, sometimes chained, sometimes not. They were forced to exercise to keep them healthy. The food was awful, for both slaves and the crew, but the slaves were fed as well as possible, usually with the same gruel they were accustomed to in Africa, again, to keep them healthy.
This one is much better
They didn't sell they own people they were tribal people so if you wasn't apart of they're tribal you wasn't they people
Exactly!
I don't agree with africans selling africans they knew who they had just because your brown doesn't mean they are the same people. After 70AD the Israelites ran down into Africa which is now known as the slave coast and settled there which back then was known as Judah according to historical maps so just because you have brown skin doesn't mean they are the same read from Babylon to Timbuktu Igbo is a derivative of Ibrew
I like the idea of reparations through education. Also include trade schools. The $88,000 that Congressman Booker suggests seems fair to me.
This channel shows the world that you can have all the degrees in the world and still don't know shit
@cole eason can you tell all of us what do you think is missing, since you seem to think so?
You said African People did not Sell African People , you mentioned they were Captured , Who Captured Them and Transported Them from The Interior ? It's very difficult to believe that a Group of European People could simply walk into a Village or whatever and gather African People and simply march them miles away to waiting ships. Please Help me with that
That's not even close to what I said. Please watch the video again.
Some Africans did sell their people.
There were a very few that were sold for debt, but that was the exception rather than a rule to the point of being insignificant. The overwhelming majority were sold by rival groups. To characterize the Atlantic slave trade Africans as selling their own people as if that were anything other than an anomaly is just plain dishonest.