Laying Blame to Reduce Racial Guilt?

So this sums up your attitude on racism in America? 

You posted it; You must believe it.

Here's what this meme says:

That even though the white Europeans incentivized black Africans to capture and sell their black African neighbors to white traders, it was OK because Africans were complicit in the act. And you're OK with that because 'they started it'? You must feel that they're to blame even though the practice of slavery in America existed long after the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended. You think that since we don't equally blame Africans for the beginning of the slave trade, we should overlook the white Europeans role in it too. 

So you want to excuse the role whites played in the slave trade because blacks participated too. You want the blame to be equally shared. Do you see the primitive tribal societies of Africa and the advanced and exploitive 'Christian' societies of Europe as equals in guilt? 

But the African role at the beginning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade has not been ignored. The African role has been front and center whenever the suppressed history of the transatlantic slave trade has been explored.

But what about everything after that?

Your sharing the meme implies:

• You're OK with the 200 years of slavery instituted and maintained by southern states, Christian churches, and white America even after the transatlantic slave trade ended.
• You're OK with the legal separation of families, raping, whipping, and forced labor of slaves.
• You're OK with Jim Crow laws, the KKK, the lynching, and civil rights oppression of free African-Americans.

That's what your meme is saying, and if that's what it's saying, why would you post it?

The meme is an irreverent piece of racist BS meant to inflame tension and appease white guilt.

I'm white, and I do not feel the responsibility for slavery or past racism. I do acknowledge the advantages it may have afforded me. I do assess blame for those who endorsed and maintained it. This blame extends to our forefathers, the churches, and the countries that sanctioned it, including ours. I also take responsibility for my role in what to do about it today.

 

I sincerely cannot fathom what else this meme is supposed to say. I know what the creator of it was seeking to accomplish. When you share it without clarification, condemnation, or explanation, you are endorsing it as is. How else would anyone take it?

GlennDL

meme= an image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.