I usually try to steer clear of partisan sniping, but I just had to chime in on an e-mail I got from an organization called "Media Matters for America."
That's because I've heard variations of Mr. Quinn's argument before. I'm not a supporter of, say, reparations for slavery, because my ancestors were still over in Ireland getting their butts kicked by the English when slavery existed in this country.
Still, I get really irritated everytime I hear somebody arguing that American black people just need to get over that whole slavery thing, because they're better off now than people currently living in Africa.
To paraphrase: Hey, you should be happy about the fact that white people enslaved your ancestors! Otherwise, you'd still be living in the post-colonial wreckage that white people left behind in Africa! So quit whining!
Gee. I can't for the LIFE of me imagine why we still have racial tensions in this country!
Anyway, here's the e-mail:
I wanted to make sure you had seen an audio clip Media Matters posted this morning on Pennsylvania's own Jim Quinn discussing the Senate passing a resolution that "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws." Quinn claimed:
Slavery was evil, there's no question about that. But you know what? If it hadn't happened, where would you be right now? If your ancestors hadn't come over here for whatever reason where would you be right now? You'd be floating down a river in Rwanda in pieces or maybe you'd be chased down by a machete wielding Janjaweed militia in the Sudan or starving under Robert Mugabe. Hey, ingrates, get on your knees, kiss the American dirt beneath you and please shut up.
