The northern states were just as prejudiced as the south

Let's see now. I am fairly old, and my eyes are definitely not what they used to be, but I believe the topic had something to do with the Civil War and slavery. I do not have a PHD on the matter, but I had met and talked with a few folks, when I was younger, who were actually part of the situation.

The question was in regard to race bias in the north and south as a comparative study. Please understand the territories we're talking about. The United States proper did not include much of the south, or mid-west for that matter until after 1803. Before the Louisiana purchase a lot of the south belonged to France. Even after the purchase those territories still held onto foreign thought. Those areas that were outside of the purchase like Virginia and the Carolinas were major shipping ports and ag states.
Long and short of it. The north (eastern predominately) had the mills, factories and the over seas markets along with major ports also. Workers from all over the world were flooding into a new and free industrial area. The north had the money and the manpower to do whatever was needed. Please note: the Chinese and Irish were treated very much like "slaves" in this new world. I digress. The south was almost pure ag with plenty of cotton and sugar cane but money was pretty slim because the north bought up these products but paid nearly nothing for them. Here is where the slavery market came in. Slaves were bought (and stolen in some cases) by slave traders who sold them at nearly every port on the eastern sea board including S. Louisiana, and sold to ag folks who needed the free labor. Slave traders are still doing their work in the mineral and ag areas of Africa. The slaves, people with dark skin, strange languages, superstitions, and definitely not Christian were indeed thought to be less than human, by both the sellers and buyers. The north and south were equal when it comes to the bias. The ag areas, both north and particularly the south including the areas of the La. Purchase had some form of slavery and was not totally dedicated to just the black race but included all " other than Caucasian" races. The Caucasians had another form of enslaved workers called indentured servants, which were generally, Caucasians.
While the north did have more people who wanted to abolish slavery and states that did not permit slavery it was still the law, in most of those areas, that escaped slaves had to be returned to their rightful owner.
Racial bias and slavery has existed in this world from the times of when one tribe of cavemen took over another tribe. Slavery has been abolished in the U.S. but the bias toward another persons skin color, white,black,indigo or green has made the pre civil war style seem almost civil compared to today. At least it was pretty much based on finance then. What's the excuse today?

 

Amen Thomas. I'm a Louisiana man and went through Fort Polk. Bias against the south didn't go well there, but it did exist. I'll bet when the bullets started to fly in the Nam they didn't specify who they wanted watching their back. Anyone will do thank you.

 

That's what the Gangs of New York was all about. It was all about how the Irish felt screwed out of their rights. There was as much racism in the north as in the south.

 

Two points

I also went through Ft Puke in 1971. Two points: Federal Law pretty much forbade any factories in the South, and many Southern African-Americans were also indentured servants, particularly among the Gitchees. I had one friend a few years ago who was of Gitchee heritage, and her family records indicated 10 ancestors who came to America as indentured servants. However, 5 of those were betrayed when they arrived and became chattel slaves. Incidentally, the legal principle of chattel slavery was established by a black slave-holder who had himself come to Jamestown as an indentured servant. Slavery is an ancient tradition in Africa, still practiced today.

 

Racism is everywhere, I just feel that we should have learned our lessons with history, but it seems that we simply can't get along as a people because racism continues to exist.

 

That is an old problem that those who rule through manipulation of fears have always played to, and they do not want the common folks to overcome these fears because tis easier to rule through fear than to rule through love of all.

 

Racism only exists with those who fail to understand another culture or group of people. There are people who piss me off all the time. I automatically judge the asshole who cuts me off on the freeway or the kid who runs around terrorizing other kids when the parents don't do anything about it. I judge because I don't understand why the asshole cut me off or the parents don't do anything. Maybe the guy didn't know he cut me off. And maybe the parents are embarrassed of having a bad kid. The point is, the more we understand the less we judge.

 

I don't think judging and simply having an opinion on something should be thought of in the same vein. That would be taking the PC garbage that has totally ruined the country to still another extreme. If we have an *opinion* on why someone's letting their kid bully other kids, isn't that just normal since we are humans capable of forming opinions on our own without PC brainwashing?

If the parents are embarrassed of having a bad kid, it's still a kid who's bullying and terrorizing others and whether we call our opinion judging or not, he's still going to keep doing it. (Of course I'm not talking about voicing our opinion to *them*!)

I also think we miss out on a lot chances to help others because we're so afraid of the LABELS like "judging" which amounts to "I'm keeping out of it." Sometimes it's better to not keep out of things... people may be reaching out for help. I have found this proven in my life so many times. If I'd have sat on my hands and not "judged" and gotten involved in some things over the past 20 years, it would be a sad situation and a huge regret.

 

This is where I respectfully disagree with you, racism is cultivated, and encouraged by some to more easily gain advantage. Look to the con artists, how they play folks fears for monetary gain, the same is done in politics, i.e. the ebola scare among other things.

 

Maybe the Columbine shooters were just scared and misunderstood little boys? Or the theater shooter in Aurora? Maybe the 9-11 masterminds were just bad kids who shouldn't have been judged because if we judge, someone's going to spout off that it's profiling? Shouldn't they have *BEEN* profiled that September morning? That's my long way of saying sometimes we *have* to judge or bad things happen while we're in lala land.

Maybe if someone hadn't been too scared to judge the dark-cloaked broody boys at Columbine, some children would still be alive. Sandy Hook... if only someone HAD "judged".

 

Passing judgment is common and can't be avoided. And you're right. It's probably the secret weapon that protects a majority of us. I'm no saint, I've certainly passed judgment in my own best interest. However, there are certain things I believe that we need to dig deeper on before taking action, if given the chance.

 

That is a fact, that is why there's the saying "divide to conquer", in many countries we live in peace, but it's a rotten peace because the war is fought in the financial markets and in another countries.

 

I don't think there is a such thing as peace. Because there will always be someone who wants to ruin it all by being an a-hole.

 

Prejudice is common to human beings. We all have some of it in this life and will not be delivered of it entirely until heaven. The north just had a different viewpoint but they had their own prejudices. I think there were a lot of well meaning people on both sides.

There is a difference between a slave and an indentured servant though, an indenture is a contract with an expiration date as far as I know. A person may be pushed into such a situation due to need or financial crisis, but they do give consent to it and know they will receive their rights back when they finish their indenture.

 

Yes DancingLady, but unfortunately there are so many people out there who abuse their power and can trap a person into slave binding. That means they can make up a fake debt that the person owes and they have to work it off until it's paid off. That could mean days, months or even years. Just because someone gives consent to it doesn't mean it isn't slavery. Look at slavery today. The Blood Diamonds and poor families who work off a "tax debt" and pass it on to their children. It doesn't seem voluntary to me, it's more like a threat.

 

I think it goes way deeper than that, there are always interests related with money or power, it has always been like this.

 

Just reading above about

The problem in Columbine was that those boys had been judged by the other kids and they could not take any more of it. Jesus said "judge not, that you be not judged........" When you judge other people you must be prepared to face the same type of judgement by God. Yes, there are times when you must take a stand on things, but when it requires judging other people, be prepared to be judged yourself!

 

I think the North was "somewhat" racist. No one truly saw black people as equal to whites. It was just time they lived in. White children grew up seeing every day that slaves were not equal, and almost sub-human. Not all people treated slaves bad in the way you hear in books and movies, but no they were not considered equal. Even Abraham Lincoln did not see them as complete equals, and when he first took office slavery was not his main concern. It was, in the end, a end to a means to free them.

 

The statement that 100% of the slaves in Europe and the Americas (or the U.S.) were black is not true. In Europe, most of the slaves were not black, and nowhere else were all black. Even today, although many areas have black slaves, many of today's slaves are of other racial or ethnic origins.

 

This is a point that many forget, blacks are not the Lone Ranger in the issue of racism, though many act as if this is the case.