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Did the Harvard Professor Write “Stupidly”?
Flopping Aces ^ | 05-23-10 | Wordsmith

Posted on 05/24/2010 9:34:34 AM PDT by Starman417

A month and a day ago, Henry Louis Gates wrote a remarkable op-ed for the NYTimes, "How to End the Slavery Blame-Game".

"Remarkable" because of who wrote it (and I suppose remarkable whenever the NYTimes prints something that actually makes us believers in American exceptionalism stand up and cheer).

If the Nation of Islam is booing it, then you know the Harvard professor must have said something right.

Here's part of what he wrote:

While we are all familiar with the role played by the United States and the European colonial powers like Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain, there is very little discussion of the role Africans themselves played. And that role, it turns out, was a considerable one, especially for the slave-trading kingdoms of western and central Africa. These included the Akan of the kingdom of Asante in what is now Ghana, the Fon of Dahomey (now Benin), the Mbundu of Ndongo in modern Angola and the Kongo of today’s Congo, among several others.

For centuries, Europeans in Africa kept close to their military and trading posts on the coast. Exploration of the interior, home to the bulk of Africans sold into bondage at the height of the slave trade, came only during the colonial conquests, which is why Henry Morton Stanley’s pursuit of Dr. David Livingstone in 1871 made for such compelling press: he was going where no (white) man had gone before.

How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred.

Read more at floppingaces.net...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: gates; obama; racism
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1 posted on 05/24/2010 9:34:34 AM PDT by Starman417
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To: Starman417

So, how many of the African Slave Traders were of an Islamic persuasion?


2 posted on 05/24/2010 9:36:36 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Starman417

Blame game? I’ve never played it, only because I neither refuse to accept responsibility for nor will I apologize for things which I have NOT done.


3 posted on 05/24/2010 9:38:49 AM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: Starman417

Is it possible, unlike the Zero, Henry Gates learned a lesson from his experience.


4 posted on 05/24/2010 9:39:07 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: Paladin2
The police officer who arrested the cane-dependent Prof. Henry Louis Gates showed more class than Obama.


5 posted on 05/24/2010 9:40:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Starman417

Virtually every American who defines himself as Black has white ancestors. Maybe we should two shares of the reparation be deducted for each white ancestor - one for the part of him that isn’t black and therefore doesn’t “deserve” a share, and one part to pay for the debt “owed” by that white ancestor.


6 posted on 05/24/2010 9:40:31 AM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA

Maybe we should DEDUCT two shares....

I meant to say.


7 posted on 05/24/2010 9:41:19 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Paladin2
So, how many of the African Slave Traders were of an Islamic persuasion?

Another good question for the Nation of Islam:

So, how many of the African & Middle-Eastern Slave Traders ARE of an Islamic persuasion? As in NOW...

8 posted on 05/24/2010 9:42:17 AM PDT by an amused spectator (Watching the MSM with Obama is like watching Joslyn James with Tiger Woods)
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To: Paladin2

To be honest, I think most of it was just tribal. Give an aggressive tribe some gold or better weapons, and they’ll gladly crush their rivals for you.


9 posted on 05/24/2010 9:42:29 AM PDT by Clock King (Ellisworth Toohey was right: My head's gonna explode.)
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To: Starman417

So Henry Louis Gates, obnoxious elitist neighbor, is trying to rehabilitate himself in the neighborhood.


10 posted on 05/24/2010 9:43:13 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Sarah and the Conservatives will rock your world.)
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To: Paladin2

The greatest slave trader of all time was an Egyptian named (are you ready?) - Muhammad Ali. The Arabic for black and slave is the same. The good professor should give credit where credit is due.


11 posted on 05/24/2010 9:44:28 AM PDT by Humvee (Beliefs are more powerful than facts - Paulus Atreides)
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To: Starman417

Mark


12 posted on 05/24/2010 9:47:40 AM PDT by TFMcGuire (Life is tough. It is even tougher if you are stupid--John Wayne)
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To: SeekAndFind

Wow - a telling picture...But of course, “Skip” Gates is a close friend of Obama’s, or so we’re told.


13 posted on 05/24/2010 9:48:08 AM PDT by opus86
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To: Starman417
So unlike those Americans of African descent whose ancestral lineage predates 1820, Barack Obama finds himself in the unique position of having slave traders in his ancestry.
14 posted on 05/24/2010 9:48:48 AM PDT by Hoodat (.For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)
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To: Starman417

Wow, a Harvard Professor discovers the obvious and its considered sensational. Is the NYT that ignorant of history that they didn’t know Africans enslaved Africans? Shoosh, the amount of new discoveries must be great if you are a fool.


15 posted on 05/24/2010 9:53:21 AM PDT by equalitybeforethelaw
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To: pnh102
Ditto.
16 posted on 05/24/2010 9:55:08 AM PDT by F.J. Mitchell (If Obama doesn't destroy America, she is indestructible.)
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To: Starman417

ping for later


17 posted on 05/24/2010 9:59:48 AM PDT by mick (Central Banker Capitalism is NOT Free Enterprise)
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To: Starman417

Sure Racist Gates and while you are at that Crock of Obama, how about paying back all the white money you have Pigged out on all your filthy life for starters.


18 posted on 05/24/2010 10:00:41 AM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: Starman417

is this a shock to anyone? of course africans sold africans into slavery. it has been well known for many, many years. usually the winning tribe in a tribe war would sell the losers into slavery.

now, the real question:

does 0bama have slave blood... or slave trader blood?


19 posted on 05/24/2010 10:26:35 AM PDT by sten
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To: sten
Obviously, some people have erroneously profiled Obama as of American slave descent and therefore entitled to all the rights and privileges of affirmative action.
Now I understand why some people object to racial profiling.
I guess in the black community it isn't your ancestors were of slave heritage, but the simply color of your skin.
20 posted on 05/24/2010 11:00:30 AM PDT by BilLies
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