[Dixielandjazz] Civil War & Slavery

[Bill Gunter]

Hi Listmates,

Rocky Ball wrote:

>From the several hundreds of years of slavery in
>the United States an attitude of racism developed . . .

A minor observation and possible correction on this - The United States did 
not come into being until the Constitution was Ratified and established. 
That would be exactly March 4, 1789. The Civil War which effectively 
eliminated Slavery as an institution in the United States ended in 1865. If 
you do the math you'll notice that it took just 76 years (!) for this 
institution (slavery) to be terminated (not "several hundreds of years")!!

Any government which can come into being and effectively end a practice 
which has been in existence since the dawn of civilization (and continues 
elsewhere to this day) in 76 years (about one lifetime!) has performed an 
incredible feat!

Further, racism did not grow out of slavery. Racism (see "xenophobia") is 
virtually a normal human condition and tolerance is something that needs to 
be taught. Racism has always existed - it is not the result of the United 
States making a committment to the establishment of slavery.

Other than that, Rocky has some important things to say!

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "I'll be 76 years old on my next birthday" Gunter
jazzboard@hotmail.com





_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx