(June 4, 2013 at 3:55 pm)whateverist Wrote:(May 31, 2013 at 8:48 am)Texas Sailor Wrote: For this reason, I find your perspective interesting. You later specify a specific case of slavery, and your opinion of it intrigues me, given your heritage and your relation to the specific topic of slavery you are referring to.
This guy is as black as I am, no more. He obviously isn't an atheist so I'm sure not buying any other self descriptions from this troll. If I were black, I'd consider this guy claiming to be black a kind of hate speech.
I don't know about that Whateverist... There's some strange thoughts out there about claiming one's racial heritage. The phenomenon of "passing," where light skinned black slaves would simply blend into white society and thus to freedom... And sometimes, never going back and passing throughout life as a white person.
There was one instance documented where a slave couple, the man was light enough to "pass," traveled out of the deep south with his darker-skinned wife posing as his slave. He had his arm in a sling to cover for his inability to write his name into hotel ledgers. After slavery ended, this type of thing was seen as being a race traitor, yet understandable. They were often ostracized by their own race simply for having the ability to pass.
The whole "lighter than a paper sack" thing as well, where the lighter skinned you were was seen as a mark of superiority in the African-American community at one time (which I, personally, don't get, it means your ancestors were likely raped by their owners), but it still lingers. The rise of the black power movement in the 60's and 70's squashed a lot of this, but also made it kind of a taboo to discuss... Anyhoo, what I'm getting at is there are still a lot of people of African heritage out there who have odd, counter-intuitive views of their own racial background.
