system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The “Africans sold their own people” statement as an argument to justify or dismiss American Slavery and the triangular trade is invalid.

If I had to take a shot every time I saw this statement on Reddit and Twitter whenever race is mentioned, I’d probably overdose. I’m not going to take a stance on any racial issue unless someone else decides to, but when people argue slavery the number one argument I see meant to dismiss (And sometimes even justify) slavery is the fact most slaves were sold as POWs to the Europeans.

Well first off who didn’t have prisoners of war? I’m not going to deny this. However I need to point out a couple of flaws in this statement as an argument.

* (1) The POWs sold to the Europeans **were clearly not willing**. Hence “Prisoners”. IIRC it was a tribal/culture thing back then, so they already had many prisoners in reserve. They were disproportionately male, suggesting they were *soldiers* or political prisoners. Meaning these men were either sent to attack another group or were attacked by a group. There were so many men that the American settlers had to come back to specifically acquire female slaves for... “Slave breeding”. ~~Kinda hurts to actually type that~~

So there were people in a position of power, abusing that power out of spite or for financial gain. You know, kinda like the Romans or other European kings back in the day. The slaves themselves did not choose to be in that position, and most likely were soldiers in the first place out of cultural obligation rather than their own will so you cannot claim “They knew the risks”. Even so, who’d predict a light skinned foreign army coming to abduct you?

* (2) Even if the initial slaves chose to live this way, whether or not they knew they’d be abused, **their children didn’t choose this**. I believe the triangular trade fell out sometime in the late 1700s to early 1800s, as an mentioned before with “Slave breeding” young black children wee born into a life of slavery. If an African slave decided “Yup, slavery is the life for me!” and willingly migrated, they decide to have a child with a fellow slave. The child born then and there is automatically a slave, but did not choose this life. They were simply born.

You don’t choose he circumstances of your birth, I’m sure if these kids knew, they would likely have chosen to be born in Africa. These kids had kids, and they also had kids. Of course it’s natural we reproduce, but many African Americans are born into slavery and do not choose this. African Americans today, like me didn’t choose to be here. While I am mostly content in America, it’s weird knowing my ancestors most likely did not migrate here intentionally.

To paint a picture, if I am not vaccinated because my mother chose not to vaccinate me, and I contract polio at 10, is it my fault I have polio? If my State decided to dismantle all educational programs when I was born, no one makes an attempt to teach me anything despite me wanting, and I can’t perform basic math at 4, is that my fault? If my own country decides to select me personally to become a slave so that can make a quick buck, is it my fault?

As for the people in Africa, who are descended from the rich bastards that sent my ancestors on slave ships, I don’t blame them. 

Just like most whites people. They are not responsible for what their ancestors did to mine, what they *are* responsible for is to use the power they inherited from their ancestors to make things better for them if they aren’t in a good position, to understand how bad it was, and to not repeat the offense.

So if a white person wants to stand by and actively, openly justify what their white ancestors did to the Africans, they should come up with a better argument than “The Africkanz did it first!”
gpt
Most slaves from Africa were born slaves. Had they remained in Africa, they would have still been slaves (along with their descendants). Slavery still flourishes in Africa, as it has for thousands of years.

Of course slavery is wrong. Who's fault was it though? Was it the American buyers or the African sellers? I'd say both.

Some people feel that white people inherited the blame for slavery, even though only a small minority of whites owned slaves, and only a minority today descend from a slave owner.

If blame is inherited based on skin color, as some people feel, then it could be argued that black people inherit the blame for the black slave traders who sold those slaves to Americans.

The statement isn't to justify or dismiss American Slavery. It's to show that the slavery problem was more complex than kidnap-and-sell (as many believe), and it's to show that if blame is inherited based on skin color, then white is not the only color to blame.