this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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I think their point was fair, Rome had slavery unrelated to color, as did many other places.
They did not have chattel slavery.
Why does that distinction matter?
It matters a lot. Chattel slavery is what Europe brought to Africa. It's a particularly violent and cruel form of slavery. The "Africans also had slaves" argument is a fallacious one as the systems of slavery were very different. We could say the same thing for "wage slavery" today to demonize that or to lessen the hatred of chattel slavery. The intent of the message was to dismiss the harm, which should not be done.
Ah of course, European exceptionalism.
Classical slavery was practiced for a time in Europe as well, and chattel slavery was not exclusive to European diaspora; It was also practiced by Imperial Japan on Koreans and Chinese, for instance.
It's still exploiting them. I don't think it was intended to dismiss the harm at all.
You usually see this sort of comment when people are trying to dismiss the harm done by Europeans during the slave trade. It's usually done to say the Africans were already participating, so the Europeans did nothing wrong and were just willful participants. The Africans were barbarians naturally. They created the system and not the Europeans, who just happened to end up capitalizing on it. This isn't true. It's white suprimist apologism and should be countered whenever it's seen, not indulged.
I don't know if this is what the OP intended, but it shouldn't be allowed to spread without correction regardless.