Has slavery affected the black population of today and if so, why?

[tortoiseSHELL]

There is a lot in the media here atm about the 200th anniversary of slavery. This morning I heard an interesting interview on local radio, with 3 black teenagers, talking about the heritage effect of the slavery. They thought that the effects of slavery were to prevent them having as good an education as white people, and therefore not having the same chances in life. Do you think this is true, and if so, why?

Do you think slavery is still having an effect? What is the effect and why is it still here, 200 years after the abolition?

i dont get how the effects of slavery 200 years on have to do with education.

i think making a distinction betweens countris would be helpful too, so are we talking uk or usa?

sorry, this was UK.

I think the gist of the reason was that they said that their families had passed down a feeling of unworthiness, and inferiority, generated by being a slave in the first instance.

Just interested in what other people think as it's so topical.

I saw an interesting programme about this, basically saying that peoples great grandparents were slaves, their grandparents may well have been free but that certainly didnt mean equal, their parents were then dealing racism in the 50's and 60's and the legacy from their own parents, so todays black youths do carry some legacy of this heritage in things like their attitudes to racism etc passed on through the generations.

It also mentioned that their were no black role models and the only black history taught in schools in based on slavery.

Its very hard to comment when you are white British and not subject to that history as to how it could affect you, but I wouldnt discount it.

i have a black friend and i asked her why sometimes black women can sometimes be a bit rude/hostile towards white women for no apparent reason. (dont shoot me, i said some black women, not by any means all)
she felt it was to do with 'inferiority' passed down and also said the problem with white women is when black people were brought over to be used as slaved, the white women would take the men as lovers/husbands.

i dont know if that is right, that is what her mother told her.

(i use the word black as she says she is black.)

thats interesting LOTF maybe thats where the whole notion of black men being somehow sexier and better hung than white men comes from.

I have also heard from black female friends that there is sometimes negativity around black men dating white women, so maybe that is why.

so perhaps there is an inferiority passed down. That can't be true about no black role models though is it? There are the obvious people like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela etc, but there are black actors, sportsmen, some (though not many) politicians - I guess there are more in the US, black musicians - I wonder what sort of role model they mean.

So if there is an inferiority passed down, what would help rememdy that?

There are black role models but mainly sport and music (and thats a whole other thread really with the whole get rich or die trying attitude of some) but there are not a lot day to day ie teachers, police force, politicians, those kind of public roles we take for granted.

Its a very interesting area. I hear politicians use words like disenfranchised black males but dont really hear them say what they can do about it.

the black people i know have all had maternal ( mum or gran) figures imparting the necessity for education and were usually the brightest students.

although there were few black people where i grew up.

Tortoiseshell, I'm not speaking from experience only university study but black families are statistically more likely to have an absent father. This is often given as one of the reasons black males do worse at school. A lot of children (especially boys) gain confidence from their fathers and see them as role models.

Also one thing that is often ignored when slavery is discussed is the fact that some families sold their own members to slave traders because they were so poor. This could possibly add to the inferiority feeling?

so it's more 'localised' role models then - not the high profile famous ones, but the day to day ones. That's interesting. And ties in with the 'absent fathers' effect as well.

Good article here