WHITE PEOPLE...WHAT DO YOU...

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This is the first time that I recall looking at this Roots board, and it appears there hasn't been an answer like mine in this thread. Most who identify themselves as white insist their [known] ancestors had nothing to do with slavery. Disregarding that virtually everyone had something to do with it [e.g., no market for cotton; no cotton plantations], I will say I know my ancestors owned slaves. If we go back 5 generations-- about the time of the Civil War for most, or many, of us-- we have 62 direct ancestors. Certainly I don't know about that many of mine in detail, but I do know in my direct paternal line there were slave owners; from Virginia in the 17th century through the American Revolution, then to N. Caroline and Kentucky, finally to Texas. I have a story compiled as a novelette by a family member in the early 1960's about an incident in Casey County, Kentucky, in 1829, in which slavery is still referred to as simply a fact of life. So there is no discussion about the morals of slavery, just things such as my g-g-g-g'father sent his "most trusted" slave on an emergency errand to cover 20 miles by horse overnight to deliver a message, and he did it.

Anyway, as for the big Q's... although I have still never seen all the episodes of Roots, there seems to be little to doubt as to its accuracy or portrayal; that is, accuracy of what slavery 'was like' from the slaves' point of view. As to how I feel about what MY ancestors 'did to blacks,' I consider it an injustice, but I don't live in daily remorse, or any such thing, because I can do nothing about it. That, plus, as I alluded to, we have 62 ancestors going back 5 generations, then 126 going back one more (provided none of them 'crossed' in there), so obviously all of us have a lot of ancestors going back over the centuries. How many of us don't have any that were treated horribly, no matter where they lived? The class system, superstitutions, or just simple human cruelty and hate led to tortures, mutilations, slave labor, "manstealing." If you're European, you almost inevitably have ancestors who were slaves, as the majority of those who lived in Roman controlled lands were slaves.

So is remorse for slavery [or other forms of cruel treatment] something that only goes back 'so many' generations, and is it only for cases in which the victims of cruel treatment looked different from those in power? How long and how far does it go? In the Bible [Pentateuch] there is mention of visiting "to the third and fourth generations" the sins of the fathers. It may or may not be a coincidence that after slavery's abolishment it was the 3rd and 4th generations since then (a century) that finally saw legal equality for the descendants of slaves and forced [by law, at the time] an end to institutionalized segregated practices.

Does my ancestors' actions with blacks have anything to do with me? I have to say yes. This particular one I have referred to was a rich man for his time and his area, and I can't say his slaves did not produce much of that wealth. His son, who came to Texas and still had a couple of slaves, was the one wiped out after the Civil War, and the next 2 generations struggled to maintain the homestead, finally gave up the year I was born, and I finally got through college working fulltime over 9 years. So in my line, it went from wealth to poverty to middle class; while slaves produced much of that wealth, then a war fought for their freedom wiped us out, and now I am where I am, while the descendants of slaves are doing much of what I'm doing, or have been, in bettering their situation.

Alright, what did I say-- or not say-- that gives an acceptable answer to the questions?

Yeah I feel bad for what blacks had to go through, but because my Great Great Grandfather fought for the North during the Civil War I don't have the association that some Southerners probably have with slavery and the ancestor connection. Our Genalology is well documented and no one was a slave owner as far as we can tell.

I'm white, guess this question could be asked to me. I'm also swedish so my ancestors didn't do very much to black people as far as I know. I think this movie is very well done and it bothers me a great deal that things were like they were.

my family were not here back than, but yes I feel bad about how blacks were treated, and also native american's, the irish, jews etc but it's in america's past and nothing can change it, I care more about what's going on with our country today than I do about something that happened 200 years ago...

Let me ask you this. Do you think Condoleezza Rice should feel any guilt since she is descended from two white slave owners?

Everyone seems to be swearing up and down that their ancestors had nothing to do with slavery. Even if someone did have the courage to admit that their ancestors had slaves, it doesn't mean that people living today had anything to do with slavery. I don't know who my ancestors were past my great grandparents, and probably most people don't. As for me, even if my ancestors had slaves (can't say if they did or didn't) and could've been the cruelest masters in the country, that doesn't make me a racist, or my immediate family.

No, surprisingly enough I do not feel guilty over the actions of people I've never met who died over 100 years before I was born, people who's names I don't know and who's faces I've never seen.

Should modern day Italians feel guilty over the way the romans conquered most of europe? Should Joe Schmoe in London feel guilty about the treatment the native americans received during colonial days? Of course not.