Florida wants to teach schoolchildren that Black people were well-treated during slavery, that they were fed and clothed and raised from savagery and taught how to be civilized human beings. These are VICIOUS, FILTHY LIES! They were generally treated very poorly, and they were not even allowed to learn how to read and write (this last rule was directly adopted by the would-be aristocracy of the plantation South from the rules that kept the serfs oppressed in medieval Europe, and suggests they DID understand just how equal their captives truly were ). The evidence suggests that SOME "slave-owners" did try to treat their "slaves" well, but they were greatly discouraged by the other "slave-owners" from doing so. And these few were limited also by their warped upbringing in a medieval society based on slavery.

Solomon Northup, in "Twelve Years a Slave," relates how he was drugged, kidnapped, and transported to a slavery state, where he was put up for sale in a large group of Black people. He tells how a white man who bought him seemed to want to do the decent thing but was not able to overcome the vicious nature of a slave-owner society. There was a mother with a little girl in the group, and this white man bought the woman, seeming not to know about the little girl. Northrup explains that the rich sellers could clearly be heard sniggering about their plans to "train" this little girl for immediate sex slavery, and the white buyer seemed to have heard it too. The white buyer at one point tried to buy the little girl, too, but the sellers pompously brushed him off, demanding a high price for her. The white buyer, trained to give deference to his social "betters," gave up and herded Northrup and the poor shocked mother onto a steamer with him to his home, leaving the poor little girl behind to be subjected to painful, degrading, sadistic mistreatment. Oh, the guy tried to do the right thing by his standards. When they reached his farm, he gave the poor mother a few days off to recover from her shock (does anybody here think she ever did?). Northrup tells how this man gave his slaves a dry place to sleep in a little hut and some food to eat every day (whoo hoo for him, eh?). Still, the poor slaves were worked all day until exhausted and starved. And they were expected to SUPPLY MOST OF THEIR OWN FOOD. This white guy tried to do the right thing, but he did not give them enough food. Northrup had grown up a free man in northern New York State farmland, and he taught his fellow slaves how to build fish traps for the nearby river, so they could finally get a decent meal.

Frederick Douglass tells how most of the "slave-owners" he knew tried to give their "slaves" enough to eat, but it was usually just uncooked porridge, etc. Eugene D. Genovese, in his research report book "The Political Economy of Slavery," explained the painstaking research he and his team did, going through multiple records of "slave-owners" and banks and other institutions in the antebellum South. He and his team discovered that THE CALORIC OUTPUT OF THE WORK THAT WAS DOCUMENTED BY THE "SLAVE-OWNERS" FAR OUTWEIGHED THE CALORIC INPUT OF THE FOOD THE "SLAVE-OWNERS" ADMITTED GIVING THEIR SLAVES. The research team discovered, upon further investigation, that the more energetic and innovative "slaves" had conducted a vast underground market system in the wee hours of the morning, which helped more of their fellow "slaves" survive.

As for the Northerners starting a war because of jealousy of the rich Southerners: JUST WHO WAS RICH IN THE SOUTH, EXCEPT THE "ARISTOCRATIC" PLANTATION OWNERS and THEIR BUDDIES? i recall reading, many years ago, the book written by a Northern Abolitionist who described the deprivation, exhaustion, physical and mental torture, and actual murder suffered by the Black "slaves." Then he mentioned that they were not the only victims of this Neo-Medieval society that had been created in the South. He described how many of the poor whites in the South seemed so scared and underfed, so hopeless and listless. During the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant described how the poor whites drafted into the Confederate Army obviously were good workers who would have been respected in the North. Grant had grown up in a mechanically competent working family, so he knew what he was talking about here. And he wrote that almost everybody in his boyhood town did manual labor. He could tell that those poor white Confederate soldiers had obviously not been given any decent tools to work with. Eugene D. Genovese had something to say about this, too. His research team discovered that ALMOST ALL THE TOOLS IMPORTED TO THE SOUTH WERE ORDERED BY THE RICH PLANTERS, WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT MANUAL LABOR BECAUSE THEY NEVER DID IT. They therefore ordered ONLY THE CHEAPEST TOOLS LISTED. And that meant that the poor workers of the South almost never got their hands on the really good tools, because those tools were not anywhere near them. Genovese also described how the banks and municipal and business organizations of the Antebellum South were distorted to give huge advantages to the Plantation Aristocrats and keep the poor whites and the Black "slaves" in line.

These people who started this rhetoric about slavery actually benefitting the Black race were VICIOUS, NARCISSISTIC LIARS! And their lies should not be spread any further. Now listen! If you are descended from these rich Plantation owners or their slightly lesser "Slave-owner" buddies, of course none of this is your fault! And you should not be punished for what they did! BUT YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG! Come on! You can do it! Just do some ACTUAL STUDY OF THE REAL EVENTS. Admit that they were WRONG when they pretended that the Black people were just subhmans who benefitted from slavery. And if you are descended from the poor whites, please notice that the Abolitionists ALSO NOTICED THAT YOUR ANCESTORS WERE MISTREATED AND SLANDERED BY THE SO-CALLED ARISTOCRATS OF THAT HORRIBLE SYSTEM. The Abolitionists wanted to abolish slavery for many reasons. Of course, they wanted to help your people too. They just HAD TO WORRY MORE ABOUT THE BLACK PEOPLE, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM WERE BEING TREATED SO MUCH WORSE!

Their narratives explain that a VERY FEW white "slave-owners" DID seem to be trying to treat their African captives decently. Even they, however, were limited by their warped upbringings. Northrup, kidnapped into slavery, related that the white man who "bought" him also "bought" a mother, thus participating in the forced separation of her and her little girl! Northrup told how this white man seemed very sad when he realized that, but he left the little girl behind when those selling the little girl demanded a higher price for her. He acted as though he must obey and respect these men, as his social betters in the hierarchy. And Northrup (and surely this man) could hear the sellers talking about their plans to turn this little girl into a sex slave ASAP! The new "owner" of Northrup and that poor woman forced them to board a steamboat without that poor little girl, although he did give the poor stunned mother a few days off to recover from the shock (how magnimous, eh?). This owner seemed to be trying to supply living quarters for everybody (hooray, eh?). Northrup relates how he and the other slaves were expected to supply much of their OWN FOOD, THEMSELVES. Northrup, born and raised a free man in northern New York State, taught the others how to build and set fish traps in the river that could supply supper after a hard day's work. Frederick Douglass related how some of his "owners" tried to provide enough food to fill the stomachs of their captives each night, although usually it was just some porridge to be cooked. Eurgene D. Genovese, in The Political Economy of Slavery (an outstanding book summarizing some painstaking studies of the slave south), related how his research team discovered that the caloric value of the work slaveowners recorded for their slaves FAR FAR OUTWEIGHED the caloric value of the FOOD they admitted providing. This was only part of how these researchers discovered the vast slave underground market in which the more energetic and brainy "slaves" tried to keep each other supplied with their basic needs.

As for the people in the North being jealous because of the South having "more money," let us ask ourselves JUST WHO HAD MORE MONEY? It was the RICH ARISTOCRATIC PLANTATION OWNERS AND THEIR BUDDIES who had more money and more material wealth. I recall reading in the works of some Northern abolitionist, years ago, that part of their motivation came from the fact that travels down to the South revealed a HUGE SOCIAL GAP between the rich whites and the other whites. They saw that there were many more poor whites down there who were much poorer than most whites in the North, and that many of these poor whites seemed so sad and underfed, discouraged and downtrodden in the rigid neo-medieval social order of the Slave States. Ulysses S. Grant noted that his observations during the Civil War showed him that the poor whites drafted to do most of the actual work of soldiering seemed to be mostly just as competent as the white Northern soldiers. Since almost everybody in the North was expected to do some manual labor, even prosperous ones, Grant had grown up doing manual labor, like everybody around him. That was how he could tell that the Southern soldiers HAD BEEN GIVEN ONLY VERY P0OR TOOLS to work with. Guess what? Eugene D. Genovese and his team also noticed this. How? They could tell from the merchandise records that THE SOUTHERN ARISTOCRATS IN CHARGE OF DECIDING MOST PURCHASES KNEW NOTHING WORTH MENTIONING ABOUT MANUAL LABOR OR REAL TOOLS, AND SO THEY CONTINUALLY INSISTED ON BUYING ONLY THE CHEAPEST (AND POOREST) tools. Further research suggested that it was very hard for ordinary white people to obtain good tools, because there were not very many of them down there. And of course the poor Black slaves NEVER got decent tools. Eugene D. Genovese also noticed that the Suthern banking system was definitely rigged to favor the rich plantation-owners.

These people are FILTHY LIARS! Now, listen! If you are the descendant of one of these Southern "slave-owners," please understand that we do not blame you for what your ancestors did. We do not want to punish you for what your ancestors did. Just please READ A FEW REAL HISTORIES. And please stop pretending that the Black people were just subhumans whose descendants should be grateful to your ancestors. And if you are descended from poor Southern whites, please understand, please NOTICE that Northern Abolitionists KNEW and WROTE about the sufferings of your ancestors as well. And that war was partly fought to help your ancestors, too. It is just that the Black "slaves" were suffering even MORE, so they had to care about them even MORE.

There was a picture of a young Black "slave" who ran away to join the Union Army. He is covered with scars from many whippings. And he has almost NO fat on him anywhere. He is so heartbreakingly SKINNY! He has only muscles from WORKING VERY HARD for YEARS. I cannot ever forget the brave look in that young man's eyes. We owe him our LOYALTY. And we owe it to him to TELL THE TRUTH AGAIN AND AGAIN.

There is a movie which captures the feelings of the French on this day. Casablanca. It was made early in the Second World War, when the Nazis tried to impose fascism on the world. A good Democratic Underground member posted a wonderful scene from Casablanca here three years ago: The scene from Casablanca with "La Marseillaise." I am an old woman, and I cannot seem to manage to do this. Maybe somebody else could manage it?

The other day, I found a doorhanger ad on the doormat of my Silver Spring condominium apartment. It says: "Free women's health services in Bethesda. Need assistance? We stand with you. " On the other side, it says: "Bethesda, we stand with you. Pregnant women have options and deserve better. There are Pregnancy Resource Centers in Bethesda, and they are the clear choice for comprehensive pregnancy support. Need assistance? Visit StandingWithYou.org. Trained professionals are ready to help."

Is this group legitimate? Or is it one of those fake assistance groups that prevent abortions no matter what?

I tried but it only got worse. HELP!

Whoever you are, wonderful person! Thank you very much!

I believe it is his 94th birthday. I was happy to read of Joseph Biden's plan to deliver this morning's sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Very nice!

I don't know what has happened. This has coincided with our computer screen suddenly flipping from white background with blue/black type to black background with yellow/white type. Suddenly, when I click on that little button to recommend a post, nothing happens.