Thursday, January 22, 2009
Just a thought
I was wondering, while I was reading chapter 2, whether Spain and Portugal's role in slavery is part of their national consciousness. In the US we have a population that is the result of slavery. Slavery literally shaped America and American culture and it is ingrained in our national consciousness. We have a kind of collective guilt and remorse about slavery. I'm wondering if Spain or Portugal have any such sense of guilt or responsibility. They don't have any kind of daily reminder of slavery, but after all, it was the Portuguese that started it all in the first place.
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This is an interesting point. The Spanish and the Portuguese did have an impact on how our country came to be. But the Americans share a collective guilt because everything that happened not only in slavery but also in later years. Some events in the 20th century remind us what we did and slavery automatically comes to mind. Think of segregation and the civil rights movement, MLK Jr, etc. The Europeans did contribute to this (in a way since they brought them over), but I don't think its fair to say they should carry much guilt. Once Spain and Portugal left, it wasn't their issue anymore. Thats just my opinion, don't take anything the wrong way...
ReplyDeleteI understand your point in that they didn't have much to do with the slaves after they were delivered in what would become the United States. However the fact that they forcibly migrated a huge population, and treated them quite cruelly in the process might warrant some guilt. Also, Brazil was a Portuguese colony and there was a HUGE amount of slavery there. The Spanish had their fair share of slave-powered colonies as well.
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