antabanta posted:“It is a fact that every American Negro bears a name that originally belonged to the white man whose chattel he was. I am called Baldwin because I was either sold by my African tribe or kidnapped out of it into the hands of a white Christian named Baldwin, who forced me to kneel at the foot of the cross. I am, then, both visibly and legally the descendant of slaves in a white, Protestant country, and this is what it means to be an American Negro, this is who he is—a kidnapped pagan, who was sold like an animal and treated like one, who was once defined by the American Constitution as “three-fifths” of a man, and who, according to the Dred Scott decision, had no rights that a white man was bound to respect. And today, a hundred years after his technical emancipation, he remains—with the possible exception of the American Indian—the most despised creature in his country.”
― The Fire Next Time
I don't think that an "American Negro" is more despised that a Muslim in America but although I have made apologies in the past for Muslims' actions, I have come to a point where I am not comfortable doing so. I feel we all need to take responsibility for our actions and where we hope they will take us. We are too comfortable making excuses and although I understand that there are existing underlying factors, I prefer to err on the notion that I have to do what is necessary to change my condition.