Is anyone in this thread really trying to defend slavery? We should come to agreements to stop this from turning silly.

American slavery was bad. Check. American slavery is the fault of past government policy and the government is solely responsible for rectifying those wrongs. Check. African Americans remain in a disadvantaged state due to systematic repression that lasted for hundreds of years until 1950's civil rights acts and 1970 with work force integration. Check. Unrelated to any of these: There are currently people in the world still enslaved and suffering from oppression that are worse than the current civil rights issues of African Americans. Check.

Okay? Okay.