I'm reading this while in Chile, Allison. It brings up several things for me. The Right Wing asshole in France who said precisely that at a Black MP, duly elected. Here in Chile, from Atacama south, African Chileans face precisely the same things- their ancestors were ripped out of Africa by Spaniards and enslaved here.

Far too many Americans in particular are not very well-educated. Most particularly we are not well versed in other countries' histories (forgive me, to say NOTHING of how ill-educated we are of our own, across the board, considering how white washed said "history" is in the first place). I've recently been considering living in Colombia, and read Marie Arana's stunning biography of Simon Bolivar. That was a revelation in understanding the slave history in South America, and how Spain and other countries worked hard to preserve the still-present caste system which gave them massive profits.

Blacks everywhere I've traveled are treated with the same disregard, told to go back where they came from. It isn't just the idiocy of the comment, Allison, for we are one species and we all arise from the same planet. We all share her future, and we all have a part in either saving it or destroying it. It is how we allow ourselves to be manipulated by people who know how to dig into our worst insecurities and fears, and cause us to hate each other based on a tiny layer of skin color.

The slave trade uprooted millions, and those people, as you point out, built the prosperity of the nations whose soil their subsequent generations stand upon. If we are going to hurl that kind of accusation, then I would need to move to England, and all but America's Indigenous tribes would have to move our sorry asses to where our own ancestors originated. But we don't want to see the fairness of that argument, for it takes the wind out of our own when we want a Black-skinned person to "go home." Everyone already IS home right where we are. But that demands a very different level of acceptance, maturity, education and understanding. I am hardly there myself but I am making an effort. I travel. A lot. And read. A lot. And talk to people all over the world about their lives and experiences. A lot. None of that makes me an expert, but it does offer a glimmer of understanding.