For those unaware, Irishmen were slaves in the Americas before Africans. There were also more Irish slaves for quite some time than any other nationality. They also were'nt treated as well.... reason being they were a lot cheaper. Africans had to be purchased from other Africans that enslaved them first, while it was perfectly legal to kidnap a bunch of Irish and throw them on the boat. I've just been hearing a lot about slavery lately..... I guess because it's "black history month", and it really pisses me off that this stuff is completely ignored in our history books (and everywhere). When is the last time you heard of a bill in congress to pay reparations to Irishmen? Or anything about affirmitave action for the Irish? If you're curious, google it.... here is an exerpt from an interesting article. "Up to one-half of all the arrivals in the American colonies were Whites slaves and they were America's first slaves. These Whites were slaves for life, long before Blacks ever were. This slavery was even hereditary. White children born to White slaves were enslaved too". Full Article Here
Back in the 17th Century the whole way of life was based on the clan system. There was nothing fair or right about the system. I would imagine getting shiped off to America was no worse a fate than what they would have to live through otherwise. I have just finished watching "Culloden" a 1964 production on the famous battle. It's a docudrama filmed in the style of the Vietnam TV coverage of the time. http://www.mnsi.net/~pwatkins/culloden.htm The first 5 minutes goes through the hierarchy of men in the armies... James McDonald - Taxman - senior officer and landlord in ruthless clan system, who has brought with him into battle, men whose land he controls. They include: Alaister McWorrich - Sub-tenent of a taxman - rents 1/8 of an acre of soggy bogland and two cows Alan McColl - subtenent of a sub tenent - owns half share of a potato patch measuring 30 feet Angus McDonald - Servant of a sub tenent. He owns nothing. Lowest in the clan structure he is called a potter. Angus is totally dependent on the men above him, and ultimately the Taxman is totally dependent on the chief of the clan. The owner of all the land. The rent he charges is to fight in any battle he deems necessary. If they do not fight, they lose what they have and they will starve. It was a brutal way of life, totally alien to what we know now. That way of living and the different outlook on life and death they held, cannot even be imagined today, and is certainly best consigned to the history books.
The term slave was actually from the Slavic land. They were caught and sold as slaves as were other Europeans. Not captured by their kinsmen and sold mind you. The vikings were grabbing slaves everywhere they could. I watched a show on it last night (actually about underground places but had the slave stuff in it). There were lots of slaves all over the world that were not black and their distant relatives are not hollaring for reparations. If I've gone over the pc line please edit. I'm not very good at staying pc. taser1
I've been saying for a while now that if all black people get paid reparations I will launch a campaign to get white people reparations for loss of property. It makes an equal amount of logical sense to me.
I've read coororation of this article in other places about Scottish ancestry. Many children were indeed kidnapped. Most of the clan problems listed were a direct result of English domination and interference in Scotland. The average land holding for "renters" in Scotland was around 5-15 acres. Most clans were very family like and few of these listed problems occured. Some clans were different and were hard on the clansmen. The "Clearances" were a horror story that has been passed down in my family. jim
