Reply to Recently discovered some of my family came on the Mayflower; anyone else?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AA here who is also a history professor.  I have no probelm with anyone being proud of their history and lineage. My ancestors were slaves (we were able to trace back 1837) but post-slavery my kinfolks did some pretty awesome things (including a legislator during Reconstruction).

I think some of the problem is that people claim the positive parts of their lineage ("My family was on the Mayflower, isn't that cool?") but, at the same time, disclaim any negative apsects of that same lineage ("You can't blame me for the bad stuff our ancestors did - it was not my fault.")  I am just saying that history is a positive and a negative story.  Both should be ackowledged and told. [/quote]

Thank you for being a voice of reason.  This thread is so indicative of why we can't get anywhere with race relations in this country.  People are too invested in being "right," regardless of which side they are on, than they are in having rational, intelligent, RESPECTFUL dialogue.  I am white and I get why African Americans could be put off by the tone of OP's post.  However, instead of "bitch bye" and all of the other nonsense, you might ask yourselves what your goal is in responding by being nasty.  It is certainly not to educate or increase understanding.  If you truly cared about changing people's minds or point of view, you'd try a little harder.  So I'm led to believe that you don't want to be a part of the solution and would rather be a part of a continuing problem.

But hey, this is DCUM, where snark rules and where the unfortunate truth of what people really think and feel comes out.  If DCUM is at all indicative of people across the country, then I am astounded and disheartened by how nasty many people truly are.  It does not inspire much hope for our future.[/quote]

This is my OP: A family member into researching our family history recently pieced together that we are related to a Mayflower passenger (not sure which one)...I think it's interesting that side of the family left Europe (mainly England) so long ago. Anyone else have family that came here on the Mayflower, or in the 17th century?

What is the "tone" someone could be offended by...and how is anything I said "denying" or "ignoring" the ugly side of colonialism, or slavery? I said it was interesting to know how long ago my family left Europe...that's all I said. I think I was just about as neutral as I could have been. I wasn't "rah rah my white ancestors were awesome!" If you could point specifically to what is offensive about my post that'd be great!

I mean all of you freaking your freak...when you talk about where your family originally came from are you careful to mention all the transgressions of that culture or people. I'm not talking about if you were writing a monograph on white colonialism...I'm talking if someone asked you...hey, when did your family come here? Well, on the Mayflower, and yes they did some terrible things and may have participated in the slave trade (or well they might not have, but other white people around them did, so they are guilty by association), and gave American Indians small pox and by extension I'm tainted. This is why I say...no matter who you are or where you come from...some of your people did bad things. I wasn't trying to ignore the bad things the Pilgrims did...by saying some distant relative may have been one of them. Aren't we all related if we go back far enough?[/quote]

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