Several thoughts, no particular order.
My family was/is poor. We have had someone in the military each generation (except this one), and generally just barely scrape by, if that. Don't try blaming me for what happened way back when, weren't any slaves owned by my family.
Slavery was dying when the civil war was fought, my memory is a little foggy, but I seem to recall that the last slave-holding countries abolished slavery the the 1880s or 90s.
The biggest thing that gets me, is how the civil war is portrayed as being about slavery, when the bigger issue at the time was states rights. The Emancipation Proclaimation turned it into a battle over slavery, which its also conveniently not noted that said Proclaimation did not abolish slavery in the North, only in the "rebelling states." This was mainly a political ploy to prevent the CSA from getting outside recognition from other countries, mainly Great Britain and France, who wouldn't acknowledge the CSA's independance when the war turned into a war over slavery.
Discrimination has come full circle. Non-minorities (whites) are now treated as 2nd class citizens. Thanks to affirmative action and the like, minorities have to be chosen first when all other things are equal, they could sue if overlooked, we can't. Also try getting any kind of assistance if you're white, its not very likely to happen. I could get all kinds of federal grants and loans and aid if I were a minority, but because I'm white, I don't qualify for anything. Try starting a United Caucasian Fund or the like and see how long it lasts until you get sued for discrimination, whereas no one can say anything about the United Negro Fund without being labelled racist.
Also, on a lighter, possibly more controversial note, during a similar discussion with a black friend of mine, after he went through the whole "we used to be slaves, you owe us" speech, I made the comment that since they think we owe them for being in slavery, I thought they should owe us for monopolizing the sports industry. Slave owners used selective breeding to turn out slaves with more stamina, strength, speed, etc. Do to slave owners' breeding programs, they should now owe us for their sporting abilities, and we should be compensated for it. Kind of a counter point to the 'we were slaves' arguement, he said that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, which was kind of the point, but it did make him re-evalute the absurdity of his prior 'we were slaves' comments, which was the whole point.
Just my 2 cents, don't flame too bad
