I am sick and tired of hearing one black man after another who is successful in the current culture say something a kin to “slavery is the worst blight this country has in its history.”

Bull! Why set up the dualism and try to make any of our “mistakes” as a nation “the worst?” It just pits us against one another and perpetuates the problem.

And, from my perspective it is a good example of black men trying to act out of the white male club.

It is a white male club way of thinking.

In my experience women have always been ready to take up the banner for any group that has and is experiencing discrimination – including – at last – ourselves.

Who is to say whether slavery was worse than what the European “invaders” did and are doing to the native people of this land and of many other lands. We were put in concentration camps, we had our Trail of Tears, we have survived many attempts at genocide and annihilation.

And what about the women? What about the way that men (almost all men) have treated women?

What about human trafficking and sexual slavery?

What about the way our children have been abused and used?

What about the way the handicapped (challenged) are treated and the way those “who are different” are marginalized?

Why do we need to say that one is “worse” than the other? Any civilized society should see all these practices as horrible.

Those of us who have any sensibility at all should be willing to stand together and condemn all such practices instead of trying to make ourselves the “greatest” issue. These faults and practices are all horrible. They are all issues and we need to look at the bigger picture and see how we can address all these issues as they all stem from the larger picture.

I am reminded of talking with a black man in the late sixties when we were on a human rights march together.

My question to him was, “Look, why don’t you join forces with the women. We are all fighting the same enemy – a system that denigrates us all.”

He visibly stepped back and said, “Are you kidding?! I don’t want to be down there with you! I want to be up there with HIM!”

From my perspective, we still need to be talking about changing systems here – not moving from one oppressive system to another.