“The Space Traders” (1992) is a short story written by Derrick Bell, science fiction fan and professor of constitutional law. It is a thought experiment: what if space traders came from another star and offered to buy all the black people in America?
It is set in America in the near future:
- The government is nearly broke.
- The oil and coal are almost gone.
- The air is unfit to breathe by the old and sick – they have to wear masks.
- Civil rights laws have been overturned.
- Most blacks are poor, walled off in ghettos under armed guard.
The Space Traders arrive, offering:
- Enough gold to settle America’s debts and make it a rich country again.
- Machines that can produce cheap, clean power.
- Chemicals to clean the air.
In exchange for:
- All the black people in America.
They will not say why they want them. They give the president 16 days to make a decision – till Martin Luther King Day. They give proof they can make good on the deal.
Most whites see the trade as an amazing piece of luck: not only would the country become rich and liveable again but race would no longer be an issue!
Blacks are solidly against the deal. They do not trust the Space Traders one bit. Whites brush off their concerns.
Blacks start escaping the country, but then the borders are closed on instructions from the Space Traders.
The country is to vote on an amendment to the constitution to allow the Trade.
For the Trade:
- Most white voters – who have long seen blacks as a drain on the country and the main cause of crime. Blacks should prove their patriotism and do what is best for the country!
- The president and Congress – who need the white vote.
- Television preachers – who, knowing how racist their mainly white working-class audience is, milk it for all it is worth.
- The Supreme Court – who compare it to the Japanese American internment and forced military service.
Against:
- All blacks – even the Uncle Tom who is the main character
- White liberals
- Jews – who compare it to Hitler’s Final Solution, but deep down know that without blacks they would become America’s next scapegoat.
- Big business – who would lose 12% of their customers while certain industries, like oil, would be destroyed by the Trade. But mainly because without blacks the white masses would wake up and see who their true enemies are.
Big business controls the media, but as a television network head points out:
We simply can’t change this country’s view about the superiority of whites and the inferiority of blacks in a week. I doubt you could do it in a decade.
They try their best – but fail: 70% of Americans vote for the Trade.
And so on the last Martin Luther King Day in America, blacks are marched onto the ships of the Space Traders in chains, half-naked, while white men with guns look on, allowing no chance of escape.
See also:
- Derrick Bell: The Space Traders – read the story
- Cosmic Slop: The Space Traders – watch the HBO version from 1994. Not as good as Bell’s short story. One thing they added: the Space Traders use the paper bag test, as a light-skinned Dr Fanon on the news informs us.
- How White America got rich
- Basically Good
- Is America still genocidal?
- whites are still racist
- Other thought experiments about race:
Great story, by the way!
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“How To Serve Man”??
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It was made into a TV movie called Cosmic Slop.
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I’m going to have to read that.
Love this blog
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Abagond,
I guess I have the same question that the HBO program tried to answer. How do they determine whose’s Black?
I think the space traders will be back.
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Wow, I will definitely be reading that story. I have absolutely no doubt that they would get rid of us in a New York minute. I have the same question as Hathor: who would be determined to be Black? Would one have to be a “full” Black (both parents are Black.)? At least “half” Black? Or just have a “drop” of Black? Another question I have is who then would take the place our place at the bottom of the racial hierarchy that we call the USA? Poor whites? Native Americans? Mexican Americans?
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Funny…all I can wonder is what the Space Traders wanted with the black people.
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..and black AMERICANS, to boot. I mean it’s not just a racial category that they are operating there.
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I remember this (creepy) story, and I kind of imagined that it was a moral test, and the people who would trade their own citizens ended up with the raw deal: no technology to fix their environmental problems, and the black people were placed on some nice planet, away from the people who are really treating them poorly. Kind of like convicts going to Australia, where a new society was built and is a decent place.
The story also sort of suggests that there are only two kinds of black people — a big underclass and a few highly-placed folks, ignoring the fact that most black people are like most white people in America — somewhere in the middle, doing our thing. Society might view jailed people as more expendable than our neighbors, friends and coworkers, and the story lacks that perspective.
If this actually happened, I think it would lead to a civil war, not a “utopia”, and the people who would do this would find another scapegoat, as suggested. Jews, lower-class whites, immigrants.
I wouldn’t want to live in a country that would do this to any of its citizens, or without black people.
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Who is black in this story?
In Bell’s story, “they wanted to take away every American categorized as black on birth certificate or other official identification.”
In the HBO version the Space Traders wanted everyone with a certain amount of melanin – just enough to pass the brown paper bag test, as it turned out.
In the Japanese American internment, a case where the American government has done this sort of thing before, they used the census.
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I agree with you Greyships. It would not lead to utopia. I think it would lead to chaos. Imagine all of the teachers, police officers, doctors, lawyers, etc. that would be gone. Many people tend to think that we Blacks are just a drain on society. They don’t think about the good that we contribute. Abagond, have you seen the movie “A Day With No Mexicans”? I think that’s the title or something like it. I haven’t seen it, but it kind of has the same premise of being rid of a certain community of color and the effect it would have on society.
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Mochasister:
No, I never saw that movie but it sounds good.
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Really good story.
I liked how the author wrote the story , not as some kind of moral failure, but as the ultimate success of a system which worked as designed…
“For the greater good”
Sacrificing black’s rights had been so convenient when the system had been imperiled so many times in the past, that once the Space Traders made the offer , it was already to late.
But i see there is a sequel in which blacks are asked to return
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Sounds like a very good short film, I hope it’s on youtube.
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I think that this is not just a story, but a fable, an allegory. There is symbolism here, typification, and apologue. It supersedes the simplest and most common reading.
The danger however, I think, is that because the fictional victims of this extraterrestrial horse-trade, are Black, that Black readers will see this tale only as one that speaks of the shortcomings and prejudices of “other people” [read WHITE] in regard to Blacks. The story speaks OF Black people only, but not TO them.
However, in so believing, the Black reader may well miss peering through the lens of introspection, constructed by the author, believing themselves to be exempt from applying the lessons of the fable to their own prejudice. They will agree wholeheartedly with the plot as all too “true to life,” while failing to ask themselves the inescapable questions:
1) How many Black people have I sold out to get where I am today?
2) What groups am I willing to trade away for my own prosperity?
3) What price do really I place on other people’s freedom?
It’s just not good enough to simply “tsk tsk” this parable away as only applying to someone else’s prejudice.
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interesting point, King.
Sometimes we do that.. and outsource those feelings and questions away.
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…and black AMERICANS, to boot. I mean it’s not just a racial category that they are operating there.
Hmmm…intriguing, I dare say. The Space Traders skip over all the other black people in the world and come just for the ones in America.
It’s just not good enough to simply “tsk tsk” this parable away as only applying to someone else’s prejudice.
Maybe, maybe not…but Bell is a black American man born in 1930 and known for his contributions to critical race theory. And as pointed out, the aliens only wanted the black Americans. Thus, “what” the Space Traders actually want them for really is unworthy of mention, as the “less obvious” meaning of the story tends to lie within why they went after that specific population.
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@King
Why should black people read this in a particular way, which apparently is wrong.
Beside that, the story does not talk that much of “black people”. I think you’re mistaking the plot device role of the black people for the key role played by civil rights organizations.
In fact , i think if the author did choose black people in order to point out the failure of those civil rights guys who choose to be righteous instead of trying to win by any means necessary
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My point is not to deconstruct the author or his work to any great degree here. My point was to point out that the allegory has a broader application that might be missed, especially if the reader is not willing to deal with his own prejudice, but is instead, intent on reading it as only applicable to the prejudice of others.
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“Another question I have is who then would take the place our place at the bottom of the racial hierarchy that we call the USA? Poor whites? Native Americans? Mexican Americans?”
I don’t think the latter two groups occupy a much different place on the “racial hierarchy” than black Americans do.
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Aw, come on. Anybody familiar with Hollywood and science-fiction literature knows that Aliens from all around the galaxy share a common, irrational hatred for America. I mean, why do you think that 9 out of 10 alien invasions target the Yew es of Ay??
Let’s face it, guys: they’re jealous of your democracy.
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My father, Heathcliff, says that he would go with the aliens as long as they promised him hoagies and soda. The two things my mother will not let him consume regularly.
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I remember reading this is a class in college… I do not remember the exact course, but it was basically about African Americans and the Law. We had a two hour debate afterwards (the professor assigned us to the “pro” or “con” side randomly) It made a huge impact on me, and when I started blogging, I looked up the story again, and was thinking of using it in my blog somehow, but had not yet got around to it. Glad to see this topic on this blog!
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Loved this story. “Afrolantica” is a good one, too.
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I’ve not read something so thought provoking in a while. I’m trying to think who the modern day Space Traders are.
Similarly I wonder if the movie is some sort of critique of the slave trade. You know the Whites taking slaves from Africa only to realise they’ve invited problems into their own land?
Space signifies going a better and an unadulterated place to me so were the Blacks being bought into posperity? I wonder. With the Whites left in America and the sometimes oppressive system of government under the guise of capitalism and democracy, I see how why they would turn on themselves to find new enemies.
Hmm. Adding this to my blog roll.
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@mochasister – yes, good analogy, the movie A Day Without A Mexican. There are plenty of people who want to send immigrants “back home” but have no real concept of that would mean economically or socially. Who would magically take the places of all of these people who not only work and contribute but oh-my-god also buy goods and services? Completely unsound politics and even speaking from a purely and coldly economic POV, irrational.
The thought of people doing something like this to their fellow citizens, in the Space Traders, makes me want to throw up, to be honest.
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And so on the last Martin Luther King Day in America, blacks are marched onto the ships of the Space Traders in chains, half-naked, while white men with guns look on, allowing no chance of escape.
This is one racist movie! They were made to leave on MLK day what an insult! This type of movie coming from racist white jerks isnt surprising at all. This reminds me of another sick movie I read about called white dog. It was about a dog who was trained to attack and kill black people.
all.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Dog
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[…] The Space Traders « Abagond “The Space Traders” (1992) is a short story written by Derrick Bell, science fiction fan and professor of constitutional law. It is a thought experiment: what if space traders came from another star and offered to buy all the black people in America? […]
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oh my gosh 🙂 thanks for this abagond. I like your wrap up. I would really like to know what the space traders did with us. Does derrick Bell’s short story give us an idea?
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No. He ends it just the way I did. But I think the ending is supposed to remind you of the SLAVE traders who brought blacks to America – so probably they will be slaves of some sort.
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abagond But I think the ending is supposed to remind you of the SLAVE traders who brought blacks to America – so probably they will be slaves of some sort.
Oh God. I was hoping the blks would go to some sort of paradise. and that the gifts to earth would be faulty.
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I hope it didn’t end like this:
Interestingly enough, it shows how the greedy folk got on the ship willingly, thinking they would be waited on by slave like aliens. It turns out the joke was on them! Yes they served ‘men’, but ala carte, with a side order of chips. I thought it particularly interesting how they kept encouraging this main character to eat extra food. Perhaps he was the main course once the ship returned to its’ home planet!
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“Space Traders” explores ideas of racism and whether or not its permanence in society favors relocation of a discriminated minority. Two essential questions arise from the short story, “Space Traders”: Would America be better off without blacks? And: Would blacks be better off without America? The answer is no and no. Regardless of location, there will always be racism; therefore, time is the only thing that will alleviate the burdens of racism. Changes of habitat for a discriminated minority will only start the process over again, infinitely slowing the process that would eventually lead to equal opportunity. To prevent the cycle of extreme racial discrimination, races must never partake in mass migration. In addition to the benefits that situating permanently offers to a group of people, this same group of people shall offer benefits to the society they are living in. Racism is something we must accept, and knowing its qualities, we must strive towards the best life possible for all races under its limitations.
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@Leaveumthinking
The movie that you are referring to is based on a short story that was written by a black man. If it was made by white people, then they were simply depicting what a black man had written previously
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This was a very deep story indeed–but it’s just hard for me to swallow the concept of even aliens seeing us as nothing more than slaves. Like poster Chic Noir, I was hoping that perhaps we’d be whisked off to some planetary utopia where our natural, inherent majesty was restored after centuries of degradation on Earth–like, maybe these were our intergalactic ancestors and they were coming to retrieve us after a million-year separation or something.
When the last paragraph told of how the entire black population was led onto the spaceships in chains like their forebears, I was like, “Really?!!?” I mean, even aliens from thousands of light-years away loathe black folks too? Naw, I ain’t buying it–we simply cannot be that “wretched” even throughout the universe, as I guess caucasians would have us believe! My first thought when I heard of “Space Traders'” premise was, “Why not go for it? Lord knows we’re not appreciated here, nor will we ever be…”
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Von:
I’d love for another (perhaps a black Sci-fi) writer to come along and finish that open ended story. The story line from where Prof Bell left off has unlimited possibilities. Yes, blacks were led on board the space ships in chains, but how do we know that wasn’t some sort of ruse, according to these aliens’ purpose or their own alien psychology? Perhaps in their universe or galaxy these aliens worship and esteem those who have survived system/institutional oppression?
Just saying – that Sci-fi opens a realm of fascinating outcomes that’s not rooted in the typical inside the box imaginations that are too “regular” in Western ideology and thought.
“I heard of “Space Traders’” premise was, “Why not go for it? Lord knows we’re not appreciated here, nor will we ever be…”
One of Prof Bell’s insightful contentions was that if black folks ceased to exist, Europeans in order to function/be in/maintain their WHITENESS, privileged and so on selves would have to create another underclass, or a NEW “other.” So from that point of view it would be interesting to see how an imaginative writer might depict this newly altered America (without the current 400 year old RACiST system that exploits 38 million souls of African descent – plus the attendant role of the nation’s “black scapegoats’) would function.
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You know, Matari–after I finished reading “Space Traders,” my mind was racing with that very thought–that someone needs to write a sequel, lol. There was just too much “well, what happened?!?” to just leave it alone. I guess I’ll have to do it myself in order to satisfy my imagination…
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Is that how it ends? Maybe, blacks are being taken because they’ve been persecuted and to teach whites a lesson. They’re going to a much better place perhaps.
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@Matari:
http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/
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Nnedi Okorafor, an English professor at Chicago State University, has won the World Fantasy Award for best novel for her book, Who Fears Death!
http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/
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@ Her Highness
: ))))
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and you look at the world and the problems we have now this could really happen. its not that far fetched. as an African American, if i had to go i would cause God will be with me i wouldnt run .. read the stoy its somuch more deeper..
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Thank you! I’ve been trying to remember the name of that movie for years.
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As I write this on March 7 2012, Andrew Breitbart’s(the recently deceased) website Breitbart.tv is about to release a group of videos showing Barack Obama during his college days. Before his death, Breitbart repeatedly claimed in public speeches that this group of never before seen videos would destroy Barack Obama’s Presidency. The first bit of video released today shows a young Obama at Harvard in 1991 speaking up for Professor Bell during a demonstration. I presume that Professor Bell is about to be “Jeremiah Wrighted”.. i.e. his frank and incisive thoughts about various racial questions is about to be highlighted and Obama’s defenses and associations with him will be used to suggest that Obama is unworthy of the U.S. Presidency.
Anyway… I went to look and read up more about Professor Bell and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was he who wrote the story The Space Traders. I’ve never read the book but I did catch the HBO episode of the short lived Cosmic Slop series which featured this story as one of it’s two vignettes. I thought the twists in the story were clever. and being habituated to American television and the Twilight Zone.. I too expected that at the end the African Americans would somehow not be taken or harmed and that the story would turn into one of those “sadder but wiser” endings in which the aliens teach the earth a lesson. But it didn’t go that way which made the ending kind of breezily horrifying.. and the very well observed behavior of the characters leading UP to it stick with you that much more. I need to read that story.. but if anyone hasn’t I recommend they track down this episode of Cosmic Slop.. the story stars Robert Guillaume and I think it is 30 minutes or 45 minutes long so it’s just a tv episode length really but really well done.
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This movie, and it’s author are a racist as the plantation owners of the south!
It shows how hypocritical many in today’s society are when it comes to racism.
It’s very much like the Philadelphia black panther members outside the polling place in 2008. Standing outside with their billy-clubs, intimidating all person’s of non-color, to not vote. And the fact that the current Justice department refused to prosecute those black panther members based solely on the fact that they were black, and that the Justice department determination that civil rights laws are based solely for the protection of ‘on black’ racism.
Where is the “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, the Dr. King wanted so badly?
This story is a direct affront to everything that Dr King was talking about!
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How is it racist?
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I heard they were working on a German translation of the book with the working title, Mein Kampf.
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Right, because no American would ever buy or sell a black person. Only evil foreigners would think of that kind of stuff.
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Seems like Stormfront linked to this one.
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“This story is a direct affront to everything that Dr King was talking about!”
********************
Damn..
Someone left the (reverse-racism) troll/clueless idiots-gate open again!
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[…] people, white people would gladly sell blacks to the aliens to pay off the national debt. See The Space Traders. Bell creates a massive strawman about what whites would think and do in his dystopian world. He […]
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And we all know that blacks would never be involved in slave ownership except…in modern day Africa!
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If this ever really happened, most whites would probably go for it.
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@ Beorn,
Aren’t you “clever”…the “Blacks do it too” argument…really? Especially since this isn’t about the “slave trade”, it’s about whether white people would sell out an entire group of people like that (though they’ve done it often in history to black people) in order to get a quick fix for their nation’s problems.
@TruthbeTold,
I’m firmly in the camps of saying that could happen. Black people have been sold up the river by white people before in the history of this country but usually it was just their rights at stake. But white people have a habit of scapegoating when things go badly, combine that with a desire for less competition and a inability to view black people as true Americans, and you have a terrifying formula.
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This is why no majority should ever be allowed to vote on the status of a minority. They will often vote to harm that minority, even if it sets back their economy, country, etc. It’s dangerous when they get to vote on the status of people who they’ve scapegoated for everything.
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The reason this thread has come back to life is because of the attempts to “Jeremiah Wright” Professor Bell.
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@ Abagond
It’s been my belief for quite sometime now that most whites would do just about anything to be rid of us. A paradox, no, since they brought us here! White flight is a prime example. They moved around like nomads trying to be free, only to wind up back in the city to begin with!
Sometimes I want to laugh at the absurdity but it’s not funny. Space Traders
gave us something besides good entertainment. It’s another peek into the minds of most whites. They would indeed sell us off for a lot less than clean water and a gold statue.
I wonder how they live with the never ending guilt and falseness? Abagond, have you ever walked on the upper east side? The whites there move around like shiftless zombies. Sunglasses, even on cloudy days, the latest high end designer clothes that probably cost more than my car and a snooty, stone-faced mask for a countenance.
Living without vibrancy wouldn’t be worth it. Not even for a brownstone over looking Central Park.
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@Truthbetold
“It’s been my belief for quite sometime now that most whites would do just about anything to be rid of us. A paradox, no, since they brought us here! White flight is a prime example. They moved around like nomads trying to be free, only to wind up back in the city to begin with!”
********************************
And not just that, they actually banned us from towns and state counties all across America while at the same time (in the south) arresting and imprisoning many of us for fallacious crimes so that they could continue to literally enslave us, for THEIR profit.
But on the other hand, as Bell suggested in his thesis that racism will never end, if blacks were to cease to exist, whites would have to create another boogey-man/dark bad people group as scapegoats (and cushions), otherwise they would collapse/fracture as a group, thus returning to their ethnic balkan-ish/class infighting ways that would be immensely difficult for the elite/controllers to manage and control.
So if they did get rid of us, it would have to be for some perceived gain.
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Its funny how blacks and idiotic whites here, seem to forget that whites were enslaved by blacks, before we enslaved them. Not only that, but you step side that africans sold their own kind to whites, and jews actually ran 14 slave ships.
Yes you all like to avoid that part of history. Hypocrisy is a very stinky cologne and alot of these posts wreak of it.
Such is the the politically correct filter, and the ever long quest to avoid all of history and avoid the parts that point out that non whites are just as much fault as whites. Slavery still exists in africa to this day, where blacks still own other blacks.. Of course we cant mention that now can we? That would be racist right?
MLK did say judge by the content of your character, yet most of the characters here easily destroy what he strived for and turned it into a victim card, that is used for anything and everything possible and more often in cases where there is no racism. If you ever wonder why there are still whites that are racist? How about you start looking at your actions and behavior.
Look at those crime statistics. How about those welfare statistics.
How about those flash mobs in the US, where groups of blacks were attacking whites.. Iowa state fair, kill whitey night.. You say you want equality, yet, you really push for favoritism.
You speak of hate crimes, yet your committing the far majority of them.
When 12% of the population makes up almost 70% of the crime in the US.. Your earning the hate against you.
So spare the boohoo racism crap, you all are the biggest racists, and the biggest hypocrites.
Before you go spouting of the race card again. Crime statistics and factual history back up my statements.. Insults and screams of racism back up yours..
You earn your hate.
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@ Elmerfudd the 2nd
1. Are you racist?
2. Where did you learn these arguments?
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@ Elmerfudd the 2nd,
This cracks me up. It’s like you’ve managed to make Glenn Beck look classy and well thought. Michelle Bachman looks like a proper historian compared to what you’ve come up with there.
Statistics, lies about slavery, whites being the first victims, and black people EARNING their hate? You forgot to add that they’re “rapers” who are all from the inner city. Then we’d have a bingo.
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@ Ace
He also forgot to tell us how blacks beat him up in high school.
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@ Abagond,
People who say stuff like Elmerfudd the 2nd do seem to be out to really be petty and hurt people. Not only is “he” racist, but he’s taken the time to copy each and every argument that racists used to justify their stupidity.
Since black people are the “boogeyman” that all white people get to blame and rant about when they have a bad day or fail at something, people like him would relish the chance to take away their rights and sell them if it meant they could get some cathartic release and truly punish their chosen scapegoat.
The fact that he thinks black people EARN their hate (and is apparently too stupid to crack open a real history book) just shows the dangerous combination which demonstrates why people like him should never be allowed to weigh on the fate of a minority group.
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@ Abagond
(Sorry I hit send too soon)
“He also forgot to tell us how blacks beat him up in high school.”
Oh you mean the same legion of blacks who held up racist #1 in front of his children (and shot Uncle Ben) and managed to single-handedly rape every white woman in the country? They should come up with a “planeteers” theme, and when they’re powers combine they can have their own Captain Klansman.
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+++Incoming huge rant/analysis by an overly-cerebral white boy who will probably add nothing of value to the conversation+++
I saw this on Youtube, due to a post on IO9, and it got me thinking, as a White guy who nominally self-identifies as a Libertarian (much more moderate and somewhat left of center compared to the stereotype, but generally not a fan of big government) how something like this going through would be something worth killing and dying over.
But we all know how well that turned out for John Brown, don’t we? And he at least had some of his co-religionists behind him – Atheists like myself don’t have much of a community to draw on for support. This is in the early 90’s, right? I couldn’t really turn to an internet community for aid. If there’s anything that really is totally racist about this story, it’s the lack of a John Brown-type white person getting killed by the National Guard.
Referencing another article linked on here that I scanned briefly, and my personal views: people are usually basically good, but also selfish. Otherwise-good people can be made to do bad things in a variety of ways by playing on this selfishness through the use of threats. Conquest and violence is such a major part of the story of human history, in spite of our own general rejections of such things. Is this going to change? We have at our disposal an arsenal of weapons that could destroy the world, and so do many other major powers. Has this alone kept us in check? Or has it simply opened the door for more introspection as we continue to engage in “brush wars” with underdeveloped countries?
It’s important to realize those qualifiers of ‘usually’ and ‘selfish’, which the author did. It’s a question of can I live with myself if I allow this to happen, what kind of world do I want to live in, and so on, that drove John Brown and eventually the people of Kansas to make their stands. Still a selfish motive, but basically good or at least well meaning. Selfishness and the drive for self-preservation can be bent towards good or bad (I choose Nietzsche’s “Bad” over the Christian “Evil”) by situation and/or individual bent, but remains at the core of individual character.
On an unrelated note, because I am a sucker for just desserts-type happy endings, I choose to believe that this was an alien test of human ethical fiber and the black people in this story along with any would-be liberators and (eventually) everyone else who just voted no were whisked away to be either given a chance on a new world or introduced to galactic civilization, the one bag of luggage was due to space limitations.
You see, the aliens didn’t really expect the American people to say yes due to all their talk about liberty and rights. They figured being asked to demonstrate was just to satisfy intellectual curiosity, and they were going to save the planet when they said no, having proven humanity to be a species that was worth saving.
The partial demonstrations the aliens made were left in place to remind them of what they had rejected by rejecting the principles this nation is supposed to strive towards, but often (as was the case here) fails to do. They can pay off their debt by melting down and selling the now-golden statue of liberty, which would have been a darkly funny symbolic final act in keeping with the rest of the tale.
They would have to eventually test the undifferentiated Black masses in a similar fashion, though, in order to be completely fair. Possibly by asking them something like “Do you want us to blow these people up for selling you out?” and then uncerimoniously dumping the people who vote yes back on Earth. Just because they were the “victims” in this case doesn’t automatically mean they’re not the same type of people who would perpetuate the cycle.
Anyway, that’s just the way I want to believe it really worked out, and I think part of the author’s intent in not telling what happened to the Black people who were taken, or anything else beyond that point, was to allow you to draw your own conclusions.
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‘Jimbillyjoebob Elmerfudd the 2nd ‘
His name says it all, concise and to the point! I got a good gut laugh out of that.
Its funny how blacks and idiotic whites here, seem to forget that whites were enslaved by blacks
Yes, those were the good old days if they ever existed on the scale of American slavery! Hilarious!
Hypocrisy is a very stinky cologne and alot of these posts wreak of it.
I thought hypocrisy was a river in Greece!
Such is the the politically correct filter, and the ever long quest to avoid all of history and avoid the parts that point out that non whites are just as much fault as whites.
Henceforth and hitherto, thusly and verily…I forgot what I was going to say!
2. Where did you learn these arguments?
At his mother’s teat probably.
He also forgot to tell us how blacks beat him up in high school.
I hate all white folk as I was robbed of my winnings coming out of Bingo last night! According to FAU statistics, white folk are 98% more likely to rob people coming out of Bingo parlours of their winnings!
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Well this is a fine how do you do, upon reading all the other comments here in-depth, the original story had the Black folks stripped from the waist up and in chains. OK, so let’s say that by this point, the Aliens were REALLY trying to indicate that “this might not be the way to go.”
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Are these white people real? Am I dreaming?
Where do they get their information from?
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Am I the only one here who noticed how these trolls loves to not only quote MLK, but will ONLY use that ONE line from his “I Have a Dream” speech?
Ex. 1 (Matt): Where is the “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, the Dr. King wanted so badly?
Ex. 2 (jimbilljoebob…):MLK did say judge by the content of your character…
Ex 3 (Henry): So when are you going to take after your beloved Martin Luther King and judge by the content of one’s character?
It’s not surprising though that they would use that quote to justify their reasons why we shouldn’t criticize whites, but they turn around and bash blacks in the same breath. I guess not following their own advice is a byproduct of their own privilege.
SMH
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@ Brothawolf,
It’s typical. They’d use him to shame or talk down to Black people, but they won’t pay attention to why he’d given that speech in the first place. Many of them don’t even think he should be taught about in school, yet they’re the first to quote him when it’s time to tell Black people what to think.
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Inregards to White Slavery, in trans-atlantic slaveries early days there were more white slaves but I think the ultimate estimation is that there were only around a million or so anglo-slaves between the years of 1530-1780 versus around 10 million black slaves altogether.
The English alone would lose around 400 sailors a year to the corsairs who were basically pirates going from coast to coast to find people to enslave, not including the damage done to society in general etc…..
And supposedly the general lethality of working for the muslim masters was comparable to the africans working for the christian masters.
That being said I don’t know if the general treatement was supposed to be as bad.
At the very least though, “way” more African slaves over the long run than Anglo slaves.
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There were also Native American slaves. Up to a fourth of the slaves of New York City in the 1700s were natives, for example, but most were sold on to the Caribbean. In addition to furs, slaves were one of the main thing native North Americans sold to whites. Like with African slave traders, they were probably selling their enemies not “their own”.
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There were white slaves in Barbados in the early days of sugar there, but from what I understand, they died off too quickly from tropical diseases, making blacks a “better buy”. Even when Costa Rica built a railroad in the early 1900s to export coffee they had to bring in Jamaican workers for the same reason.
The irony is that if blacks truly were lazy as a racial trait they would be a bad bargain and whites would not have bought millions of them.
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Not only that–but it’s hilarious how whites like to call blacks “lazy”–but aren’t THEY the ones who kidnapped a whole people to do perpetual work…for free, for centuries…that they didn’t want to do themselves? So, who are the REAL “lazy” ones, LOL? Certainly not black folks…we built this country, for free! SMH
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This site is cool. I don’t like that it is from a Black racial perspective (being Caucasian) – but, it is new and interesting for that very reason.
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Interesting story. Here’s another: what if white people were on the brink of extinction? I just read a novel about that very idea called Hold Back This Day (amazon.com) that we all ought to read. Maybe this website should do an article on it.
MG
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This story is pregnant with so many possibilities it could be remade for 5 years in a row and it still would not run out of story lines.
For example, instead of the Aliens asking for all the black people, imagine if they instead asked for all people who carry a certain nucleotide in their DNA and it took a while for people to realize it was MOSTLY black people who had it.
But,
but,
some white people also had it too, like good white basketball players, singers, rappers, dancers…?
Now you have a situation where white people are walking around looking at each other “sideways”… WONDERING if they can trust other white people. Do you see how such a scenario would reveal the true nature of racism equaling white supremacy?
Some white people would be allowed to pass for white and some would not; all based on nothing more than what the smartest most powerful white people DECIDE.
White with nice tits? = your nucleotide test will be made negetive even if its positive
Funny, good comedian… = same thing; your nucleotide test will be made negetive even if its positive
Well guess what?
Thats not a science fiction story because thats what white people already do TODAY.
individual white people DECIDE who is and who is NOT qualified to be mistreated and abused on the basis of color; they can and do contradict and change their minds anytime and for ANY reason they want.
Truth is stranger than fiction; thats why I like it.
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Perhaps Rachel Dolezal will be singing: “Should I stay or should I go now?” by The Clash.
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The miniscule mind who suggested that I’m a sock-puppet said:
“I think most non-Black people of color would vote against the trade, for the same reason that the Jews would.”
—————————-
I have to agree with you on this one. But let’s be honest here. You’d probably vote against the trade, as well.
Most non-Black people of color (like you) are friends of themselves FIRST and usually loyal to their own group. They become friends to Black people only if it somehow benefits them, otherwise they are fine with the present racial status-quo, with Black people occuppying the lowest rung on the social economic (set up for oppression, mistreatment, marginalization, violence…) ladder.
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This reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man. I am sure most of the dominant society would love this to happen.
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It left me wondering what did the aliens want with the black people?
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I watched all three segments of Cosmic Slop on YouTube and i found it to be thought provoking it’s too bad it couldn’t become a regular series. it was well acted and the story lines were well written. I enjoyed it.
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Another thing they didn’t take the other black people from around the globe they just took the American blacks. I thought that was strange.
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[…] Butler and Professor Derrick Bell’s short story “The Space Traders.” The blogger Abagond describes “The Space Traders” in a post from […]
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Another hidden gem from Abagond’s catalog.
I read Professor Bell’s book years ago. When I read this story my only response was (and is) Yes! The majority of Americans would sell Black citizens into slavery in a heartbeat!
The ‘remainers’ would dance in the streets. Guzzle beer by the barrel and stuff themselves with millions of pizza pies—–until certain unexpected consequences came rushing in to claim the new out-group and those immediately above them.
What a tumble it would be for them.
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@ Afrofem
I have a different opinion about this.
I stated in a old thread (don’t remember the title!) that the relationship between White and Black America is similar to an abusive relationship between a husband and a wife! One can distinctly see a mix of forces pushing them apart and in the same moment pulling them together.
I suspect that in the very moment that the possibility of the Black population to left the boat for good become real, many of the Whites we’ll see the danger of the new situation for themselves and very likely not let them go
Like the abusive husband who brags to everybody that his wife is worthless but in the very moment she is going to left him, he realizes the opposite, i.e., how dependent he is of her!
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@ munubantu
You make some good points.
Yet, various populations are being expelled from their home countries during this era and the people pushing them out are showing no remorse. The Rohingya in Myanmar, ethnic Haitians in the Dominican Republic and Muslim farmers in Northern Nigeria come to mind.
I think White people in the USA are so conditioned to view Black Americans as threats to their wellbeing that they would not realize the role the Black caste plays in shielding them from the worst abuses of this system until it is too late. I see their dependence, but I doubt they see it.
I hope you are right.
P.S. It is good to read your commentary again.
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Saw a funny but very serious and disturbing thread on Twitter. The question was asked where are Black folks going and what are they going to do when the country collapses? Some said go to another planet or an alternative dimension. Others said Canada and many diaspora Black said they would go back to their homelands. Some said they were too poor to leave and had no skills to go to another country. Some said they were not leaving because their ancestors built this country with their blood, sweat, tears. I choose the later as well. Let the chips fall where they may.
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Sounds like a great plan to me!
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