46 Comments
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Public Servant's avatar

So powerful and sweaty! We need to deport the Afrikaners. They are fake refugees. Trump and muskrat are importing white supremacists to vote for fascists like them: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/deport-the-afrikaners

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Bad Bunny's avatar

Apparently they got a free ride here courtesy of taxpayers, and I'd be satisfied if that's how they go back too.

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Peaceful Warrior's avatar

This was an eye opener and such egregious reality to know facts is the only way to do this differently right?!? Knowledge is power for change😔

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May 18Edited
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Cheese's avatar

Some of us.

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Alice Broscheid's avatar

Sometimes the inherent evil of humanity crushes my soul.

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Velociraver's avatar

Israel comes to mind.

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Yiftach Levy's avatar

Nice try. Any other nation states you care to shit on to prove you're not just antisemitic? Israel is evil, and that's it?

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Debbie Sandhurst's avatar

The Israeli government is committing war crimes.

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Yiftach Levy's avatar

Thank you, TrollBot. TTFN

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May 19
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Yiftach Levy's avatar

The previous commenter didn't do what you did, though, did he? You actually engaged in relatively nuanced parsing of the situation, noting that the current administrations in both countries are directly responsible. He just said "Israel" which is shorthand for "Jews," and not just the Jews in Israel if you've been paying attention to the world for the last 591 days. I say "relatively" because you fail to mention the Palestinians - specifically Hamas, of course - who have their own agency here; this "horror" didn't come out of nowhere. Hamas started the war on October 7 and continues to hold living and dead Israelis they kidnapped from Israel on that day, extending the conflict every moment that they do.

Good for you for mentioning a conflict elsewhere in the world that doesn't involve Jews. Notice how rarely (never) people who shit on Israel do that here and in other spaces. I can take you seriously. The troll who set this conversation in motion, not so much.

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Maureen Mitchell's avatar

This post was really educational. I never thought about the way the slave trade would have retarded the advancement of civilizations in Africa

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Renee's avatar

For me too - I really only thought about the lives of the enslaved people and the suffering it caused. I didn't consider the resulting economic impacts on the nation they left behind.

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Sheila Garey's avatar

For me too. Very eye opening.

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Sopraltotude's avatar

Same here.

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Karen Simon's avatar

Thank you James. This needs to be taught in every school.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

That is exactly what the white supremists are afraid of!

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GMLoggins's avatar

I knew parts of this, but to see the breadth and whole and scale of it... Thank you for this amazing article. I agree with Karen, we need this taught in school.

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Brianna Leigh's avatar

I really appreciate your expansion on the harms caused by the forced enslavement of African people. It’s reductionist to say “people were slaves and it was terrible”, so knowing the ripple impacts for the entire African continent is mind opening.

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Karrie's avatar

This is a really good explanation and you mentioned several points I admit I’ve never considered like the underdeveloped continent of people focused on not becoming enslaved. I’ll share it far and wide as a lifelong Mississippi resident.

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Paul Riggs's avatar

Excellent illustration of Faulkner’s adage that “The past is never far away. The past isn’t even the past.”

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David Keldsen's avatar

Damned well written. Let it burn, indeed.

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Lyla Baron's avatar

Excellent article. The content was so compelling you barely remembered to swear!

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Kay-El's avatar

It’s mind boggling that we only learn a small slice of this in school without the depth that is needed to get the full picture. Thank you.

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PM Russell's avatar

Bravo! As a scholar if history, subjects like this are so important. It's heart wrenching to see the capitalists white washing their own history. I applaud you for keeping these powerful atrocities alive.

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Lee Gilliland (He/Him)'s avatar

“If there is a god, he will have to beg for my forgiveness.”

What a fucking quote!

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Dan's avatar

Very fucking bang on my man. I don't proscribe to white guilt, but shit, we need to remember the history of our ancestors (in detail!) and work towards repairing the damage they did these last 1000 years...

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Susan Heath-Bayless's avatar

Hadn’t heard of this place prior to the burning. Can’t believe it was a fk’n wedding venue.

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meran's avatar

If I didn’t already buy your books, this would’ve convinced me.

Let it all burn

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