Anita Wills wrote:
> That is a fine assertion if both had the same standing in the system. Slaves did not choose to come to America and be a slave. It is amazing to me how many people claim to know what the slaves thought and felt. Even if the whites were in a worse situation then the slaves, they always had the freedom to leave. The slaves, no matter what their condition, were denied the right to determine their own destiny. Then to pour salt on 
Many of the white immigrants were immigrants solely because staying 
where they were was _not_ possible, whether they
were refugees from various wars or from famines. Most of these people 
either expended their resources on transport
from Europe or the eastern Mediterranean or were bound by contract in 
exchange for passage.

Saying that "they always had freedom to leave" makes as much sense as 
saying that homeless people choose to be
homeless.

Slavery was awful, but most people alive before 1900 lived in conditions 
that were at least as bad, if
not worse, wherever they lived.

And don't forget that the overwhelming majority of adult women of all 
colors living in the U.S. before 1920 had
less legal freedom than African-American men after 1865.

Elizabeth Whitaker

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