None of my ancestors owned slaves. I've never owned a slave, in fact I've never met a slave, so I feel no guilt because slavery happened in this country. There is no one in this country that was alive during that time in history and there is no one alive now that was a slave. Slavery has been practiced by every country in the world and every race has been a source of slaves at one time or another. As was pointed out by another poster, slavery still happens in some countries.
My, a bunch of greats, grandfather on my mother's side of the family, got in trouble with the law in England. In the mid 1700's he was forcibly sent to America as an indentured servant, not much different than a slave. He was able to gain his freedom by fighting as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and served at Valley Forge. It was a pretty common practice by the owners of indentured servants to extend their servitude by claiming that their upkeep added their indebtedness with no end in sight in paying off the debt. I want my bunches of great grandfather to have his holiday for his forced labor.
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