It's amazing what you find when you research your family history. On one side I've got convicts who were shipped to an area of my home state that was a penal colony for the Swedes. On the other I've got "good christians" who were leaders and members of the local chapter of the KKK.
A good read is: "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and…
It's amazing what you find when you research your family history. On one side I've got convicts who were shipped to an area of my home state that was a penal colony for the Swedes. On the other I've got "good christians" who were leaders and members of the local chapter of the KKK.
A good read is: "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future", by Robert P. Jones. It explores The Doctrine of Discovery, a series of three Papal Bulls written between 1452 and 1493, that gave ownership of everything and everyone to Spain and Portugal. It isn't a slip of the keyboard, these edicts literally "gave ownership" of human beings to the European Christians who were doing the inhabitants a favor (😒) by bringing them christianity. As a side note, the last bull was issued by Pope Alexander VI aka Rodrigo Borgia, possibly the most venal corrupt man to occupy the seat of St. Peter.
The Doctrine of Discovery morphed into Manifest Destiny, and the cruelty, bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny marched on to slavery, Jim Crow, Black Codes, Redlining, and on and on.
What really struck me when I was reading about these Papal edicts was the arrogance. They were "god" and they decided what was best for people who never even heard of them or their version of god. One of the bulls actually stated that non Christians were less than human, only slightly better than animals.
It's amazing what you find when you research your family history. On one side I've got convicts who were shipped to an area of my home state that was a penal colony for the Swedes. On the other I've got "good christians" who were leaders and members of the local chapter of the KKK.
A good read is: "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future", by Robert P. Jones. It explores The Doctrine of Discovery, a series of three Papal Bulls written between 1452 and 1493, that gave ownership of everything and everyone to Spain and Portugal. It isn't a slip of the keyboard, these edicts literally "gave ownership" of human beings to the European Christians who were doing the inhabitants a favor (😒) by bringing them christianity. As a side note, the last bull was issued by Pope Alexander VI aka Rodrigo Borgia, possibly the most venal corrupt man to occupy the seat of St. Peter.
The Doctrine of Discovery morphed into Manifest Destiny, and the cruelty, bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny marched on to slavery, Jim Crow, Black Codes, Redlining, and on and on.
Yeah, all of that. The entitled hubris of "Christian" Europeans is constantly amazing.
What really struck me when I was reading about these Papal edicts was the arrogance. They were "god" and they decided what was best for people who never even heard of them or their version of god. One of the bulls actually stated that non Christians were less than human, only slightly better than animals.