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free thinker
23rd October 2006, 04:38 PM
Todays NYT editorial page carried a small piece noting the admitted complicity and involvement of 18th century Brown University officials in the slave trade. Some of Brown University it seems was actually built by slaves.

A committee of 30 faculty members, administrators, and students did extensive study over the past three years and is now making it public.

A quote from the article:


" Countless other institutions might be surprised, and ashamed if they dug deeply into their past's as Brown University has over the past three years ". (They are referring to the issue of others possible complicity in slavery here.)

And the last line: " But the value of this exercise was to illuminate a history that had been largely erased from the collective memory of our university and state" .


And why is information like this important? Well this is my opinion. So that the truth is known. It matters because it happened and needs to be dealt with collectively and individually.

We have often talked about the innacuracies and cover ups in mormon history and some have asked if it is necessary to know. I simply refer to the above in response.

ft

peter_mary
23rd October 2006, 09:10 PM
And why is information like this important? Well this is my opinion. So that the truth is known. It matters because it happened and needs to be dealt with collectively and individually.

We have often talked about the innacuracies and cover ups in mormon history and some have asked if it is necessary to know. I simply refer to the above in response.

ft
Sometimes we have to make sure we don't forget for at LEAST two reasons I can think of. First, we honor those who were wronged...in this case, African slaves. Second, we can only learn from the mistakes of the past if we KNOW the mistakes of the past.

The parallels here with the Church are striking...

hamar
24th October 2006, 06:59 PM
P-M said:The parallels here with the Church are striking...

Yea, and I still think we should be able to get our money back!:rant:

helemon
24th October 2006, 10:01 PM
" Countless other institutions might be surprised, and ashamed if they dug deeply into their past's as Brown University has over the past three years ". (They are referring to the issue of others possible complicity in slavery here.)

How many countless institutions continue to profit from the slave labor of Asian manufacturers? I was at a local craft fair this past weekend and even the "homemade" quilts were made in China.:duh I can't remember the last time I saw something that said made in the USA.