We need to remember and learn from the past in order to avoid making the same mistakes. That's really the greatest value of history.

And serfs were not the same as slaves, especially slaves in the U.S. from the early 1600s to the late 1800s. Black slaves in the U.S. were born as slaves and died as slaves with no possibility of freedom unless they managed to escape. Slaves had no rights at all. They were just property. Serfs had few rights but they weren't property and they could make many decisions about how they lived their lives. Serfdom was a significant step up from slavery. Serfdom was cruel and terrible but slavery is utterly evil.

I think the past has just proven itself of value in the way that you considered serfs the same as slaves when, upon investigation, you will find that there are many differences between the two and they are not the same deal. For instance, serfs could own land and couldn't be sold, whereas slaves in the US were intentionally sold and separated from their families in order to control them.

Also, while serfdom was deemed illegal in the 1800s, slavery continued well into the past century and the resulting inequality is still an issue today. I believe we can only move forward by addressing the injustices of our current system and the first step is to admit it's wrong. Only by apologizing and rectifying our mistakes can we build a stronger, unified society.

Never forget the past. Humans do this all too often and repeat the same atrocities.

"Forget the past" isn't the best advice, in my opinion, but perhaps instead 'remember the past and learn from it' is better, but yes, it's great advice to "concentrate on the future and fight injustice wherever you find it!

In some ways forgetting the past means we we tend to repeat it. Lack of education concerning our Civil War history and the tropes used by the former enslavers to keep people from voting continues today.
Too many continue working to convince the poorest white people that they are better than every sort of person not white and those non whites are the source of all their problems.

[wired.com] I suggest some manner of reparations for Mozambique & other Portuguese exploitations?

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