Beyonce Babes

The way this thread has gone is precisely why we have so many lurkers who are afraid to post. Had this happened on the old board you would not have seen me for dust. The turn was totally unnecessary and has no bearing on the initial post, despite what you think, Olan.


This post is going to be long. Please do me the courtesy of reading it, Olan, as I have done with every post here whether I have responded or not.


No one here, other than the troll whom I shall ignore, has made a single disparaging remark towards you personally because of your colour or to any other non-white. They have expressed frustration at your comments, a frustration I share, not because you are black but because in the main you are making broad generalisations without the substance to back them up. I can go to Wiki and find the details you have been quoting.


Do you know for a fact that your ancestors were enslaved? Do you have documentary evidence? Because not all blacks were enslaved. You said the record keeping was “stellar”. By that do you mean exemplary and very well done? You are wrong. It wasn’t. Many, many, blacks have been lost to the mists of time because they were merely referred to a man, woman, child in records often only distinguished by their apparent age and the scars on their bodies. Children were not even recorded until they reached a “useful” age. Do you know how your ancestors were treated? Do you know what plantations they were on? I can name the plantations my relatives were on. I have seen pictures. Do I have your attention, Olan?


I would like to give you some background. My father died when I was 8, he had been ill for years and I don’t have many memories of him. He was in his mid 50s when I was born and had been brought up in a totally different lifestyle to me. He was born at the end of the Victorian age and I was a child of the 60s. You can’t get much different.   His generation and those before were mostly racist.  When I was about 11 I started asking my mother about my ancestors and she did not have any answers as she knew nothing and believed all the older family generations to have died. She DID tell me that I was somehow related to Grace Bumbry, the black American opera singer.


Fast forward about 35 years and thanks to the internet I was able to start researching my ancestors. Another 15 years on and I now have a huge database. I have paid particular attention to my maiden surname because everyone with that name is related. We all descended from the same French man.  I have documentary evidence of this if not in my possession then it is in the National Archives. People/relatives from around the world have contacted me for information because of my findings and I remain in contact with many.


One of these contacts is a distant cousin in London, England. He and I share 7 x great grandparents. He sent me photos of his family, all with black skin and afro hair styles and I sent him photos of mine, all of us as white as he was black. He was descended from a coupling, for want of a better word, there is no evidence as to actually what went on, between a son of the sugar plantation owner in what was known then as British Guiana and a slave. The plantation owner was my 3rd cousin 5 times removed, so pretty distant, and the owner was something like 5th gt.grandfather to my London cousin. This was the first time I became aware of slavery within the family. To say I was horrified is putting it mildly. Don’t sneer, Olan, at me sitting in my nice, safe, white home – not bought with a single penny of money based on slavery – being appalled at what went on within the family. You being black does not give you exclusive rights to bang on about the atrocity that was slavery.


The London cousin and I did a lot of research together, including me transcribing the Wills of the plantation owner and his wife. They were not nice reading, referring to the slaves at chattels, as you would expect in that time period, and complaining about the amount of money they, the owners, were to receive from the British government for their slaves. It was horrific. Did my London cousin ever ask me to apologise for what the white side of the family did to the black side? Never once although he knew my feelings of revulsion for what had gone on. He had a perfect right to ask for my apology, don’t you think Olan? He actually said to me that slavery was a thing of those times and thankfully something we had moved on from.


The Will of another white male connected with this side of the family left all of his possessions to his slave “wife” and the four children they had had together. Not every slave was treated badly. Not every child of a white man and a black slave was born of rape and violence and you cannot claim that to be the case, Olan.


Descendants of the black line of this branch of the family are today living in Guyana, Puerto Rico, Canada, America, England to name a few. I have been in touch with many. They are all proud of their heritage. They know who I am and the link to the family. Not one has asked me to apologise. Why do you feel the need, Olan?


In the 1600s a distant uncle travelled as an indentured servant from England to Richmond, Virginia to work on a tobacco plantation. He had a ‘relationship’ with a black slave whose name, regrettably is unknown, and they founded the largest black community in the area, from which Grace Bumbry is descended. There are many still living there today. They know who I am. Not one has asked me to apologise. Why do you feel the need, Olan?


I have a reasonable lifestyle but not one penny of it was inherited wealth. I have worked damn hard all my life and continue to do so, to earn a living. No one in my branch of the family has received any money whatsoever from the proceeds of slavery, thankfully.


As to this little white woman not liking winners, especially white female winners? Tosh. You do not know what you are talking about. I love it when anyone succeeds and does well in life. Adele, Victoria Beckham, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Maggie Smith to start with.


I’m getting bored with my own post now.


Olan, you come across as young. I feel you are banging the same drum as others instead of making your own judgments. If you are really, truly, that bothered get out there and start making a difference instead of berating unknown people on a message board who have only been, in this thread, very understanding of what you are saying. Sometimes being quieter and more moderate will get your views taken far more seriously than being loud and aggressive.


For the record, AM I sorry about what went on in the past? Absolutely. The way people were treated was horrendous. The way some people are treated NOW is horrendous. It really saddens me to think that people are still being downtrodden, treated badly, not given the same opportunities as others, because of their skin colour, because of their religion, because of their disabilities etc. etc. etc. The world is not a fair place, it never has been and it sure as heck is not going to become so in my lifetime.
 It saddens me to think you may have had crap things go on in your own life because of your colour. 

That’s more than enough from me. I’ve probably broken the message board now.

I would be grateful if you would explain to me exactly what it is YOU want ME to do in order to take the personal responsibility you feel I need to take.  

Please also remember that any child born between a white relative of mine and a slave also was a relative of mine and probably enslaved as were the descendants of that child.   So, through absolutely no choices I could have made and purely as an accident of genes I am related to both the white owners and the enslaved.   Who do I turn to to take personal responsibility for the cousins of mine who were enslaved?  

You have not answered my question, you have merely waffled.  Please explain what personal actions you feel I need to take responsibility for and what inaction I am guilty of.

I am now going to watch the Wimbledon Mens Final.  I was rooting for Venus Williams yesterday because I admire her athleticism and the fact she is still able to play at such a level given her time in the game.  I like her sportsmanship and wanted her to win because it was probably her last ever shot at the title.    I suppose I was wrong to do that?