How did slavery influence us today?

How do you think slavery influenced the evolution of both Black and White America today

I personally do not let the question of slavery be cut off at the american point.
if you look back at ALL cultures and societies you will find slavery rearing it's ugly head.
the romans enslaved everyone they conquered. the vikings did as well. the celts. the native americans. the aztecs. the incas. the toltecs.
so to me the question is not simply a black - white issue, it transcends all cultures, all nationalities.
if you truly look at history you will find that all of our ancestors have had a period of time where we have been enslaved by another culture.
so to answer your question. I believe that the fact of slavery in america has been used as a crutch for far too long. the people who were enslaved are no longer with us, so no one alive today has ever felt the true pain of that kind of life.
it is a tragic part of our history and if I could personally change it I would, but those powers were not given to me.
I feel that as a nation that is constantly evolving, we (black and white) need to move beyond the slavery issue, and focus on achieving better ways of life for all americans.
like solving the drug issue, homelessness, economic issues, and our general american identity to the world at large.
slavery WAS a painful time in our history, but as I pointed out- at some period of time all of our ancestors have been enslaved at some time.
WE NEED TO GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON, REMEMBER - AND LEARN FROM IT, BUT MOVE ON !!!

I am originally from Mississippi and spent the majority of my childhood in Los Angeles and wish that I know the answer to that question. It sometimes seems to me that slavery is still a powder keg well over 130 years.

I cannot wait to read other reader's opinions.

I think overall in the end we learned that enslaving other people is bad, and in addition, racism is bad.

However, it also influenced black people of today to be racist against white people. Why, I'm not sure. Bunch of hypocrites, really.

I feel bad that Blacks suffered so much. I know that all the activists especially Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks did help to put Whites in their place. Segregation was a stupid thing. Sadly I don't think we will ever get passed racism completely. I experience it quite a bit maybe about 2x a week. Not in a way people talk to me just in the way they look at me. It could also be because I live around a bunch of snobs (rich wannabe's). Anyway it has been surpassed in a way that we have Black leadership in large corporations and in government. I hope Obama wins. I hope the Lord protects him through his time of office if and when he gets to be president! He has integrity and he seems to listen to the little guy.

I agree with baldwinwolf. slavery is definetly not just between blacks and whites. it has always been oing on. centuries. even I cant believe that. im saying that because in my history class, we learned a bit about the black slaves and how they tried to reach equality. but that was just african americans. there has been so many other races of slaves. even slves of the smae ethnic group. well, I definetly know slavery has a bad affect/effect . on us today, because their is a lot of discrimination and segregation. my opinion: what the f*ck!?
its like um .. wth? thats disgusting. and how they were treated .. ugh, I think im going to puke! . I've seen some horrible things. also, what mamk says about obama, I want him to win. also I think hes going to win. right now, I dont care about womens rights iehter (hilary) people thought she was going to get womens votes, but actually, hmmm, first black pres. first women pres. another white pres.? I say whoever seems to be best for the us. I want obama to win too. I think he'll be alright.

I think slavery shaped the way we live today. If it wasn't for slavery, we would be like one of those under-developed countries. Whites should be happy for us blacks because without us, there would be not economy. I don't understand why white people hate us so much. We helped make their land. So they should be thankful enough for us.

I think Whites are just fearful. They know that without the Blacks they would be virtually starved right now. They dont want to admit they are in the wrong so continue to be racist and act superior as a way of suppressing Blacks and keeping them in their place so to speak. They believe if they begin to really treat Blacks equally we may take back some of the wealth that we deserve.

Whites are the new minority because of slavery, the current white population is made to feel guilty about something that they had nothing to do with. Blacks have so many more oppertunities than whites now it's ridiculous, just look at what Affirmative Action has done to many students.