Saying “you can’t judge the founding fathers on slavery” because “they didn’t know any better” or “that’s just how it was back then” is a cop out. It’s a standard whitewash that is still used to excuse racists today.
And I can promise you that there absolutely positively were people back then who knew slavery was wrong, and voiced their opinion that slavery was evil. Starting with the slaves themselves.
And if the words of the slaves somehow isn’t good enough, then listen to what one of the founding fathers had to say about the evils of slavery: (x)
Saying people didn’t know any better is whitewashing history, and perpetuating a false image of white purity and innocence. Slavers knew exactly what they were doing. All in the name of free labor and profit. The exploitive nature of capitalism hasn’t changed very much. I’ll bet 100 years from now people will argue that Jeff Bezos didn’t know he was risking the lives of his employees in the middle of a pandemic. Because “times were different back then.”
So yeah, people who insist that “times were just different back then” are racism apologists, whether they realize it or not. That worn out excuse is as old as slavery itself. Call those fuckers out.
