The counter to the BS above.
Sowell is a liar by omission. First of all he makes a straw man argument. No black person ever who talks about slavery in America has ever said slavery didn't exist in other areas of the world and that whites were never enslaved anywhere or Blacks didn't enslave either other Blacks or even Whites.
So, why does he talk about this when its not an issue? It's a strawman argument.
Okay, so let's dive in and do a deep dive. Sowell lies here by omission. How? Slavery among Arabs was cultural. They had slaves prior to Islam and all Islam did was codify the institution of slavery. That's it. Slavery was a continual thing among Arabs and later non Arab moslems (Moors, etc) who adopted it from the Arabs. It's not right but they were already practicing it. The big difference after Islam was that you were not allowed to enslave another Moslem. Prior to Islam they enslaved anyone including other Arabs.
The 'West' or specifically white Europeans both in Europe and in the Americas. were NOT engaged in slavery prior to the 1500s. When the Roman Empire conquered Europe and converted to Christianity they were following New Testament principles which were that Christians didn't enslave. Eventually slavery in Roman Europe changed from slavery to serfdom. Serfdom was a form of economic slavery to some extent but they were not slaves by definition. So while Arabs converted to Islam which made enslavement easier and a huge institution. Europe had totally disbanded slavery. The early church was against slavery. The teaching of Christianity by the catholic church was against slavery. It was against Christianity at the time to enslave someone, you converted someone by works and love. The Pope and Europeans knew it was wrong to start slavery and that's why they made papal edicts and changed how Christianity was interpreted to accommodate slavery.
THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE. The Moslems didn't see slavery as wrong. The Europeans saw it as wrong at the time and changed Christianity to justify it.
Sowell knows this and doesn't say it by omission.
Finally, Sowell's own ancestors were enslaved on the killing fields of the American south and he justifies it by de facto. It takes a complete self hating, mentally disturbed person who knows full well how his ancestors were brutalized and lesson the brutality of it by straw man arguments. The man is sick. Brilliant mind, but sick.
