comment by NotPhil

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comment by NotPhil

NotPhil · 4428 days ago · link · · parent · post: Dumbest idea in history? Race

[Europeans] saw [non-Europeans] as a class of sub-humans not fit for mercy. These events happened well before race was supposed invented. ... There is plenty of evidence that Europeans claimed superiority over all peoples of the world for many centuries, culminating in the eugenics movement of the late 19th, early 20th centuries.

I think historians might disagree with you:

Previously, people's appearance and origins had not mattered as much before socially, particularly among the working class. The physical distinctiveness of African slaves - now absent similar European indentured servants - however, not only marked their newly created subordinate position within Virginian society, it became the justification and reason for that position. Virginia's example, in turn, became a model that other British colonies with slaves, when they were created, followed with a mutually reinforcing dynamic.

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