Slavery and oppression of blacks violates the same moral rules as oppression of businessmen

This debate is regarding RR's stated position that what he considers oppression of businessmen somehow compares rationally to the slavery and systematic historical oppression of blacks in America. He has asked that we use the definition "violates the same moral rules". I will accept that definition, but my arguments in R1 will stand. He has made the following comparisons stating that both have been: 1. Stripped of their culture 2. Robbed from their homes 3. Separated from their children (families) 4. Smuggled on slave ships 5. Sold to "owners" 6. Beat and tortured 7. Raped 8. Made to forget their given names (given slave names) 9. Systematically Dehumanized He also denied that blacks in America were forced into apartheid, and that all this has anything to do with their race.(http://www.debate.org...)- note: page number may change due to additional comments, but they are there nonetheless. I contend that any comparison between the slavery and oppression of blacks in America with that of businessmen is offensive to the struggles faced by blacks, the battles fought, and the progress reached by America as a whole. Businessmen have never been stripped of their culture, robbed from their homes, etc. (see 1-9) in any way comparable with the plight of Africans in the 15th-19th centuries, nor with the systematic oppression experienced by blacks in America in the 20th (and to some extent the 21st) century. I will leave it to my opponent to make the comparisons, and I will present the differences. I hope the readers are disgusted by the comparisons, and even offended. If you feel the comparison is even so much as unmerited, let alone deeply offensive, Con wins the debate. 1. Stripped of their culture Africans were not allowed to maintain their religion, their language, their traditions, or their diets. They were forced to worship as their slave owners, speak English, Spanish, French or other European languages, were forced to live as their slave owners wished, and were forced to eat foods that their owners would not consume like pig's intestines and other foods which at the time were undesirable. 2. Robbed from their homes Africans were taken from their homes en masse by force. They were not given options, nor a way to get out of slavery. They were not asked to come, nor given any options of where to be taken. They were literally robbed from their homes. 3. Separated from their children and families When Africans were robbed, they were not categorized or identified in family groups. They were often sold as individuals and separated from their children and families. In fact, when they were born into slavery, their children were often taken and sold to other owners never to be seen or heard from again from family members. (http://www.americanslavesfoundation.org...)(http://www.terryhowcott.com...) 4. Smuggled on slave ships (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com...) Many slaves never even made it to their destinations as they died at sea, or were thrown overboard. 5. Sold to "owners" (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk...) These owners treated slaves as if they were their property, and slaves had no rights whatsoever. They were not citizens, nor were they protected by the law. 6. Beat and tortured http://www.maafa.org... ; http://www.maafa.org... ; http://www.maafa.org... ; http://www.maafa.org... ; http://www.maafa.org... (feel free to explore www.maafa.org for more examples) 7. Raped (http://www.etymonline.com...) Having no protection under the law, slaves who "belonged" to whites could be raped and beat with no consequences. 8. Made to forget their given names http://theoldentimes.com... ; http://www.next1000.com... African slaves were given new names and made to respond to those names by their "masters". Slaves were forced to take the surname of their owner, and thus losing knowledge of their lineage and genealogy. 9. Systematically Dehumanized Blacks in America have been systematically stripped of their sense of self worth. They were first put through the first 8 points I listed, and after slavery were put through Jim Crow laws which kept them from enjoying the rights most other humans in the US enjoyed. (http://www.jimcrowhistory.org...) Blacks who violated these laws were lynched, beaten, dragged through the streets, hung, etc. etc. etc. In 1856, the highest court in the land said in the Dredd Scott case that the black man "had no rights which a white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." I could go on, and on, and on, but I must let my opponent present his arguments. I hope he is brave enough to defend his statements by accepting this debate. Hopefully he will not attempt to make this a semantic debate which attempts to manipulate the reader into thinking this is not "really" what he meant. Thank you.