"Black on black" "Crab in the Barrel"

Shareef Abdul Malik
On November 2, 2010 I listened to the group of students give their presentation in the Tubman Quad Building. I was very alert because the topic of slavery is my subject. I am very critical when it comes to information of slavery. The students made questionable point that I feel were invalid but were good observation. They mentioned that there are reasons why African Americans take on the mentality of "crab in the barrel." The student said that there was a great majority of African American slaves who were owners of other slaves. He said that the owners would beat the slaves brutally like the white man and there would be no difference in the treatment from the white and black slave owners. I totally disagree. I believe some black slave owners bought the slaves to help free them and give them a better treatment. There is no way possible for a black slave master fresh from Africa to abuse and torture his people the way the white man did. From my understanding the people who helped enslave the Africans were of their own people. I believe that the students should not have given a presentation in which they are blaming the negative mentality of black on the blacks. There are reasons that the students did not state on why the blacks share a mentality of a "crab in the barrel" which are: White slave owners, during the winter time use to give a group of slaves who did not really know each other one small blanket to share, they use to give only a limited amount of food for a whole group of slaves, and the use to show a little favoritism and reward those who told on one another. The is the reason why we have many "house niggers" and "crabs in the barrel."