To act like the cruelty that a historical figured did doesn’t matter, is to say that the people he was cruel to didn’t matter. To boast in the good, but ignore (or hide) the bad behaviors of our forefathers is inconsistent. Truth matters.

Imagine the cruelty that it requires to keep people in life-long slavery. No slave would stick around unless cruelly confined.

Human trafficking is extreme cruelty, even when called “slavery.” “Kind slave master” and “kind human trafficker” are oxymorons.

Slavery was the denial of God-given free will. Those who forced it on people were guilty of great cruelty, but their guilt isn’t ours.

How bad was slavery? Worse than anyone who has never been a slave can possibly imagine.

If guilt can’t be inherited, then pride can’t either and we can take nothing good or bad from our forefathers. However, the least we should do is to be honest about their cruelty and never act like it didn’t matter.