Interesting conversation at work

I was wearing a yarmulke at work in honor of Israel's 60th birthday, and a black guy who tends the coffee machines said to me: "I always wanted to ask someone a question: what happened to all the black people who lived in Palestine before Jews came?"

Well, I tried to explain that the people who lived there were not particularly black, nor were the Jews particularly white. No matter: after all my explanations Rick just sighed and said "It's always hard to be black".

Eager to return the favor of a question, I asked him about Zimbabwe. The ensuing conversation revealed two things: it's better to starve rather than let outsiders be bosses in your land, and Rick feels about America the way I feel about Germany. Except Rick lives here.

He traced his family to a slave ship that arrived sometime in 16th century, and he can't find out where in Africa they came from - the native memories of the slaves were brutally suppressed. He also said something that I still need to research to confirm or deny: America, including Northern places such as Boston, was built almost exclusively by slaves in 15th to 17th century. The free labor only got used starting in 18th century onward.