By Hillary Crosley, The Root

According to Republican Rep. Jon Hubbard of Arkansas, African Americans were lucky to have endured slavery, which, he writes, was “a blessing in disguise,” reports the Arkansas Times.

In excerpts from Hubbard’s self-published book, Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative, Hubbard also declares that blacks are ignorant and better off in America than in Africa.

Slavery was good for black people:

” … the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)

If you think slavery was bad, you should have seen Africa:

African Americans must “understand that even while in the throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa.”

“Knowing what we know today about life on the African continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” (Pages 93 and 189)

Black people are ignorant:

“Wouldn’t life for blacks in America today be more enjoyable and successful if they would only learn to appreciate the value of a good education?” (Page 184)

Read more at the Arkansas Times.