We don’t really think about it much today, but slavery sucked. As in literally… that ish was terrible. The problem is that we’ve glossed over slavery so much in learning our history of America, that we refer to it as a passing joke. References to field niggers, house niggers, picking cotton, watermelon, slave masters, whips, beatings, lynchings, all have become hilarious one-liner jokes in America (among Black and white communities) and they honestly serve to diminish the atrocities that took place in America from 1619 to 1865.
About a year ago I read Dr. Joy Leary’s Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which is essentially a beginner’s guide to race in America, tracing the crumbling state of race relations today from the extensive reach of slavery hundreds of years ago to our inability to adequately address the situation. One of the very problems we have today is that it’s difficult to pinpoint any type of concrete connection between slavery and what is happening in the Black community today. The common rebuttal (spoken among whites, thought among some Blacks) is that “slavery happened soooo long ago, and there are LOTS of opportunities geared directly towards Blacks today.”
I just want to take a second to highlight the extent to which slavery was impossibly bad to the point that it STILL carries negative effects.
Slavery in America was bad enough that there is no real metaphor with which to describe it. Honestly, how do you describe the extent of slavery? Perhaps you could say it’s like being employed in the mail sorting room of Microsoft and having Bill Gates personally tell you that he’s going home to sleep with your wife…. daily. But that’s just one part. Slavery is also like being shot in the genitals, by your high scool teacher, on a daily basis and still having to avoid failing school. One could also say slavery is akin to walking barefoot on broken glass day-in and day-out and being told that you get an hour to sleep… on the broken glass.
Those are just chump examples to be real. I have no clue exactly how horrifying slavery was, but I can gaurantee you it was the most extreme violence to Americans (though we weren’t considered Americans then) on American soil by American people. Here are some examples from Dr. Leary’s book:
Before the torch was applied to the pyre, the negro was deprived of his ears, fingers and genital parts of his body. He pleaded pitifully for his life while the mutilation was going on, but stood the ordeal of fire with surprising fortitude. Before the body was cool, it was cut to pieces, the bones were crushed into small bits, and even thet ree upon which the wretch met his fate was torn up and disposed of as “souvenirs.” … Small pieces of bones went for 25 cents, and a bit of the liver crisply cooked sold for 10 cents. As soon as the negro was seen to be dead there was a tremendous struggle among the crowd to secure the souvenirs… Knives were quckly produced and soon the body was dismembered.” – this quote comes from 100 Years of Lynching by R. Ginzburg
“As she dangled from the rope, a man stepped forward with a pocketknige and ripped open her abdomen in a crude caesarean operation. Out tumbled the prematurely born child… Two feeble cries it gave- and received for answer the heel of a stalwart man, as life was ground out of its tiny form.”
- this quote comes from Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America by L.J. Bennett
These are just small examples of why slavery was so horrific. Imagine this on the daily. I’m not about to get into a debate of how much relevance this takes in the lives of Black people in 2008 who most likely have never heard these stories. I’ll simply say a) the terror is real especially when you know a lot of Americans have pieces of slaves still in their basements and b) slavery can hold my pocket with all due expediency.
2 responses so far ↓
Curious // July 20, 2008 at 3:47 am |
Those examples were horrific, but the reality of slavery is lost and forgotten because its watered down in history. The Civil war is glorified, Lincoln is Moses for black Americans, some whipping was involved and thats all these history books tell us. Until African Americans can demand that their history be included in the larger scope of American history, not just confined to 28 days of white-washed Hallmark celebration, then we will continued to be marginalized. The effects in slavery are reflected in our every day lives, from the difference in our hues to the severity in which black men are prosecuted in our judicial system. We need to begin demanding that EVERY American learns our history of pain, triumph, tribulation, and most of all celebrate the resilience of the African spirit in our HIS-tory classes every day.
Ryan // July 29, 2008 at 5:57 am |
Hello,
History is a wonderful thing to study and learn from. History books can’t cover 100% of the details (I say that lightly)…so you pick up a copy about “The Vietnam War” If you would like more information about that part of American History. I respect people for who they are as a person, not religion or color of skin, etc. One problem I have is when issues about slavery are brought up it’s protrayed as if victim’s of slavery are still around. I mean no disrespect I just think it closes the issue….we should talk about the facts and TRY to feel the pain that people were put throught. All people of Earth went through struggles by the hand of “another group” I not saying that to take away from any other groups that have suffered. My point is we can’t all be victims or history could repeat itself. I judge myself only and try my best to understand issues of the past and future. Thanks for the blog, lots of good information to think about.