The Undying Legacy of Slavery

Slavery was abolished on a technicality in 1864, but in 2008, the shackles that bound our ancestors on that fateful trip from the African coast, to America, and all stops in between are still there. No, you cannot see them because they exist solely in the mind. Yes, the plantation owners considered us no more than his property, no more appreciated than the livestock or land our ancestors toiled over, day in and day out, generation after generation. Out of nothing more than his fear, and burning desire to control his slaves, the plantation owners planted the deadly seeds that spawned the self-hatred that seems to still be prevalent within the black community, and is not likely to be cured anytime soon, although we have the key, we don’t realize it.

In order to discourage slaves from revolting against the plantation owners, most of them adopted a systematic form of division among the slaves, placing the lighter slaves in the house, and the darker slaves in the fields. Although their lives were marginally more comfortable, they still treated as non-human. Women were constantly raped, and forced to give birth to as many children as humanly possible, before being discarded in favor of younger female slaves, like putting an old mule out to pasture. The men although feared, were treated as children. Family members were sold off, and it was not uncommon for a mother and her children to remain on the plantation, while her husband was sold off to who-knows-where, never to be seen again. Mother’s watched in tears as their children were shipped off to another existence. An education for a slave was illegal, and could result in lynching from the nearest tree, if found out. The only book slaves were allowed to learn, was the Bible, which the plantation owners used to control the slaves with the promise of going to Heaven, if they served their masters here on Earth, without conflict and an eternal grin. Over the course for more than four hundred years, the African-American slave was told repeatedly that their only purpose in life was to serve their white masters. They told us that we were savages that needed training and guidance, and our skin was a curse. These things were drilled into our heads so often, for so long, that we began to believe them.

Now, in 2008, and with an African-American president, we as a people are still living the lives of modern day slaves. The plantations were replaced with “projects” and impoverished neighborhoods, the overseer’s were replaced with overly aggressive, trigger-happy police, and the plantation owners have been replaced with faceless corporations who only care about making money. Lack of quality education, drugs, and a welfare system that up until about ten years ago did not require women who were having children they could not take care of, to get off their butts and get jobs, contributed to what is ailing the African-American, and Latino communities today. Although it has gotten better, but there is always room for improvement. You have African-American women who are still obsessed with being accepted by a white society, and trying to achieve that white standard of beauty by relaxing their naturally curly hair, and altering their beautiful features by going under the knife to obtain a thinner, straighter nose. It is not good enough to be black, or African-American, but to stress, or sometimes lie about having a racially diverse heritage as if that makes being African-American more acceptable.