When the House of Representatives issued a formal apology for slavery last month, it wasn’t the least bit surprising. In this age of identity politics and political correctness, such behavior is never a shock, no matter how ridiculous or unjustified.
American slavery is a funny business. Not because it has long ceased to exist, but because it still exists in the minds of those who can’t decide whether its memory is too hard to bear or too profitable to bury. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and others would not have careers if they did not have an eternal chip on their shoulders and were against exploiting the fact that there’s nothing perhaps that weighs more on the modern man’s conscience than the notion of owning another.
But in reality the wagging finger of today’s slave drivers has more to do with politically correct fashion than logic — Sharpton, Jackson, and company completely ignore the slavery that exists in modern Africa, yet they can’t stop talking about an institution that’s been long gone in America.
If it were not for the white West, slavery likely wouldn’t have been abolished as soon, if at all. British imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries gave the West the leverage to eradicate slavery, while Africans, Arabs, and Asians fought bitterly to preserve the profitable institution. Can we expect a big, sloppy kiss from Congress in the near future, thanking white folks for their hard work? No, because there is no political gain or ax to grind by congratulating dead white men.
2 Comments
Great post Jack. It’s definitely a touchy subject, but it needs to be addressed.
Abolition began among the Quakers initially and quickly expanded among the protestants and finally to the humanists.
From indentured servitude to slavery, monoculture farming was extremely profitable. Sugar initially but then other monoculture crops created an intense labor demand for slaves which unfortunately was filled.
But the price tag was terrible. A full scale Civil War and deep chaos/division/social problems extending into a 21st century with no end in sight no matter what we do.
The only real solution I see is to repatriate the descendents of slavery back to their original countries of origin with full reparations.
That is the only thing that would finally bring closure to something which should never have occurred in the first place.