Dear Fellow White Men, Please Stop Watering Down Slavery
The Destruction of Slavery Equivocation
We Live in a Democracy. In case you might have been unaware. Not in an autocracy. It’s critical to understand, because I’ve grown intolerant of hearing the white man argument that keeps popping up that seeks to water down or equivocate slavery in America, and thus white racism in America. Their argument goes something like this: slavery happened in other places in the world, all over the globe, and all across history. Even whites were enslaved. Yeah, the next thing you’re going to tell me is about the benefits of slavery.
Please stop. Here’s why: we live in a democracy. Not just any democracy. The first one where a group of people decided to put in writing that principles that each representative from their regions would abide by the natural rights of all. Yes, I know they didn’t all adhere to those principles, most resisted since it was new and the first time. Philosophy, even the “correct” political philosophy to start a new country on, won’t feed the kids. It’s a struggle to enact. But some states did abolished slavery right away, others came on board in the North, but others in resistance, politically, then violently, and clung to it until the end of civil war. And then beyond — just under a different name.
