Slavery

[KLarson]

Christine,
It hits you in the gut when you read those documents, doesn't it? Not only is the reality of valuing human beings as chattel difficult to imagine, but what is often revealed in those same documents is the separation of family members through sale or distribution to heirs when a patriarch dies. None of us can imagine having our children and loved ones taken from us and sold away, often never to be seen again. What happened then is as nauseating as what happens today in societies that still practice slavery. Back then there were folks who opposed the institution, just like there were thousands of years ago, and now today. Personal, ethnic, social, political, cultural, and economic power and domination drove the acceptance of enslavement of people for thousands of years. That doesn't make it any more acceptable because it has happened for so long. What is important, however, is not to feel guilty, but to be sure that slavery's legacy - racism, discrimination, poverty, etc., - is not perpetuated. And Laurie's reminder that Native Americans (and Native peoples of South and Central America too) have lived another version of slavery, and is perhaps an even more disgraceful legacy of European conquest. Isolated on reservations with no access to good healthcare, education, and economic opportunity has defined a bleak future for many. This continues to be unacceptable in America. But the solutions are complicated and much contested.