I Have A Realization

Ask anyone around you about slavery in the United States and the sentiment is usually looked upon as one of two things: morally reprehensible by the greater spectrum of our citizens, or a great detriment to the country for the attempted abolishment of it. The former conclusion is of no surprise when it is pondered, as it has become a textbook staple of the United States—and one that our leaders have fought for, including President-Elect Barack Obama (represent). This utopian concept of racial equality is conceivably derived from the American Dream; our very own aptly-named Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom and, of course, personal liberty - with the lifestyle pursuits of the members of the United States, of which, becoming attained through free choice and determination. This is known as the pursuit of happiness, and the idea is sufficiently presented where the term "American Dream" was coined in the first place:


"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and
richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability
or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to
interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and
mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a
dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain
to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by
others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or
position." —James Truslow Adams, Epic of America

With this concept in mind, it is easy to imagine an equal America, but not everyone agrees to this concept. In the latter position I've mentioned, I am referring to those with a racial bias who have inhabited their place in this country through their Constitutional freedom of speech - and their unmentioned-but-assumed freedom of expression. First off: supremacy based on a heritage. As I understand it, racial supremacists come in at least two groups: those who want to enslave the peoples of their disdain, or just exterminate them. These dispositions can spring from anything - and, now that I think about it, the reasoning for either of these ideals encapsulate a wide range of things. While I could devote an entire blog post to describing these types of people, the act of slavery itself is what I wish to discuss - and thus no subject regarding the issue will have prominence over another. As I make this digression, some of the reasons I referred to are subject, but not limited to: baseless dislike, traumatic events and background.

And finally, my point begins: As you may know, in the 1600s, debted bondage was widely accepted in the United States and practiced predominantly in Virginia—this was for the caucasian people from England (and perhaps even some from our very own Americas) who couldn't afford to travel across countries. During this time, tobacco was the biggest cultivation available, and proprieters of the country ended up literally buying the physical exersions of the people who required funds; these debts were not always limited to a requested wage, however. Some of the people would work for the debts that they owed - and in rare cases the exchange was obligatory. It was customary for the masters to scold and punish their 'employees' as slavemasters would - and it would come to no surprise that these indistinctive-looking people could make a runaway with a great ease, as they tended to blend in with the freed people in the populated city, who greatly resembled them. When Africans came marching from their rice and cotton fields, their dark skin attracted our American ancestors, as this race couldn't blend in.

And thus the era of racial slavery began.

Consider: How morally reprehensible is the act of debted bondage if it is a means to make currency? Given, the lifespans of our first-known slaveworkers often ended within 8-10 years of reaching the plantations—and this was brilliant for the employers because they could legally work their property to death as to get out of paying them anything - or just simply trade them off to someone else who could, as this was in the stipulation of becoming a slaveworker in America—but with all of this considered, that was a very long time ago, and I can see a plethora of ways where this whole idea of modern slavery is implimented to this day. I've mentioned one way in a previous post, involving corportations and prison sentences, but - as I see it - the very act of doing an exhausting job for nothing greater than minimum wage (which often isn't enough), and seemingly having no option of escaping the job without losing what little progress you've made, would be a very modernized form of bondage for wages.

Do note that I'm not an advocate of the negro slavery that occurred in this country. The whole of this was abolished with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, and someone could make any amount of claims to the contrary, but please drop what is finished. When it comes to claims of certain races being in poverty derived from racial bias, take notice that white people have been in poverty for longer periods of time and for lesser reason than even blacks. (citation: this guy). I could continue on for paragraphs more, but I feel it unnecessary; I feel my point has been made, and I can safely conclude that slavery, as it used to be, has been eviscerated from the United States of America - at least for the most part. For anyone to claim that white citizens, such as myself, owe them something for the acts of my ancestors, which were entirely out of my control, do not only subject me to something that I shouldn't have anything to do with (as I'm not a supporter of black enslavement at all), but manages to be as consistently annoying and clingy to the past as a proselytizing war veteran.