people who are shocked that slavery is still common and widely supported also seem to have a very narrow idea of what being pro-slavery means. it isn’t just “slavery is good we should bring it back!!!” although that sentiment is also WAY too common.
being pro-slavery is also when:
- people believe criminals do not “deserve” to be paid for their labor or do not “deserve” to be paid ENOUGH
- when multiple of my teachers throughout my education since i was very young taught that slavery was a “necessary evil” because it was integral to the southern economy (in a school in a reliably blue state in the late 2010s! i am twenty and they were still teaching that shit)
- when people say we shouldn’t criticize sweatshops because then the employees will lose their jobs
- “the civil war was about states’ rights”
- white people getting angry that some black people mistrust, fear, or hate them because “it was so long ago!!!” (no it wasn’t. my dad was born before black people could vote [they could vote on paper but voting restrictions practically banned black people from voting in many places]. once again i am twenty. even after slavery was abolished many people were not freed. people who experienced or remembered slavery in the united states did not die that long ago)
- glorifying historical figures that enslaved people
- elementary school (in a northern state circa like 2012-2016! !! my southern friends experienced much worse pro-slavery propaganda!) being taught that some people were nice to their slaves :) !!! (translation: “some people didn’t torture the people they kidnapped and trafficked as badly as other people did!”) i remember being told specifically that george washington enslaved people but it was okay because in his will he said to free them after he died
- calling the abuse of sally hemings (starting at FOURTEEN!) at the hands of third president of the united states, thomas jefferson, an “affair” or “forbidden romance”. in 8th grade (which i think was 2018) i went on a school trip to washington dc. on that trip we toured thomas jefferson’s house. somewhere along the tour we watched a short film glorifying the rape of a 14-year-old. literally the age of the 8th graders on the tour
- northerners refusing to take accountability for slavery and trying to pin it all on southerners as if most northerners were not willing to let slavery continue indefinitely because they didn’t want to cause trouble. the north abolished slavery faster because it was less useful to us. that’s the only reason. lincoln didn’t want to abolish slavery at the beginning of the civil war. when he did it, it was NOT because he loved black people
the same people who don’t understand how anyone justified it at the time would’ve been the people who did not care. people in my community don’t want to acknowledge slavery because they feel guilty. thinking about what happened makes them uncomfortable. it isn’t their problem
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