The problem with Charles Barkley is that his ignorance gives cover to the mass of white people who have decided slavery was something that happened a long time ago and shouldnt matter anymore. I have a relative who last year stated, directly to me, (paraphrasing here) slavery has occurred all over the globe, to and within many cultures, causing suffering among millions - but we dont have it anymore. Blacks need to get over it. Bro, Here is why slavery is the ill that society will take many long years to get over. Hank Sanders, a Harvard-educated Democratic state senator from Selma, Alabama – a city with which Barkley ought to be familiar – wrote a detailed and impassioned op-ed on his Facebook page with the purpose of telling Barkley “why slavery was ‘not so bad,’ but very, very bad.” And he does, at length. I don’t care if you’re white, black or paisley, you ought not to need Sanders’s deliniation of why slavery was “very, very bad.” But it’s obvious that Barkley needs instruction. And Sanders provides it: Photo source: Hank Sanders Bio (legislature.state.al.us) “First, African people were snatched from their families, their villages, their communities, their tribes, their continent, their freedom . . . The whole continent was ravaged and still suffers to this day.” “Second, African people were placed in ‘slave dungeons’ for weeks and sometimes months until the slave ships came . . . Millions died during the Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas.” “Third, African people were broken like wild animals. They were stripped of every element of their identity. Their names were taken. Their languages were taken. Their religions were taken. Their histories were taken. They were forbidden to have family. They had no rights to own anything. They were considered property. Their personalities were permanently altered. Their freedom was taken. They became chattel sold from ‘slave blocks.’ This crushing of identity impacts us to this day.” Fourth, African Americans were worked from ‘kin to can’t;’ that is from ‘can see’ in the morning to ‘can’t see’ at night. There was no pay for their long, hard labor . . . Many were repeatedly raped. Their children and other loved ones were sold at will. Some mothers killed their baby girls so they would not have to endure the ravages of slavery.” “Fifth, African Americans had no right to defend themselves no matter what was done and how wrong it was . . . This became the law of the land and its legacy bedevils us to this day.” “Sixth, African Americans were perceived and treated as sub human . . . The legacy of being less human lingers with us today. Black lives are worth much less than White lives.” “Seventh, it required great violence to implement and maintain the worse form of human slavery known to humankind. It required unbridled violence by enslavers, slave catchers, local, state, federal governments and the entire society. Maintaining the institution of slavery created a very violent society that infests us to this day. That’s why the United States has far more violence than any country in the world.” “Eighth, even after slavery formerly ended, we still had Jim Crow. These same imbedded attitudes generated state-sanctioned terrorism for nearly another 100 years. The Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups hanged, mutilated, maimed and murdered without any punishment . . . That is why today Trayvon Martin could not walk the streets of his neighborhood and Jordan Davis could not play loud music in his car and Eric Garner was choked to death and Michael Brown was gunned down.” After each point, Sanders writes simply, “Mr. Barkley, this is very, very bad.”
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:28:37 +0000