THE SLAVERY MYTH

The Unpaid Pawn Stars of Slavery

Every time I hear someone invoke slavery or demand reparations, albeit a politician, academic or unhinged activist, I literally cringe. Unless I’m mistaken, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued over 150 years ago, only 1.6 percent of the American populace owned slaves at the height of the Antebellum period and nearly 400,000 white soldiers died to procure their freedom; not that race should ever discern the value of a human life or disregard an abolitionist movement spearheaded by white, evangelical Christians. It is also common misconception the Civil War was fought solely to end slavery when in reality it was far more about state sovereignty (as intended by our Founders), economics, the rapid industrialization of the North, a lack of railway access in the South, and tariffs. Likewise, it is obviously of little concern to reparation revisionists that no living American breathing today “is” or ever has been a legal slave of this Republic.

For anyone, black or otherwise, to consciously compare themselves to lifelong servants – those who toiled, suffered and died under the auspices of slavery – is offensive and illustrates a complete disregard for these victims’ horrific plight. If the millions who were sold into bondage had the liberties every American enjoys today, there is no dollar amount that could quantify their sheer joy and appreciation for reclaiming their God-Given rights and forging their own destiny as equals. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't identify as a Republican out of some misplaced or partisan need to bury the truth. The civil rights icon knew that if not for the efforts of the anti-slavery party founded in 1854, the dignity of every black sentient being would have remained shackled to the fields of Democratic apathy for years to come.

Not to question the sterling anti-American credentials of the United Nations, but why has no official condemnation or financial recompense been sought in memory of the astounding 5 million African slaves transported to toil in Brazilian gold mines; a sum 10 times greater than the number brought to America between 1750 and 1860? And while we're on the subject of globalists posthumously adjudicating guilt, why haven't the Spanish, Dutch or Portuguese governments been implored to pay reparations for sponsoring and harboring notorious slave trading operations for centuries on end? Furthermore, unless thousands of Irish families have unceremoniously received a check as compensation for their ancestors being starved, driven from their homes and forced to work as indentured servants in English colonies, perhaps I'm confused as to the true definition of crimes against humanity worthy of absentee enrichment. 

Between 1641 and 1652 alone, half a million Irishmen, women and children were murdered by the Crown and another 300,000 were sold as "white" slaves in the West Indies and New World, causing their native population of 1.5 million to plummet to 600,000 in less than a decade. Yes, numbers far more daunting than the estimated 3,000 blacks lynched in America; a grotesque atrocity regardless of the totality. Apparently "victimization" in the modern theater of social justice requires an invitation to sequester an equally detached alibi to not give a damn.

History was never intended to serve as a politically correct blueprint fortuitously spared from the ravages of human vice, conflict and folly; rather it is a road map for mankind to consciously elude the missteps of an imperfect past to forge a universally beneficial future where the innovative prowess of the human mind is as poignant as its cultivated respect for the lives, welfare and rights of others. If I may be so brash, how does paying blood money to disjointed descendants who have little or no knowledge of their own legacy – let alone a respectable appreciation of the opportunities their ancestors' pain made possible – honor or alleviate the gross injustices committed against the actual victims? Simply put...it doesn’t. Such an exploitative ploy would merely reward those shameless opportunists seeking a free paycheck while punishing innocent taxpaying citizens who never owned a slave or supported its vile existence in any manner whatsoever.

Considering how much the U.S. Government has doled out in public assistance and disingenuous disability claims over the past 25 years, not to mention the eight and nine figure bank accounts many black athletes and entertainers now command, I’d venture to say the term “slave” is about as irrelevant as a black president in a White House. It's just too bad the modern day pawn brokers of historical "injustice" are so incredibly immune to the human trafficking epidemic that continues to plague the Middle East, Asia and Africa because the perpetrators lack the proper nationality for an indictment of racial iniquity. Apparently the allure of the almighty dollar, appeasing America's "unpaid" political detractors, is just enough moral recompense to dull the contemporary screams of unchecked human suffering.