posted by Sam Richards
Clearly slavery is one of those touchy subjects for people in the United States. White people don’t fully understand it’s lasting legacy and often have the idea that after the Civil War ended in 1865, slaves were free to climb on up the mobility ladder as far as they wanted to go. People of color, African Americans in particular, are generally more cognizant of how white supremacy has continued to affect the life paths of the descendants of former slaves. They are much more likely to understand the ways in which black Americans were rarely offered the opportunity to compete fairly for the “prizes” that awaited white Americans at the finish line of the race to embrace the American Dream.
The problem is that with all of this talk of the legacy of slavery we forget that the institution has never ended for nearly thirty million people around the world. And we forget that all of us help to keep these “modern day slaves” in bondage when we purchase goods that they have manufactured. And by “all of us” I do mean to include the living descendants of slaves.
In keeping with my iconoclastic image, I just want to put this out there for people to chew on…
When I hear anything about slavery it hits a soft spot with me. My father’s side is African American but much of mother’s side is Native American. All of my Great Grandparents on my mother’s side were either Native American or Native American mixed with African American. I need to research my ancestry back before my Great Grandparents, but I’m sure it wouldn’t lead me to Africa. Although on my father’s side I know it will lead me back to the mother land. Slavery is a part of my history. I never thought of modern day slavery until this class. I thought slavery ended a long time ago. After Sam brought the subject up in class I started to think about some items that I might have that are could be made by slaves. He used the cell phone example. My cell phone is probably made by slaves, but I am not going to take my cell phone back. I wouldn’t give my cell phone back because that would just set me or my race back. Everyone uses a cell phone and if you are the person that doesn’t have one, you are the person that loses. The slaves don’t get released from slavery just because I decided to return my cell phone. That is probably the main reason why I will keep my phone. If I knew returning my phone would release someone from slavery I would return it without hesitation. So I thought about how my ancestors might feel knowing that I own a slave made product. I began to feel really bad and remorseful. I started to wish Sam never told us that so I didn’t have it on my conscience. Knowing is better, but it puts everything into perspective.
After reading the book Disposable People, I realized that slavery is everywhere. It isn’t the same type of slavery as before. Slavery now is based more on weakness and families trying to make money. People will become slaves in attempts to make a better life for themselves. Once they become submersed into a person’s home they realize they won’t be making any money instead they will be working as a slave. The slaves are disposable and cheap. The slave owners feed them when they want to and if they die another slave is easily accessible. Some of the people that are slaves don’t even consider themselves to be so. They think they are helping someone out or doing someone a favor. The slaves feel that they can’t leave because if they do, they will die and never make it on their own. They stay because of the fear of dying or not making it, which to me is crazy. They choose to be slaves instead of trying to live on their own.
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I think that it is completely ridiculous that slavery still exists in some places in this day and age. Before we discussed this in class, I was aware that some form of slavery still exists in the world but I did not know that it was to the extreme that it is. For slavery to still exist for thirty million people around the world, it’s just absurd to me. I have always had the mentality that slavery was impossible to exist in the United States today because if people would try to enslave black people, we would just fight back and it wouldn’t be able to happen for the most part. Today in my AAAS 100 class we were talking about slavery and my professor said that people think that it would be impossible because black people wouldn’t be able to be controlled like they were back in slavery days. I agree with this statement; my teacher said that he would fight back, but once they start hitting people with whips, they would probably be able to have more control. For me personally, if any form of slavery were to be brought upon black people in this day and age, I would definitely fight back because I don’t work for free. If fighting back doesn’t work, I would have to get some type of gun license and protect myself that way because I definitely couldn’t work as someone’s slave.
Racism plays a major role in this and the reason why slavery existed was because whites thought that they were superior to blacks and that blacks were beneath them. This is still the case for some people today and that is why racism still exists. This is why there is so much discrimination in the workplace. It’s extremely sad that black people are discriminated against like in the example given in class with the different names on the identical resumes. If a name like Tramone and Adam were to appear on the same exact resume, Adam would be more likely to get called back because his name is not an urban name. Another example would be a black man with no criminal record not getting called back for an interview for the same job that a white man might get called back for who has a criminal history; this happens today in this day and age and it is just sad. I personally do not believe that we will ever be able to overcome this in this lifetime. However, slaves back in the day probably felt the same way about not being able to an end be put to slavery; so anything is possible. Something that was new to me that we discussed in class was that many items that we own today were made from slaves. I do think that is very sad and unfortunate, but like other people mentioned in their comments it would be hard to give up something like your blackberry and by not buying slave-made items, that particular act would not put an end to slavery where it exists today.
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When people talk about slavery and how it no longer exists in the world today I immediately think about how they are so ignorant to the world around them. Most of the everyday products they use and own were made by slaves or those being paid as little as 14 dollars a week or even less. It blows my mind how in such a progressive world there are still individuals forced into slavery being paid next to nothing for very laborious work. After taking this class and actually learning how prevalent slavery is today It boggles my mind that no government or organization has taken aim to shut some of these operations down. It is terrible to think that there are people out there living in poverty working as hard as their bodies can handle for a ridiculously lousy pay. What frustrates me even more is that some major companies are the ones fueling this. For example Nike and Walt Disney products are just a few of those which are being made by slaves. If they are paying slave 50 cents to make their product and then turning around and selling it for 25 dollars are even more their amount of profit and income is unbelievable. So why is it that government’s have not stepped in to abolish slavery for GOOD? Is it because those individuals who are working in the slave shops or sweat shops do not have a voice or is it because the governments are the ones benefitting from this cheap labor. To me it is ashamed that these people are working very hard against their will and either being paid nothing or next to nothing. Not only that but almost nobody throughout the world knows about this which is going on. They are oblivious to the fact that people are being treated and manipulated like this against their will and against their inalienable rights. Had I known years ago that Nike was profiting from slavery and treating their workers so poorly I would have never bought their products let alone respect them for their name. I cannot believe that throughout the reign of Nike word has not spread faster or more powerfully than it has. It blows my mind to think that half the people wearing the Nike name have no clue how it was made and that it was made by slaves. The one thing I could change about this world is the truth and I would also wish that everyone had the capability and resources to access true facts in order to see how corrupt the world really is. It is something that should be known throughout the world and there is nothing more powerful than truth itself.
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Slavery is still going on?!? It is amazing to think after so many years America has fought to end slavery, but yet it is still not enough. Although slavery has ended in America, this has only surfaced the level of slavery as being a problem around the world. Slavery is one of the biggest problems ailing our world today. It has been estimated that there are still about 27 million slaves around the world. Although it is an accomplishment that we put an end to slavery in America, there is still much more that can be done, we cannot just stop there. Slavery is all around us, and all of us are allowing it to go on through our daily activities. Most of the things we own were either partly made or fully made by a slave. Our purchases are allowing slavery to continue, but yet we still ask ourselves how such a thing could occur nowadays. We asked these same questions when we think about how slavery came about in the United States, but if you stop and think about the very ways slavery occurred then, in some degree these are the same exact reasons why they also occur now. It is sad to understand how such a disgusting and unfortunate thing as slavery is still occurring. There are many reasons why such an epidemic is still going on, but yet it almost seems that no one is willing to put an end to it because of their personal interests. I do believe that slavery is inevitably going to end, but it will take all of us to make an effort to put an end to slavery. I find it interesting how Sam discusses how decedents from slavery should think twice before they speak about slavery, because they themselves are “promoting” slavery through their purchases. Modern day slavery is a real event and it truly affects all of us whether you believe it or not. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere . . . Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (“Human Rights Quotes”). This epidemic affects all of us indirectly and it allows slave owners to believe that they are superior to a certain group of people. Who is to say such superiority and treatment will stop there. In my opinion it is better to do what is right for humanity than to get something back in return. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little” (Moncur). We can sit and say how the world ought to be or we can take action. I believe we should take the initiative. Like Edmund Burke said, “All that is needed for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” (“Human Rights Quotes”).
How many more people need to be enslaved before the world takes action?
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