Transcript
No Slavery - No Exceptions! by Douglas Ankney Most people are proud of their country. Americans are no exception. Our nation declared "All men are created equal..." But when the Constitution was written, it became law that only all white men are created equal; african men counted only as 1/3 human, while women and Native Americans (Indians) did not count at all. Americans are proud of their country. Over time the people - yes the people - determined to correct this repugnant hypocrisy. Amendments were passed to truly make all people, regardless of gender or race, equal. Currently, in some areas there is a battle over where or when it is appropriate to display the Confederate Flag. Now it is incumbent on people of noble minds to ask: "Do we truly honor, esteem, or yearn for the values upheld by the Confederate States of America?" But as important as that question is, there is another more immediate question: "Do I support and promote slavery?" Our government, yes our America right now - by law and in practice - both promotes slavery and holds ownership of 1.5 million slaves. Someone will say, "No way. We fought a war. Slavery was abolished." Yet let us look at the law and the facts. The law says, "Nether slavery nor involuntary servitude, 'except' as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." The law plainly states that slavery is both permitted and practiced in America as long as the slaves have been duly convicted of a crime. Some historians say this clause was written to appease former Confederates who feared emancipated slaves would take revenge unless the former slaves were threatened with slavery as punishment for criminal acts. Other historians say the clause permitted slavery as punishment for crime simply because Confederate plantation owners changed their plantations into prisons and then used Africans as slaves merely by convicting them of false or petty charges. How much voice should those former slave traders and plantation owners continue to have in American society? How much obedience and subservience do we owe to those who trafficked in human misery, raped African women and children, and trampled human dignity? Do we perceive a pattern in our forefathers' thinking? "All men are created equal, except..." "Slavery is hereby abolished, except..." Isn't it time that we the people said slavery is repugnant, no exceptions! Slavery is not acceptable under any circumstances. Slavery is abolished period. The United States of America today, right now, incarcerates more men, women, and children from its population than any other nation on earth. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters are lawfully and factually slaves right here in America, and there are over 2 million of them. As slaves, these human beings are exempt from protections of civil laws and civil rights recognized by decent human beings. Today, right now, men and women are forced to labor without pay or compensation, just like slaves on the plantation. These men and women are forced to strip naked and expose their genitals and/or anus whenever "the master" tells them to do it. These men and women have no right to money or property. These men and women cannot vote. These men and women cannot consent to a sexual relationship. The list of indignities is endless because slavery itself reduces humans to something subhuman. The question is: "What are we the people going to do about this?" Are we going to finally say all humans are created equal and there are no slaves - no exceptions?
