Myths of American Slavery

by Walter Kennedy

  MYTH: The consequences of slavery in America have had lasting deleterious results for African-Americans today.

  REALITY: No sane person would ever deny the realities of slavery. From the first passage where African tribes captured fellow Africans for the slave trade; to the middle passage where weak and sick slaves were thrown into the sea; to life on the plantations, farms, and factories of the New World; slavery was loathsome. The movement of the Irish in response to the horrors of the potato famine offers many similar cases of human abuse. With each "minority" that was pushed out of their homeland and subsequently made their way to America, there are sad stories of human atrocities. Yet each "minority" proceeded to climb the ladder of success in America. Likewise, African-Americans have had to overcome many obstacles to reach the place of equality in America, and nowhere in the world have they had as much success as they have had in America. Unlike Africans anywhere in the world, in the United States approximately 16 percent of African-Americans will earn a college degree, and approximately 20 percent will work in managerial or a professional specialty12 Contrast these figures with African descendants of non-slaves and ask yourself, "Who has the best lifestyle, the descendants of American slaves or the descendants of non-slave Africans?"

  MYTH: Africa is the "Garden of Eden" for African-Americans, and this is where their chief loyalty should reside.

  REALITY: As has been shown, the life of an African-American in Mississippi is many times more stable, free, prosperous, and healthy than the life of the average African. How anyone could continue to nurse the notion that Africa is a "Garden of Eden" and America is a place to condemn is beyond reason. With all its spots and blemishes, America is still the better choice of every "minority," not just the African-American, who has established this land as his home. If anyone doubts this fact, as Ken Hamblin is so wont to say, let him "pick a better country."

  CHAPTER 10

  On Jordan's Stormy Banks

  On, Jordan's storm banks I stand,

  And cast a wistful eye

  To Canaan's fair and happy land,

  Where my possessions lie.

  Samuel Stennet

  On Jordan's Stormy Banks

  The old gospel song On Jordan's Stormy Banks tells the story of a pilgrim's progress through life until he is ready to cross over from the land of death and woe to a more blissful existence. Likewise, America has progressed from a land of chattel slavery in several forms with white masters, black masters, and red masters; political slavery, which ended with the recognition by Great Britain of the independence of each of the original thirteen colonies; and the dream of the end of civil slavery. Of these three forms of slavery, only chattel slavery has been destroyed in America. For the South, political slavery is as real for the thirteen Confederate states as it was for the thirteen original colonies before 1782 (before the signing of the Treaty of Paris), and for Americans in general, the unbridled force of an intrusive government is a daily reality, thus making civil slavery an all too obvious component of American life. Nevertheless, much progress has been made and much success realized by people of various "minorities" who have made America home. As has been asserted in previous chapters, all Americans are decedents of a minority group. Each group that came to this country had its own set of obstacles to overcome. No minority was welcomed to this land with bands playing and the red carpet rolled out. Each in its own way had to work and overcome various forms of discrimination and mistreatment and in so doing to make a place for themselves and their children. "No Irish need apply" was not an uncommon sign in the nineteenth century. Also, Asians were viewed with suspicion and mistrust until late in the twentieth century. For a time into the twentieth century, Asians were discriminated against in public accommodations and not allowed to vote in many Western states. Yet, each minority faced these problems without the massive aid of the government and won their liberation from many forms of civil slavery. What was true for the Irish, Polish, Chinese, and Italians was equally true for the Africans. "No Irish need apply" was simply substituted with "No Negroes need apply." The words had changed, but the tune lingered on.

  Today, throughout the United States, the laws that once stood as a barrier to the upward mobility of African-Americans no longer exist. Unfortunately, several generations of African-Americans have been raised on the fable that white America is engaged in a grand conspiracy to repress them as a people. According to black reporter, Keith B. Richburg, they even have a name for the mythical antiblack conspiracy-"The Plan."' Richburg also points out that in Africa, a parallel conspiracy theory teaches Africans that a Western or European "Plan" is afoot to keep Africans as colonial subjects. The problem with the acceptance of these conspiracy theories by the African-American community is that it interferes with seeking the true causes of community problems. This interference results in the continuation of the problems in the African-American community. For example, today, 70 percent of African-American children are born into single-parent homes. (This phenomenon was unheard of during the age of slavery and up through the middle portion of the twentieth century.)2 Without the stable influence of a traditional home life, is it any wonder that one out of four young black males ends up in jail? But, according to the conspiracy theory, it is the white man who is at fault-after all, it is part of "The Plan." When it is noted that more black Americans are on death row than white Americans, the rational for the problem is, it's just part of "The Plan." The Plan theory ignores the fact that African-Americans are eight times more likely to commit murder than their white counterparts. For instance, in 1992, white Americans committed just over five murders per 100,000 people, whereas African- Americans committed slightly over forty-three murders per 100,000 people.3 Seeking to place the blame on a mythical white conspiracy for the failures of the African-American community only serves to perpetuate the root causes of these problems.

  Of all the fables that are repeated, none is more accepted by American society, both black and white, than the idea that AfricanAmericans are the victims of "hate" crimes at the hands of white Americans. On June 7, 1998, a black man was dragged to death by several white men in jasper Texas. This hideous crime was condemned by all segments of Texas, Southern, and American society. Nevertheless, for weeks on end the nation was subjected to reoccurring accounts of this dastardly deed. By the time the men responsible were tried and convicted, few if any Americans were unaware of this sickening crime. And as usual, black civil rights activists and the liberal media spared no effort in instilling the message that white Americans, especially Southerners, were victimizing African-Americans-Jesse Jackson and other militant black activists had a heyday! Do the facts about white-on-black crime in America support this assumption? Interracial crimes are, by definition, committed by a member of one race against a member of another race. Because of liberal bias in the reporting of these crimes, most Americans believe that white Americans commit the majority of such deeds. Yet, according to the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, the vast majority of interracial crimes are committed by black Americans against white Americans. According to a study of crime in America by the New Century Foundation: "In approximately 90 percent of the interracial crimes of violence involving blacks and whites, blacks are perpetrators and whites are victims. In terms of crime rates (calculated as the number of crimes per 100,000 population), blacks are more than 50 times more likely to attack whites than the Many liberals will attempt to minimize the effects of these staggering accounts of black-on-white violence by asserting that blacks attack whites because white people are thought to have more money than blacks. But, as The Color of Crime report points out:

  [O]f the 1,140,670 black-on-white acts of violence reported in 1994, only 173,374 were robberies. The remaining 84.8 percent were aggravated assaults, rapes, and simple assaults, which presumably were not motivated by profit. Rape, in particular, has nothing to do with the presumed wealth of the victim. More than 30,000 white women were raped by black men in 1994, and about 5,4
00 black women were raped by white men. The black interracial rape rate was 38 times the white rate.'

  As nationally syndicated columnist Samuel Francis noted, the media has a tendency toward highlighting crimes by white Americans against black Americans, while downplaying crimes by black Americans against white Americans.6 Such was the case in Wichita, Kansas. On the night of December 15, 2000, two black brothers, Reginald and Jonathan Carr, broke into a house where five white people, three men and two women, were staying. The Carr brothers then robbed the five white people, raped the two women, lined the five up, and shot each one in the back of the head. One woman lived and identified the Carr brothers, who were subsequently arrested by the police. Now, compare the news coverage of this heinous criminal act with the coverage given to the death of the black man in Jasper, Texas. With the assistance of the liberal news media, Americans in general and African-Americans in particular are left with the impression that African-Americans are victims and white Americans are the aggressors in interracial crimes. Again, this impression only feeds the fallacy about "The Plan," which then serves to obscure the real causes of crime and other problems within the African-American community.

  Because of the liberal bias in news reporting in America, most people fully accept the notion of white-on-black violence, especially when the violence is reported "down South." Yet, as demonstrated, the reverse is the case. Also, most Americans believe that hate crimes are more often committed against African-Americans by white Americans. Again, it is only because the liberal media underreport acts against white Americans by black Americans that this notion survives. For example, how many Americans know about the nineteen-year-old white man who was murdered by three black men in 1996? The reason the young white man was murdered was because he had a Confederate flag on the back of his truck. What would have been the response of the liberal media if three white men had murdered a black man because he was wearing a shirt with a picture of Malcolm X on it? Of course we know the answer to that question; all we have to do is revisit jasper, Texas. In Columbia, South Carolina, a man returning home from a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting was assaulted by a black man who had followed the SCV member from the meeting place to his home. Nothing of value was taken during this assault-a typical scenario of a hate crime. During a meeting of the League of the South in Sumter County, South Carolina, a drive-by shooting was reported at a barbecue where several Confederate flags were displayed. Children have been expelled from school for displaying a Confederate flag; jobs have been put in jeopardy because a worker dared to display a Confederate flag on his lunch box or car. The question the liberal media never finds time to ask is, "Who is being discriminated against here?"

  With the incessant ranting by the liberal media and civil rights activists about the "flag of slavery," is it any wonder that some people incorrectly label anyone who displays the Confederate flag as an enemy of African-Americans? Yet, as demonstrated throughout this hook, the South is no more nor no less responsible for the African slave trade or the institution of slavery itself than the African tribes who sold black men and women into slavery, the Yankee and other slave ship owners who brought them to this land, or those who used black labor to enrich themselves. There is condemnation enough to go around for all segments of society-white and black, African and American. It is time to admit that the Confederate flag is not the "flag of slavery and racism." Like other historical symbols, it has been misused. (Note the photograph in this book of the United States flag being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., by the Ku Klux Klan.) Those who misuse these symbols are the ones who should be condemned, not the symbols. Even in Africa and elsewhere today there are many national flags that should carry the label of racism and slavery, but the Confederate flag is not one of them.

  The promotion of the myth and hoax about the institution of slavery should be rejected by all Americans. As a nation, we stand on Jordan's stormy banks. We have reached the point at which we must go forward into the land of freedom, true freedom, where neither chattel slavery, civil slavery, nor political slavery will be our lot. Ahead of us is a unique opportunity to live truly free. But if we allow ourselves to be deceived by the sirens of socialism (i.e., modern liberalism), we will condemn ourselves and our posterity to the mud pits of Egyptian (Federal) slavery. The never-ceasing demands by civil rights activists for more and more involvement by the Federal government in the correction of presumed affronts is a sure formula for bigger and bigger government, less and less individual freedom, and more and more civil slavery. Virtually every minority that made America home overcame many forms of discrimination without the intrusive force of the Federal government. Nevertheless, today African-Americans are assured by the liberal media that their civil rights are a gift bestowed, guaranteed, and protected by the Federal government. Furthermore, liberals insist that civil rights cannot be secured without the watchful care of Big Brother Government. For most other minorities, government was the one agent that represented oppression and not freedom. The French Huguenots escaped the terror and tyranny of France by fleeing to America; after being pushed off their lands by the government in London, the Scottish sought freedom in the United States from the oppression of the English ruling class; the Irish, suffering from the abuse of a colonial government, found freedom in America. All of these and most other "minorities" came to America not because of the power of its government but because of the promise of freedom from an abusive government. Big Brother Government drove most "minorities" out of their former homes; limited government in America offered them hope for a better future.

  Individuals of the African-American community today are vital members of our society. The United States Supreme Court can boast of African-American justices whose political opinions range from that of a liberal such as the late Justice Thurgood Marshall to that of a conservative such as Justice Clarence Thomas. The leader of America's last war effort was an African-American, Gen. Colin Powell. Yet we are told by the liberal media that African-Americans are not being given a fair chance to excel in America. Liberals assure us that African-Americans need the help of liberal whites to protect them and provide them with reparations for past injustices. If we are to proceed to that land of true freedom, as described by St. George Tucker, where all forms of slavery are forever abolished, we must reject the liberals' notion of a supercharged welfare state that "benevolently" provides for its people. As the quaint truism of the past states, "Any government big enough to give you everything is strong enough to take everything away from you." Let Jordan roll, and let its neither intransigently stand on her stormy banks nor retrace our steps back into any form of slavery. Let us cross over the river and rest in freedom's land.

  SUMMARY

  In the preceding work, we have taken a not so politically correct look at the issue of slavery as it occurred in America. As has been demonstrated, the institution of slavery extends into the distant past of man's history. Slavery has been a ubiquitous feature in the history of mankind. No race or ethnic group can claim to be free from the charge of enslaving its fellow man. Viking, Aztec, Zulu, and all other segments of human societies have participated in the enslavement of others. Although slavery existed in the Western Hemisphere before the Europeans arrived, and although African slavery predates slavery in the United States, modern Americans are only aware of African slavery. Nevertheless, African-Americans as well as black men in Africa owned slaves. Regardless of who owned the slaves or where slavery existed, profit was the motivating factor that kept the institution alive. When looking at the demise of slavery in America with the exception of the South, it must be kept in mind that slavery was eliminated only when it was no longer needed. Even though leading Southerners had worked for its elimination, with the advent of the Radical Abolition Movement, slavery became a national issue that transcended issues of freedom and played into the hands of political opportunists. Disavowing the South the right of dealing with the issue as the North had done, the Radical Abolitionists Pushed t
he South into a defensive posture that ultimately led to war. Sadly for American history, only in the South and in Haiti was slavery abolished as a result of the application of armed force. The diabolical propaganda campaign waged against the South prior to the War, the extensive suffering caused by the War, and the ravages of Reconstruction after the War have made the promotion of the myths about slavery and the South possible if not predictable. Nevertheless, as we have clearly seen, the truth about the institution of slavery will destroy the myths about slavery.

  Myths about Slavery

  MYTH: Slavery was an institution operated by white people for the oppression of black people.

  REALITY: As demonstrated in this work, slavery has deep historical roots that extend all the way back into ancient history. Slaves, both in the Old World and the New World, came in all colors and from all ethnic backgrounds. Also, it has been shown that slave masters came in all colors and from all ethnic backgrounds. In America, red men owned red and black slaves; black men owned black slaves both in the North and in the South; white men owned red, black, and white slaves. The sole reason that slavery existed was to provide a stable labor force and not to keep a certain group of people "in their place." The notion of keeping undesirable elements of society "in their place" was often advanced after the fact of the introduction of slavery as a rationalization for the institution.