The Disgrace of Slavery

The poignant picture of two little boys and the documentation of the sale of the child on the left, John, is heartbreaking.

The antebellum South might be celebrated by some, but as far as I'm concerned, it's THE most shameful era of our country.

Sure, slavery has been practiced all over the world, in darn near every culture, but the brutality and inhumanity of slavery as it was practiced in the South is completely opposite of the principles of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Violence, rape, the explotation of a whole race, all for the sake of money.

Yes, in the end, like all too many horrible events in history, it really was all about the money.

In my mind, there's no excuse. And the faces of John and the unknown child next to him, lost in the mists of history, forgotten by all except perhaps, hopefully, their descendents, remind us that we are responsible for the children.

All the children.

Slavery was a disgrace that our nation is still recovering from, all these years later.

There is no excuse for ignorant behavior or tolerating ignorant behavior in America. Yet we still hear and see it every day. Bigotry and racism is alive and well.

The faces of two little boys look at us with haunted eyes, reminding us of the result of racism, of slavery, of the most shameful times in our history...

Link:
artdaily.org: http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38596
Associated Press: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Rare-photo-slave-children-found-NC-attic/ss/events/us/061010keyamorgan/im:/ydownload_ap/20100610/photos_net_ap_ts/1276210841/#photoViewer=/100610/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_edf9c9ebc02f4ab2a5bb79130057327a