Slavery Is No Relic
Recently, a friend told me that Barack Obama was giving a major speech addressing slavery. But unlike most of the two million others that watched it on YouTube, what drew me was not the promise of a mature discussion of race or even the spectacle of a man throwing his friend under the bus. I watched with the hope that the senator might call on the nation to get past its "original sin," as he rightly called slavery, by working against its modern incarnation. What I heard was a soaring and intelligent plea for racial reconciliation. As usual, however, the discussion of slavery was stalled in the past.
"Words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage," Obama said. He was speaking of his wife's nineteenth-century forbearers.
But he might have been speaking about a young, mentally-handicapped woman that was offered to me in trade for a used car in a brothel in Bucharest. In an attempt to make her sellable, her pimp had put makeup on her face, but when he presented her to me, the terrified woman was crying so hard that it had smeared. Her right arm bore angry, red slashes where apparently she had tried to escape the daily rape the only way she knew how.
Or he could have been referring to a third-generation quarry slave that I got to know in northern India. A serial-killing contractor regularly beat the man, and forced his entire family to work in a quarry for no pay beyond upkeep.
Or he might have been referring to our failed collective promise to a nine-year-old Haitian girl, whom a trafficker offered to me for $50 on the street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Or he might have been speaking about another Haitian girl, whom I met as a twenty-year-old survivor. She had been held as a domestic slave and sex slave for three years starting at age nine. The place of her bondage was a $351,000 household in suburban Miami, amidst what Senator Obama called "a land of big dreamers and big hopes."
For them, the Constitution that meant so little to Michelle Obama's forebearers means even less. For them, the three hundred international treaties banning slavery and the slave trade mean nothing at all.
There are more slaves today than at any point in human history. United Nations estimates begin at 12 million and range up to 27 million real slaves, worldwide. Yet leaders like Obama rarely mention their plight, because it doesn't register on the average American's radar, because slavery is everywhere illegal, because it is hidden behind the fraud of traffickers, masters and corrupt government officials. Real slaves -- those forced to work under threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence -- are everywhere and nowhere.
In 2003, I set out to find slaves and their captors for my book, A Crime So Monstrous. Whenever I visited a new country, my first challenge was to find a single slave. After ingratiating myself to the right people, often shady characters, I went through the looking glass. Then the slaves were everywhere. In the end, I infiltrated trafficking networks and slave sales on five continents.
I found that slavery today is no less monstrous than it was 150 years ago. A pimp in Istanbul bargained with me for the lives of three young Eastern European women as if he were selling second-hand iPods.
In Moldova, I found villages essentially drained of young women by traffickers. A few made it back, only to face ostracism. Most never returned. One who did survive tearfully recounted how she had been tricked into prostitution in Turkey, violently raped, sold several times, only to be "rescued" by Turkish police, thrown into prison, repatriated, and trafficked again.
A mother living on the Indian border with Nepal broke down in tears as she described the pain of giving her son to a trafficker in order to save him from starvation, only to have him disappear into bondage, along with thousands of other children in India's carpet belt. I found the slave trader that had sold her son to a loom owner and I brought him to her. In a belated act of contrition, he too wept and pled for the mother's forgiveness.
When that is the reality of our world today, we may out of instinct turn away, preferring only to think of slavery at a distance, as a sepia-toned, historic relic, invoked to buttress the political argument of Senator Obama.
But slavery is no relic. And future generations will judge us harshly if we act as if it is. This Wednesday, Florida became the sixth state to formally apologize for its history of slavery, joining North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. It was an important act of reconciliation. But for those, like the girl enslaved in that suburban Miami house, apologizing for the past does nothing to alleviate the bondage of the present.
To date, none of the presidential candidates has truly "owned" the issue of modern-day abolition. Senator Clinton comes closest. She met survivors of sex slavery in Southeast Asia during her husband's presidency, and spoke out numerous times against the crime while in the Senate. Senator McCain has been thoughtful on modern-day slavery and some of his closest advisors have strong antislavery track records.
Ironically, the candidate with the weakest demonstrated record on modern-day slavery is Senator Obama. Though last year he co-sponsored a resolution supporting the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness, such an effort hardly constitutes ownership of the issue.
Senator Obama has inspired millions of Americans with his message of hope. My hope, and the hope of other abolitionists, is that as president he will finally fulfill our collective pledge to bury slavery once and for all.
E. Benjamin Skinner is the author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery (Free Press, 2008)
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Thank you for the eye opener. This isn't something most people think much about in our day to day struggles just to survive our lives here. But, even though we have to work two jobs, can't pay the bills, are losing our homes and jobs - at least we're not suffering nearly as much as the people you describe. I DO think it's something the candidates should addess and I thank you for bringing it to our attention.
Great article!! It is amazing that this kind of world can exist just under the surface of modern life..
I do have to wonder how Obama would be able to approach the slave issue without being accused of injecting race into the debate or pandering to the black constituency. I am probably becoming cynical from this primary race, but I think he should secure the election before he can take on these kinds of issues..
Ben, I bought your book a few weeks ago (I saw it discussed on Hugh Hewitt's site), and i started reading it a couple of days ago. It's heartbreaking, important, and an excellent read. I can't thank you enough for the work you've done. There's no excuse for this to be so widespread in the modern world. All Americans should be united in finding the best ways to solve, or at least reduce, this problem.
Wow...Thanks so much for this information and for this context. This all needs to be part of the discussion, not pitting one group against another but showing the whole picture to everyone so we can come together and change these horrible practices.
continued:
The advantage in perspective that Barack Obama may be able to offer is the fact that neither of his parents were soiled by the bitterness of slavery or Jim Crow. It may also be why he is able to empathize with black anger while not necessarily feeling it personally himself. It is also important to say that the majority of post slavery descendants do not view themselves as victims or survivors of racism. We do however view ourselves as human beings deserving of justice and restitution. Most people of color (Native Americans, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Mexicans) have no interest in stirring white guilt for past transgressions. Like the average white person we only wish to breathe free and know that our rights will be equally upheld and respected. Not like Rodney King, Dialo, Luiema...and counting.
Beloved:
It is only white people here in America that speak of slavery as though it is so far in the past. I am 53 years old and my grandmother was the daughter of slaves. I am but the third generation born free. My grandmother remembered what happened as told by those of her mothers generation. She told it to her children and they told it to me. Not to memtion that I grew up towards the end of Jim Crow. I say this to say, lets deal with what America has done to the people she forced to work for 429 years without pay first. I won't even mention the rapes, murder, burning and lynching. Why is it so easy for white America to immediately recognize the brutality of others...elsewhere and still be so offended when reminded that they have a long history of brutality against people of color that lingers even today?
With all due respect, Mr. Skinner, slavery is not Ameria's "original sin". The first racist language heard on these shores was the "doctrine of discovery" in which white Europeans agreed to refuse to recognize Indian nations' legal title to their own land. This racist language was enshrined in the Constitution, advanced in the Supreme Court and crystallized in the "plenary powers" doctrine in Congress. The result was hundreds of years of physical and cultural genocide. People think that too is in the past, but in truth it is still very much alive today as are the continueing results. The Concluding Observations of the monitoring body of the International Convention to End All Forms of Racial Discrimination, released on March 7th, cited the US for failing to protect, preserve and promote the human rights of indigenous nations in this country. And cited the US for the continueing racial disparities that are the living legacy of slavery.
Don't get me wrong. I believe the United States should be the leading advocate in the world for human rights, including ending modern slavery and protecting the millions of indigenous peoples worldwide. But a clarion call from the US will always ring hollow until we put our money where our mouth is....at home.
While we face continued struggle here at home , we can not ignore the suffering of our brothers and sisters. That little Haitian girl who could have been your neighbor or extended family except for her the unfortunate luck of having her ancestor sold off while the rest of their family sailed to the next port in America. If they cant count of us, those who should best understand their plight , then who can they count on. Shouldn't we follow in the footsteps not those American slaves who risked everything to make the run to freedom only to turn around, sneak back and help others.
Continued from 1st post
Rather than "if they themselves were on the losing end of such depraved wickedness...poor barack obamas biggest hurdle will be overcoming white resentment over his pastors lamentation over the hell whites have put blacks through since they were kidnapped in africa...enslaved...and treated like animals."
maybe us black people should ask ourselves why our ancestral leaders sold us to the white man in the first place? How do we tackle the greed that is rooted in African history? The "White Man" used his African compatriots to round up the slaves to be sold. Our fellow countrymen betrayed us before the "White Man" betrayed us, and this betrayal of people is still going on today with people like Robert Mugabe Kabila Sr being able to be elected into power.
This whole "White people have sold us out" thing has GOT TO STOP. This is victim mentality. We are no longer victims, we are survivors and survivors cannot and should not attempt to find the answers to the evils of the past by laying the blame on the easiest target.
It is much easier to say "The White Man betrayed us" than to say "Our Ancestral Leaders were the first to betray us"
You are right, becoming a 'survivor' and moving beyond victimization, is an important step to personal freedom. I respectfully suggest that your selective history is not helpful to those trying to get beyond victimization.
There were many in the slave trade; Arab, European & as you rightfully note, competing African nations. How does one weigh the sin of one against the sin of another, the difference between the buyer and the seller?
Just as location & skin color does not predict the humanity or lack of it among people, nor does it make a Nation!
Africa is a country of many Nations as is Europe, Asia etc all of whom have at times victimized the other out of enmity or the pursuit of power or advantage.
The key to becoming a survivor is not about absolving anyone of their actions, it is about refusing to be enslaved any longer to the experience.
Somewhat like the rape victim it is about getting past the inner destruction of self worth that often accompanies the experience when the will of one, over the will of another, robs a person of choice & freedom.
The challenge of the victim, any victim, is getting past the very real damage to the psyche & that is no easy task to be taken lightly.
So what does it do to those struggling to find empowerment when you wrongly suggest, it was our 'family' that sold us out? Is that not the equivalent of saying it IS their
Reverend Wright is being persecuted? that's pretty laughable.
"we blacks here in america...as is being demonstrated by the unending persecution of reverend jerimiah wright...can not even curse the wicked racism we still must endure in our daily lives...without being called racists ourselves.whites would be surprised to know"
There's your problem right there. When you classify people by the colour of their skin, you open the door to prejudice and discrimination. When you affront the problem of racism by placing the blame on 1 race (regardless of whether they are or are not guilty of it), oyu leave yourself open for criticism.
Luke 6:41 in the Bible. Verse 42: "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye', when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
This quote, taken from a book the Rev should've been quite familiar with, is the way to combat racsim, to move forward from the history of slavery and to tackle modern day slavery. If we all focus on OUR faults and better ourselves individually, racism will no longer exist. When we as people no longer hold prejudices ourselves, then all prejudices will be removed. Jesus really couldn't have put it better.
Thank you for calling my attention to the breadth of this problem. I'll look for your book.
With all due respect, slavery is not America's "original sin." The first racist language heard on these shores was the "doctrine of discovery" which ensured that white European powers would refuse to recognize the legal title of Indian nations to their own land. It was enshrined in the language of the Constitution, advanced in the Supreme Court and crystallized in the "plenary powers" of Congress. The result has been hundreds of years of physical and cultural genocide. People think that is "history" too, but that racist doctrine is still business as usual today. The recently released Concluding Observations of the United Nations monitoring body for the International Convention to End All Forms of Racial Discrimination cited the US for failing to preserve, promote and protect the rights of Iindigenous nations in this country. As well as citing numerous examples of the racial disparities that plague America, many of which are the legacy of slavery.
Don't get me wrong. I believe the United States should be a leader in the world regarding human rights, including ending modern slavery and the atrocities still being committed against indigenous people around the world. But it is clear to me that our efforts to sound a clarion call on human rights will always ring hollow until we put our money where our mouth is....at home.
perhaps..if i may say so...obama...like many of us...feel that we ourselves must escape the slavery that still darkens our prospects ...before we try to free others.we blacks here in america...as is being demonstrated by the unending persecution of reverend jerimiah wright...can not even curse the wicked racism we still must endure in our daily lives...without being called racists ourselves.whites would be surprised to know...that what colors the tenuous existence of blacks in america..is not so much...what happened in slavery times...but what whites will do to us tomorrow morning when we climb out of our beds.for instance...tomorrow morning...even though whites have sent a white person...one of their own...to the whitehouse every 4 years since 1776...with absolutely no thought about how we feel about that terrifying racist mindset or how they would feel...if they themselves were on the losing end of such depraved wickedness...poor barack obamas biggest hurdle will be overcoming white resentment over his pastors lamentation over the hell whites have put blacks through since they were kidnapped in africa...enslaved...and treated like animals.
Your eternal pity-party just tuned me out. "Tenuous existence" indeed! And just who, precisely, kidnapped your ancestors in Africa to begin with? Go off to Liberia where Lincoln wanted you to go, if you don't like it here!
Just for the record; the comment by JoePalooka worsenes the problem. People like this person are the problem!!! (Is it possible this individual is white?) You can't tell someone to leave a home you don't own. ever heard of NATIVE AMERICANS
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