by
Black Girl With Long Hair
It all started when a white male student submitted an article to his English professor, Michelle Smith, extolling slavery for supposedly ushering in era of social justice and allowing slaves the ‘privilege’ of reproducing. The student writes;
“In conclusion, through slavery people have learned to stand up for what they believe in and show off who they are. Many people see slavery as a negative thing because of all the damage it had on people, physically and mentally. But in the end, slavery was actually a positive thing for the world because people learned to fight for who they are. It all started when slaves were brought to the colonies in the 1800’s. Men and women were forced to live in terrible conditions as farm hands and some as house servants. No slaves were given the privilege of reading or writing as that might cause [sic] to learn how to escape. They were encouraged to raise large families and the slave women would be taken by their masters for sex. However, slaves would use the underground railroad [sic] to escape and many did. This simple act of courage changed the world. This started the beginning of a long flight for equal rights because slavery started segregation . . . Racism really came about after slavery however, slavery was something that really opened up people’s eyes.”
That was all it took for Smith to write an epic 1400 word response online.
“…every February, on social media, I read a barrage of reposts of young white people arguing about the reverse racism of Black History Month. And the shit gets me tight (shout out, Cardi B.)
These white kids’ favorite point to make is White History Month would never be tolerated. So why, they ask, should Black History Month be allowed to exist?
And usually I respond to this argument by counter-arguing that Americans are compulsorily taught the history of White America in school, but very few are taught about black history beyond slavery, Emancipation, and Jim Crow, and, even if they are taught about Reconstruction or the Civil Rights Movement or the Black Power Movement, they are not taught these things with very much historicity, nuance, or depth.
But you know what?
Maybe, though, all these angry millennials are right. Maybe we do need a White History Month after all.
Because maybe if we taught the history of slavery and Emancipation and Reconstruction and Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement in terms of what white people were doing during these periods, rather than what black people were experiencing, then white kids would actually know what the fuck happened. They would get a more thorough inculcation.
Maybe if we taught them about slavery by detailing how white people captured Africans, transported them to the Caribbean, made them through torture and starvation, transported them to America, sold them, broke them, raped them, separated their illegal families, murdered them when they attempted to escape, maimed them when they stole food or read or wrote something, while the whole time justifying their actions with decontextualized and misrepresentative religious doctrine and pseudo-science, these young white people would know better than to write shit like “A privilege that slaves did have that owners and masters actually encouraged was reproducing.”
Because here’s the thing: White slave owners bred slaves. They didn’t set them up on dates and provide them with cushy rooms and beds so they could comfortably and happily make babies. They forced the most physically robust of their slaves to have sex, whether they had an intimate relationship or not, in the hopes they would make more physically robust slaves that the owners could exploit for free labor, or they could sell.
Slave owners didn’t afford slaves anything that could be accurately called a “privilege.” They “granted” slaves petty “freedoms” that never should’ve been stolen from them in the first place.
But, mostly, they treated them like animals of a slightly higher order than horses.
And all of this began happening, systematically, in the 1600s. Which means white people held generations of black people in bondage for–no–not 63 years–from 1800-1863–but from 1619-1865.
Maybe if we had a White History Month, and we taught our young people even more of what white people did to establish this country, in more explicit terms than we generally use in classrooms and textbooks, then students wanting to write about slavery, like mine, could get that timeline correct.”
Smith goes on to express dismay over being exposed to this racist “logic” in the first place, and America’s constant need to downplay or justify slavery.
You can read Smith’s full essay here, you’ll be glad you did.
12 Responses
MEH. ………….the white student is obviously young
and not very smart….She’s a professor….just give him a d……instead of writing books…you don’t have to respond to everything they dodo….stop giving Whites so much power/attention they don’t deserve.
No… give him an F
Oh my word. This has made me incredibly sad. My daughter had to do a project on slavery in primary school. They learn very early on it’s a terrible thing albeit at a very high level. My Dad was from a tribe of igbos and he spoke about about the slavers didn’t like the Igbos because we are very stubborn and rather than being kept against their will they’d jump into the sea. Chains and all. The ex-slave who become an author – Olaudah Equiano was also Igbo. My dad admits some Igbos and other those from other tribes worked with the slavers too, helping them catch and transport the slaves to the coast. It is a pity that a proper history is not taught in schools. Slavery spanned several hundred years and there are so many stories to be told. Rather I hear that it’s been virtually wiped off the Texas curriculum (or re-marketed to as the ‘Trans-Atlantic Trade’ or something equally innocuous) and I only hope that during Black History month there’s enough scope and interest to have some of these stories told in schools and on some other channels other than BET. It’s such an key part of American history and obviously this white student is so far removed from it that he felt his opinion was worth entertaining.
It’s so interesting to compare the reflections of history from black Generation Z and white Generation Z. I’m elated to see the leadership and wokeness already among this generation. But babbyyy, these pseudo-woke, ill-informed, blinded lil white boys and girls scare the crap out of me. Like damn, ya worst than ya parents. There is nothing worst than a college educated racist.
It’s true, they seem to take it to a whole other level of hate and use twisted logic to justify their way of thinking. It’s ironic how someone who is in a country whose values are based on “freedom” could actually justify slavery by inventing benefits. It’s like saying that I should appreciate rape because it makes the victims into stronger better people, it’s ridiculous!
Ludicrous
..there was NOTHING good. that came from slavery.!
If that essay was indeed written by a college student, it is quite apparent that child’s school system has utterly failed him. Despite the ridiculous content, judging from that piss poor excuse for a conclusion, It is easy to ascertain the essay was poorly written, poorly structured and grammatically immature.
I call what this student is exhibiting: cultural psychopathic behavior or cultural narcissism. I’m glad this had her thinking but we can’t keep arguing with crazy… there has to be a place where we can collaborate with normal down to earth individuals on how to fix these mentality issues. If I had been the dean, that student would have been expelled. Why? Well, because if he had written an essay on another tragic historic happening like that of the holocaust with the same line of argumentation he would have been expelled and would probably have to defend himself in court against a civil lawsuit.
I would call it racial gas lighting. They start by saying slavery wasn’t so bad and then they will say slavery didn’t happen. Well none of them will admit to benefiting from it that’s for sure. We have to come up with new terms. Like racial holocaust.
I agree that we need to rename it. In reality colonialism has always been a way to cover up genocidal behaviors and racial cleansing. I don’t know why we always interpret it as just being slavery because the horrors are so much broader than the term itself. I find the biggest issue is that despite the fact of having a whole month, the regulations do not enforce or stimulate true change in the mentalities of certain communities which is why this student (whether he believed what he was saying or whether he just wanted to provoke the teacher) didn’t face proper punishment or public backlash.
I think I would have forgiven the student if his essay was a little bit more eloquent…Or maybe not.
At this point, the history is out there. It is willfully ignorant for this “student” (because they obviously do not study enough to be well versed in the subject at hand) to have written this drivel. It would be even more ignorant to excuse it. No offense, not calling you ignorant. But the action to disregard these very damaging ideas and replace them with forgiveness is repugnant.