Blog Número Cuatro

Slavery Today

 

 

 

Slavery has impacted our world for ages, it still does, and I believe, unfortunately, it always will. Either having slavery itself in some part of the world, undercover, or the consequences of slavery from the past, it changes who we are, our values, and what we stand for. We must step forward and voice our beliefs, because too often, as we see in Latin America, it is the small minority that rules the majority, only through a larger voice and a "higher" culture.

Look at the struggle in Jamaica. Slavery was good, wasn't it? Shouldn't people be private property? Can't we do whatever we want to them? The government shouldn't be able to tell us what to do, we have a choice. This was precisely the argument slaveholders made. But many people disagreed, and I think most of us disagree as well. Slavery should be abolished. The slaves should be taught to read, write. They had a right to freedom, to live with liberty, and to follow their dreams!

 

 

 

Slavery slowly became abolished in many countries throughout the centuries, but just because Brazil was the last country in the west to abolish slavery in 1888, it doesn't mean that slavery still doesn't exist today.

 

Think of the Middle East. Women, who have no rights, can't walk on the streets without a man, can't drive a car, must always have their full body covered, are beaten if they speak out or refuse to accept a man, must share their husband with other women, and obey him no matter what he says or wants. Is that not slavery? Should a human being, a person, someone with a voice, a right to live, to choose, and to be happy, be treated this way?

 

Think of human trafficking. People, who are sold for their bodies, for their labor. I think specifically of sexual slavery. What person, either man or woman, should be subject to something like that? To have their body sold to another. Aren't they too, a human being, a person, someone with a voice, a right to live, to choose, to be happy?

 

What about child labor? This is still prevalent in third-world countries. These children are forced to work, deprived of education, their childhood, memories, play. These are kids! Imagine your childhood. Do you smile? Erase it all, and replace those fond memories with trudging off to a factory or a field every day. They are forced to work, have no choice, cannot refused or else they are beaten.

 

Think about the Holocaust. Was not that slavery? So often we think of slavery, as a person of another race or an "inferior" person who is easily persuaded by physical or mental means to benefit another. One of the Merriam Webster definitions of slavery is: "submission to a dominating influence." The Jews, the handicapped, the gypsies. 11 million, (11,000,000) innocent people, with nothing but a different religion or view on life, were killed. To try and put this in perspective, Ohio has around 11.5 million people, and Michigan has 9.8 million. The Holocaust, if brought to Michigan, would wipe out the entire state. Because why? Because we are inferior. Because you are a Jew, a gypsy, someone who stood up for your neighbor, for your friend that was being beaten or taken away. Because you hid people, to save their lives. Because of this you are taken to a concentration camp. You don't know what to expect. It is simply new living quarters, until your little sister or your skinny frail brother is taken away, and you never see them again. Until you realize that the outbuildings are not holdings for food, that the shots being fired are not the killings of animals, that the guards are not there for your safety, nor are the high fences there to keep other things out. They are the gas chambers, the killings of your neighbors - the boy you met in the train car you were packed in to get to this awful place - the guards are there to beat you and make you work, the fences to keep you in. Is that not slavery? Don't you have a right to live?

 

What if I was to tell you of another Holocaust, and a true holocaust, a "sacrifice by fire", that is happening again today. Everywhere. In Asia. In Australia. In Europe. In Africa. In South America. And in the United States of America, where every person has the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", would you believe me? Would you tell me to stop it before it impacted your life? If people were being burned, torn apart limb by limb, and didn't have any say about it? What if I said that these people never spoke out against dying a cruel death, that they never refused or tried to uprise and stop the injustice, would that make it right? If all they did was squirm and were unable to make a sound, a peep, a scream, say no, beg for life. If you don't have a voice, does that make you not human?!

 

Take 11 and multiply it by 4.5. Than add the unit 'million'. That is how many innocent lives have been killed by abortion. And this number does not include the deaths of the mothers after abortions. Is this not slavery? Aren't the babies submitting to a dominating influence? You say the mother has a choice, that is her child, her body, that the killing is okay if it still is inside the womb, but once out of the womb, it's murder? Have you ever listened to a baby's heartbeat in the womb? Feel it kick the mother's side? See the love in her eyes as she tells you about her little baby girl or boy? Have you ever felt sick after learning you may have had a little brother, sister, niece, or nephew, but the baby died in a miscarriage? Do you mourn that life? I mourn every life lost. Whether it was a baby I could have held someday, a friend I would have now, or a baby thousands of miles away. One killed because it was unwanted, not planned, just a nuisance. Things in life happen that we don't want. No one wants cancer, heartbreak, the death of a loved one. We don't plan those out in our lives or prepare for them. Many things are a nuisance, but compared to precious life, these petty things that come to mind are not much. I don't just mourn every life lost, but every life affected. The heartbreak or the guilt. Those who walk away with a smile on their face, who think they just did the best thing in their life. But I can tell you, there aren't many like that.

Is not abortion oppression? A form of slavery? Is it better to murder than to beat? Better to die than to live? Is anyone truly unwanted? No. Every life is precious. Every life is a gift. Every person, everywhere, no matter the color of their skin, their talents and abilities, their physical characteristics is wanted. You and me are wanted, loved. And those babies are too.

 

 

 

Am I not a child and a daughter?

Am I not a child and a son?

Do I not have the right to live?

The right to liberty?

To my happiness?

To grow, laugh, cry

To struggle, make choices, have friends

To make mistakes, to apologize

Am I not a slave?

Am I not a human being that has yet to reach my potential?

Am I not just a baby, without a voice?

Do I have no right to speak my choice?

But if I am killed before I can say

What my choice would be

Does that make it alright?


Thank you for reading! Enjoy your weekend everyone!