Why America still doesn’t want to confront slavery: Dr. Stephen L. Bond
State education board members push back on proposal to use “involuntary relocation” to describe slavery
The Texas State Board of Education is fielding proposals to update the state’s public school social studies curriculum this summer.
(From the Texas Tribune June 30, 2022)
July 20th, 2022
The “Peculiar Insitution” as slavery was once called, still remains a controversial issue to discuss and teach in the United States. Whether we as a nation want to admit it, it still remains an anomaly for us as a democratic nation. From someone who can trace his ancestors as slaves, I can attest it did happen, and it was as brutal and demoralizing as History shows.
Former slaves states such as Texas are trying to change the term used to describe slavery as “involuntary relocation”. That is a very vague term to describe an institution that tore at the moral fiber of the US for several centuries! Relocation is when one is moving away and fails to detail, the forced work, degradation, abuse and various atrocities that went along with it. As evidenced by the posted above from 1855, slavery surely existed and it was more than just an “ involuntary relocation” The poster shows that it was a lucrative institution, an institution that referenced humans with animal terminologies and used children for their wicked system!
As an History Educator for over two decades, I can tell you frankly that slavery is not an easy subject to discuss or teach. It leads to uncomfortable feelings and emotions for all students involved. As the Educator in the room, I can honestly say it can lead to feelings of hurt, shame and sadness as well. However, history is a “story” that should be told and must be told. When someone tries to downplay certain events in history, they are snatching away the truth from the people. When they start to do that, they can start to deny that the event has even happened. When that happens, history can tend to repeat itself. This culmination is when misinformed or unknown history can become dangerous history!
History tells us in the past that when the “story” is distorted, it can lead to dangerous propaganda brewing over. One can just look at the rise of Nazi Germany where a race of people were scapegoated and it lead to one of the greatest atrocties in world history with the Holocaust. Even in the US, when slavery ended, defacto segregation made conditions for African Americans almost as bad as it was during slavery. Thousands of African Americans were lynched, tortured and raped without any repercussions after slavery was abolished in 1865. Yet many Educators don’t teach about Jim Crow segregation, suppression of voting rights and murdering of innocent people. So if students are not being taught about the atrocities in America after slavery ended, you already know that they are probably not being taught about the atrocities that occurred when slavery actually existed!
So why doesn’t America want to confront or teach about slavery in the past? Simply put, because it’s not the “cool story” of us being the nation that is the “Land of the free” or “Home of the brave” It’s not the story that made us into the great nation we became. It’s not the story of us becoming a great democracy for the world to admire. More than anything, it shows that our democracy was flawed! Several of our Presidents were slave owners and even had children from their slaves (Look up Sally Hemings!). Reflect on the fact that our own White House that the President resides in, was built by slaves! When you think about the holiday Juneteenth which just passed about a month ago, remember why it became a holiday. Texas was still holding on to slavery even after it was supposed to been abolished and didn’t want to give it up. Why doesn’t America want to confront or teach about slavery in the past?Because it was an oppressive and heinous system which also boosted the economy of our country! . Slavery may not be the easiest topic to teach, but it must be taught and taught truthfully! It shouldn’t be considered as a voluntary relocation, but as an institution of suppression, violence and a system that divided our nation.
