Preceding the Fourth of July celebration of America’s independence from British rule is the increasing celebration of Juneteenth, a commemoration of the date that slaves in Texas learned of their freedom. It has since become a celebration of the actual ending of legalized slavery in the United States.
Slavery has existed for thousands of years in various forms and for different reasons. It has been actually considered a “forward step toward civilization” by some historians as, at one point in time conquerors simply killed all their prisoners. Early slaves were of many races before the latter centuries. After the 1600s most were Negroes through the slave trade to the US, which by the 1800s occupied one-third of the total population of the 15 southern states.
Such slavery is a practice of human beings owned as property by other human beings. A slave works for his master without pay but receives food, clothing, and shelter. The outlawing of such inhumane practices unfortunately did not eliminate slavery in its entirety. It only changed the face of slavery to a multiplicity of less distinguishable ones. Among them legalized segregated systems under the guise of “separate but equal,” the proposed next step up from slavery. The only part rigidly enforced, however, was the “separate.” Many decades and court cases later that new face of slavery became outlawed but is fast becoming reinstated on local levels.
Saddest of all are the multiple self-imposed faces of slavery, which are the most subliminal and destructive of all. Some have become slaves to materialism and greed with newfound perceived “freedoms.” Others have become slaves to easily accessible over and under-the-counter drugs that come freely prescribed with every visit to a professional health care provider for any reason and every ailment.
But the most cruel and devastating of all is the crippling, mind-altering self-destructing chain on the brain imposed through the poison being perpetually pumped through the visual media in particular.
All of the slave practices outlawed on paper have been dressed in new waves of exciting sexism, racism, false patriotism, nationalism, and instant millionaire TV shows which totally destroy initiative, determination, or any desire to pursue professions that require years of dedicated preparation. The triumph of the new wave of slavery is still founded on the same old simple theory brought to this new nation upon its inception when Willie Lynch came to the banks of the James River right here in Virginia with his secret formula for the new slave owners. I will continue to repeat it until somebody hears it.
“Find out their differences. Magnify them, then pit them against one another! It’s so simple a child can do it. You can then control them for hundreds of years if not thousands!”
Are we simple-minded enough to think this theory only works on Black slaves? Look at the world about us. How do you think wars are so easily started and perpetuated against anybody? With this simple theory, a tiny few have always controlled the masses through time. We all have differences–of nations and within nations, of races and within races, of cultures and within cultures, of families and within the same families. The new slavery by the same old simple formula keeps us fighting among ourselves, dwelling perpetually on our few differences instead of what we have more in common; pitting management against labor, the haves against the have-nots, foreign-speaking individuals against those who speak English–few of whom actually do anymore. Also, be very vigilant that true altruism does not disintegrate to mere gratification in finding individuals over whom we can feel superior as opposed to those whom God can love and serve through us.
As we approach this Independence Day may we strive to break the multiple chains of self-imposed slavery so that we may experience the freedom of pooling our different strengths to minimize our collective weaknesses.
According to the Baha’i Scriptures, “Noble I created thee. Wherefore dost thou abase thyself. Arise then to that for which thou was created.”
