‘Slavery By Another Name’

Posted on 06/20/2008 at 4:14 pm by Bob Cesca

neoslavery.jpg

In the comments for the Attacking Obama… From the Left thread below, commenter ‘natashacrk’ brought up Sirius Left talk show host Mark Thompson, which reminded me of an interview he hosted with Douglas Blackmon back in April. I meant to post something about this at the time…

Blackmon is the author of the book, SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME, and it’s truly an extraordinary work chiefly because it exposes something which not too many of us — least of all me — have ever heard about. Mainly, the continuation of Southern slavery… through the first half of the 20th Century… also known as “neoslavery.”

As Blackmon documents through various individual accounts, Jim Crow laws and the like had basically made it illegal to be an African American in the South. As such, black Americans were either arrested on ridiculous charges like “vagrancy” or were outright abducted and sold into slavery until President Roosevelt’s Justice Department shut down the practice at the outset of World War II.

I heard the interview with Blackmon at around the same time as the Reverend Wright fracas and couldn’t help but to think that — in this historical context — “goddamn America” is rather appropriate.

More here.

This entry was posted in Civil liberties and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.
  • AtomicWarBaby

    “Bill Moyer’s Journal” on my local PBS Station, has a fascinating Interview with the Author of this historic book! It helps provide some historical context to the conversation about Race during Presidential Campaign seasonIt’s frustrating to have a historic ocean wave of people’s grassroots democracy sweeping through America, which has so inspired all kinds of people throughout the Land, yet have the MEDIA stream an endless flow of toxic waste disguised as “News” that is so full of Negativity, it should be buried in Steel Drums in the Salt Caves at YUCCA Mountain’s proposed Nuclear Waste storage site!Thank heavens for the few bright, shining exceptions in this Universe of Darkness, like Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Dan Abrams, Jack Cafferty, Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart & Steve Carell, just to name my fave’s on T.V.!I wonder if these News Talk “pundits” ever have soul-searched themselves, about what effect using Public Airwaves for their negative propaganda will have on our TROOPS serving in harm’s way in IRAQ & Afghanistan & many other U.S. military bases around the Globe? True Brothers in Arms, it literally doesn’t MATTER if you’re black or white, when your blood will run red if you don’t watch each other’s backs!And do they ever ask themselves what all this atmosphere of ugly rhetoric & rantings on right-wing Media, will have on America’s children, who are watching how we “adults” act during this time of great peril & great promise.One thing you can say about Barack Obama, that you can’t say about John McCain: he’s tried his darndest to stick to the High Road, running an impresssive & classy campaign.McCain can take the Low Road with the kind of Republican operatives who smeared him in 2000. But at what cost to his soul, at what cost to the Nation he claims to hold so dear? At what cost to the future of the Planet’s peoples?all this ugly negative hate-filled rantings on right-wing programs, both T.V. & AM Talk Radio, will have