I recently read an excellent article by Caroline Randall Williams, a published author from Nashville, Tennessee. The article, entitled You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument was originally published in the New York Times, June 26, 2020. Ms. Williams describes her heritage as one of mixed race, the result of white rape of black slaves. Although I’ve not examined her DNA reports, I’m quite sure she’s correct as rape of black slave women by white “masters” was certainly not unheard of, in fact was quite common. Perhaps not as common, but perhaps so, was the practice of consensual relationships between white “masters” and black slave women. Of course, as the recent Clinton sex scandal made clear, it’s difficult to describe a sexual relationship as consensual between two people of such unequal standing.
Ms. Williams separates her black and white ancestors into two camps, 1) the evil whites, and 2) the blacks who were the slaves. Ms. Williams appears to hate the whites and on the other hand, places the blacks on pedestals too high to reach.
Of course, slavery is an abomination. It was an abomination when Egypt enslaved Jews for hundreds of years. It was an abomination when the ancient Babylonians were held in bondage. It was an abomination when ancient Greece and Rome held slaves for everything from domestic work to organized gladiator spectacles. It was an abomination when the Inca tribes of Mexico and central and south America held slaves, sometimes for labor and other times to offer them up as sacrifices. It was an abomination when one group in Africa captured members of another group, raped the women they desired (in fact it’s not beyond possibility that some of Ms. Williams’s ancestors may have been the offspring of this forced sex), enslaved the ones they wanted to keep, and sold the remainder to slave traders for transport all over the world and of course, it was an abomination when those slaves were purchased as chattel, never to be free. It was abomination when indigenous Native Americans from one tribe captured women and children from other tribes, and after killing the men, held them as slaves to be used and traded. It was an abomination when indigenous Native Americans purchased and held black slaves. And it is still an abomination when Muslim groups in Africa raid Christian communities and capture young women to be held as slaves for sex and labor. And the list goes on. Regarding slavery, virtually nothing has changed. Ever. And about the only honest thing that can be said about the…
