Chicago-Midwest

Slavery in 2013

As a young girl, I was always glad that I wasn’t born a slave. In school I read about indentured servant, but knew that type of enslavement occurred only until that person could work off his or her debt. Slave trading of African people and those of African descent in the United States (and other countries as well) was a different story altogether, and created an indelible imprint of no class citizenship among African American people.

Growing up, I often thought I was a slave to my mom and dad since they told us what to do and we did it – most of the time without question. However the idea that I could be taken from my family, identity changed, beaten, told what to think/believe and forced to do whatever my “slave owners” wanted done was absolutely terrible@! After watching the miniseries, Roots by Alex Haley, and the pain of watching my ancestors sold away from their families, forced to work for no pay, brutally beaten, forced to have sex, (the list of atrocities goes on..) I knew I would never need to relive that part of my heritage. Until now..

Last weekend I saw 12 Years a Slave. I didn’t really want to see it. I mean it was going to be another movie about how slaves were mistreated “in the South”, and frankly I had had enough. However, the perspective of this movie was told from the viewpoint of a freed black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Watching the atrocities against the enslaved people still made me sick to my stomach. The fact that people actually justified enslaving African people as being “the right thing to do” still made no sense to me. However, what I liked about 12 Years a Slave was the tenacity that Solomon Northrup possessed (and how remembering who he was, continued to give him hope until he was rescued).

Unfortunately, slavery did not end with the Emancipation Proclamation. No, modern day slavery is still occurring today in 2013. Today it’s called human trafficking. Human trafficking is the trade of people, usually young girls for sexual slavery, forced labor or extraction of organs or tissues. It’s a $32 billion (per year) industry and women are kidnapped from their families and “trafficked” throughout the world.

Interested in stopping human trafficking? Get involved! Google the topic, human trafficking to find advocacy organizations in your area where you can volunteer your time or make donations.  One local organization that I have partnered with is the Chicago Dream Center (http://www.chicagodreamcenter.org/ministries/human-trafficking/). The Chicago Dream Center is actively involved in advocacy work and recovery for victims of trafficking. #GetInvolved!3828820743?profile=original

C. Lynn Williams, #MsParentguru

Author & Speaker

http://www.clynnwilliams.com

cgwwbooks@yahoo.com

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  • Caricom

    Sister Williams, I really enjoyed your essay regarding slavery and it's continuance to this day. And I will see what we can do to support the Chicago Dream Center. We do not often think of the forms of slavery you have brought to our attention, so thank you for that.

    Another, equally insidious form of slavery is mental. Our people have been subjected to menticide and the symptoms are all around us. We don't know who we are, because we still bear our slave masters last names. We don't know where we can from, so we undergo DNA tests to try and identify an African tribe we might be related to. We don't understand the intensity of the hatred toward Blacks in America by this government, let alone the white people who harbor such hatred.

    The answer to these and many other questions is what I would like to share with you, my sister. You see, our deliverance, as a people, is drawing near. 

    If you take the time to read Deut.28:15-68, you read, in great detail, about a unique form of slavery our ancestors and we, their descendants continue to experience. Now, this was all spelled in this 3,500 year old prophecy. Grasping this fact, helps us to answer a few other questions that we have all grappled with for a long time - who am I? Where did I come from? Why are we catching Hell in America?

    Reading these prophecies tell us that we are Israel, in exile. Yes, God's "chosen people", His "special possession". The ordeal of slavery came about due to our ancestors continual defiance of the Almighty.

    We, our ancestors, came from the West Coast of Africa, where to this day, there are many communities of Black Hebrew Israelites, although not officially recognized by the "powers that be" in Israel. So, we came from West Africa, although we are not Africa, we are Hebrews.

    The really good news is that our afflictions are almost over. Read Gen.15:13, 14 where God tells us that we would be enslaved for 400 years. The first enslaved Africans were sold at Jamestown, VA in 1619. When we do the math, it is not hard to see that the decline of America is coinciding with the nearness of our deliverance. Seems very similar to the account in Exodus about the decline of Egypt, don't you think?

    So, let us all "lift our heads up for our deliverance is getting near". This information must be spread wide and far, although only a "remnant" will listen and respond to this glorious opportunity. Shalom, my sister. 

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