It will warm the heart of every Black American to know that slavery had an upside.
In its continuing quest to enlighten its citizens, the state of Florida has enacted new Black history curriculum standards.
I feel better knowing that Sunshine State students will be taught that “slaves developed skills, which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefits.”
I am cheered knowing that the “Reconstruction and Beyond” section will include information that states that students will be taught about “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”
Upon reflection, Black people have experienced many “personal benefits” as a result of chattel slavery.
We were torn from our homeland, removing us from heritage and traditions.
We were shipped across the world to foreign lands, and during these voyages, many died due to disease, neglect, and suicide.
We were forced to take foreign names, work for free from sunrise to sunset, and crammed into substandard housing.
Our families were separated, our women raped, and our children indoctrinated to believe that slavery was a blessing and a natural condition of our race.
We were forbidden education but treated like uneducated savages.
We were divided by skin color in a caste system that created intraracial tension that lasts to this day.
Even after we were “freed” from slavery, we were kept segregated and designated by law as inferior.
We went from wearing visible to invisible chains.
We journeyed from being enslaved by the law to being enslaved by ignorant tradition and unconscionable perception.
All the while, we’ve fought in all the country’s wars and paid our taxes.
We’ve been patriotic, but it didn’t yield acceptance.
We’ve been law abiding, yet we are killed for “not complying with instructions.”
We are the victims of deeply entrenched, myopically institutional racism that many won’t acknowledge but work tirelessly to maintain.
These are the “personal benefits” of slavery.
America will truly be free when freedom is not the province of lofty words and hypocritical ideals, but where hard truths are accepted as well as taught.