About 15 years ago, I attended a friend’s wedding in South Carolina. It was held on a former plantation. The grounds were beautiful and I decided to join a tour of the area.
I quickly noticed that they never referred to “slaves” (and definitely not the more up to date phrase “enslaved people”). Instead, they always talked about “the workers.” It was like they wanted you to picture a bunch of employees, voluntarily choosing to work there and being treated with the common decency that employees would be treated with.
Obviously, these weren’t “workers.” They were slaves. The plantation was trying to whitewash its history to make it seem not as bad as it really was. DeSantis’ latest “educational reform” is from the same playbook. Slaves weren’t tortured, abused, raped, and sold like property. No, they were just employed individuals who learned valuable life skills from their kind hearted employers! Next lesson: The Tulsa Riot and why the black people of Tulsa were equally responsible for the deaths. (I wish I was joking. That’s part of the curriculum also.)
They were just unpaid interns receiving exposure and experience.
Not only that, but all their children would be guaranteed employment, housing, and care. What’s not to love (aside from the hard work, beatings, rapes, and total lack of freedom)?
Guys, they weren’t slaves. They were just unpaid interns receiving exposure and experience. Promise.
About 15 years ago, I attended a friend’s wedding in South Carolina. It was held on a former plantation. The grounds were beautiful and I decided to join a tour of the area.
I quickly noticed that they never referred to “slaves” (and definitely not the more up to date phrase “enslaved people”). Instead, they always talked about “the workers.” It was like they wanted you to picture a bunch of employees, voluntarily choosing to work there and being treated with the common decency that employees would be treated with.
Obviously, these weren’t “workers.” They were slaves. The plantation was trying to whitewash its history to make it seem not as bad as it really was. DeSantis’ latest “educational reform” is from the same playbook. Slaves weren’t tortured, abused, raped, and sold like property. No, they were just employed individuals who learned valuable life skills from their kind hearted employers! Next lesson: The Tulsa Riot and why the black people of Tulsa were equally responsible for the deaths. (I wish I was joking. That’s part of the curriculum also.)
Not only that, but all their children would be guaranteed employment, housing, and care. What’s not to love (aside from the hard work, beatings, rapes, and total lack of freedom)?
Sure! Tons of exposure. Exposure to the sun, the outside elements, vicious corpal punishment. The list goes on and on!