“Some Black people were treated well under slavery”
Statements such as this gloss over the abhorrent realities of slavery and reinforce intentional myths created to support slavery and make white people at the time and every generation since them feel better about it.
Before even reaching the ‘New World’ more than 1.5 million enslaved African people died on board ships during their trans-Atlantic voyage in conditions so utterly deplorable that to call them inhumane is an understatement. Those that did survive, endured months in conditions of squalor and indescribable horror. Separated from their home, loved ones and family they were then sold as property across the Caribbean and Americas. Children typically comprised 26 percent or more of a slave ship’s human ‘cargo’.
Even if some of the 12 million people who survived this traumatic journey and their descendants who were born into slavery for generations, were given ‘preferential treatment’ by receiving less violence and a bit more sugar or rum, it does not begin to minimize the crime of the entire Slave System, or qualify as remotely fair and just treatment for anyone.
The truth is, you would not wish for yourself or anyone you love, the life of even the best treated enslaved person. Because no matter what, they were robbed of the very basic fact of their humanity and freedom.
Sanitized versions of what slavery was like have been intentionally used to make white people feel better about exploiting Black labour, while also reinforcing the narrative that Slavery was actually ‘good for Black people’ because they needed the ‘paternalistic’ oversight of white people. These are dangerous racist myths that we need to recognize.
“In the period immediately before and just following the Civil War, benign images in paintings and illustrations presented the old plantation as a kind of orderly agrarian paradise where happy, childlike slaves were cared for by their beneficent masters. Pop-culture stereotypes such as the mammy, the coon, the Sambo and the Tom emerged and persisted well into the 20th century, permeating everything from advertising — think Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben — to movies to home décor items like pitchers, salt-and-pepper shakers and lawn ornaments. They presented blacks as cheerful, subservient “darkies” with bug eyes and big lips and, often, with a watermelon never too far off. Popular paternalistic depictions such as that of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind showed slaves as faithfully devoted to their masters and helplessly dependent. The consistent message: Blacks were better off under white people’s oversight.” — History.com
While there were indeed a range of living conditions and treatment of enslaved people across the generations that endured this system, it is incredibly important that we recognize the minimizing intention statements of this kind have served since the beginning of slavery. It’s time we recognize the racist origins of these lines of thinking.
Please do some reflection and consider how insensitive and harmful statements like this are.
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Frequently Heard Claims
- “Racism is more of an American issue…”
- “I’m white and I’m not wealthy, I don’t have white privilege…”
- “Slavery happened years ago, why can’t people get over it?”
- “I have Black family and friends etc. I’m not racist…”
- “As a ‘white minority’ I’ve experienced more racism than Black people…”
- “I don’t see colour… Why don’t we just spread positivity?”
- “It’s not about race, it’s about class issue etc.”
- “Indentured servants were slaves too!”
- “Black workers are lazy.”
- “My Black friends & family agree with me on this…”
- “Every race segregate and hire their relatives and friends, not just White people”
- “There are many Black people who have done very well for themselves”
- “All Lives Matter”
- “The Nelson Statue should stay, we can’t change history!”
- “I don’t like the tones of these conversations when they become angry and extreme!”
- “Black people sold others into slavery; other cultures enslaved people throughout history”
- “Some Black people were treated well under slavery”
- “I’m not a fan of Blackout Tuesday. What does it accomplish?”
- “Changing all of these brand names is foolishness”
Now I want to talk to all my Black friends and family about racism!
