Ancient Slavery, New Slavery, and White Supremacy

Whenever the subject of slavery comes up you always have some people saying things like "Everyone was a slave at one point" or "can't people just get over it?" The thing is I'm not sure if people really understand the two different types of slavery that existed and how vastly different the systems of slavery were. Most people just think slavery was a brutal institution that never changed but that's an erroneous idea that has been perpetuated by Hollywood movies. It is also done to help the egos of the predominate White Culture (if you call it that) we live in. Another words it helps White people to sort of play it off like Hey that's too bad and all but it wasn't all that bad right? Now I know some White people will roll the eyes and say it had nothing to do with them and they are tired of reading and hearing about slavery and other issues that White people did in the past. The problem is that type of attitude is part of the White problem because White people don't want to deal with the past or the present conditions that are a direct result of White Supremacist Culture that has grown only in the last few hundred years or so. The idea that you today are totally innocent of the past is laughable considering no other people on earth think that way.By not dealing with that past you are allowing White Supremacy to continue to rule wether your ancestors owned slaves, murdered, raped, committed atrocities is not the issue the issue is did they do anything to stop it? Or did they simply go along with it because hey those people are savages so who cares. White people have to collectively deal with the horrible crimes they committed in the past in order to pave the way for a better future.

Ancient Slavery
 The word slave comes from the Latin salavus a word that meant slavic people because the Romans found that the Eastern Europeans where better slaves than the Western Europeans due to the Eastern Europeans being more docile. The reality of slavery begins with the first civilizations that sprang up in both modern day Africa and Arabia as far back as we can trace civilization we can also trace slavery.

 In these ancient days say starting with Ancient Sumeria and Egypt up until the fall of the Roman Empire slavery was not based on race nor was it a lifelong occupation. Most people would be a slave for a set period of years anywhere from seven to 20 years on rather conservative estimation. After that period had passed the former slave would more or less join the family and in many instances would even inherit the titles, prestige, and the wealth of the former slave master over the former masters own biological children.

Ancient Slavery also paved the way for a person to become a citizen of the country that enslaved them and in many cases was a door way to get educated. As some historians say "the Jews didn't know much until they taking captive and brought to Babylon were they became scholars".

A key note of difference would also be the way these slaves worked sure they did the jobs that the other people didn't want but all indications show that the brutality that would come to define slavery under the "New Slavery" did not exist because the slaves were still looked at as humans not as animals. Slaves in the ancient world usually had nice clothes, well balanced meals, and regular breaks or downtime. The term that should be applied to Ancient Slavery should be more like indentured servant because that's what it was you would work for a payoff and that payoff would come in your lifetime.

Besides slavery not being a lifelong occupation it was never passed down in a hereditary way meaning children of slaves did not become slaves themselves. In just about every case the children of slaves would be either raised in the family of the Master or by a free person of kin.

This is only a short outline of Ancient Slavery and I tried to hit the main points that shows what Ancient Slavery was really like.

New Slavery

By the 1600s slavery had become a very lucrative business for both the Portuguese and the Arabs they were assisted by kingdoms such as Guinea, Senegambia. Places such as modern Angola and the Kongo used the slave trade to consolidate power and adopt the Christian (Catholic) religion. I would like to make a note that the Europeans did not venture far into Africa to procure slaves but instead relied on other tribes and African Kingdoms to supply them with slaves. The people handed over by these tribes and kingdoms were usually the undesirable people such as lawbreakers, disobedient slaves, and people accused of witchcraft. The idea that Europeans went in with clubs and captured Africans is a bit ridiculous when you consider how even the tribes of Africa were great warriors and would give the Europeans a run for their money.

It was during this time that both Arabs and Europeans started to look at slavery in a different light by referring to the slaves as Cattle, or inventing ideas that they were uneducated Savages as the basis for slavery. From the 1600s on slavery would be exclusively based on race and exclusively black only. Never again will you hear about white people being slaves except for a short time in the 1700s when the Arabs started to kidnap Southern Irish and Sicilians but was ended rather quickly.

The exact reasoning on why the Arabs and Europeans from this point on based slavery on race is a bit unclear and almost mirky. What we do know is that during the 1600s laws were passed to insure that not only was slavery to become only a back thing but a lifelong and hereditary thing as well.

These laws made it possible for the Slave Masters and regular free people to treat the slaves anyway they deem fit. Now many treated the slaves they bought rather well I mean when you buy a tool you don't abuse it you treat it with care. Remember Black Slaves under the New Slavery were viewed at as TOOLS or ANIMALS. Those who beat there slaves, rape them, or did whatever they wanted to them would do so unquestioned because they (the Blacks) were simply property. The treatment of African Slaves in this time period was the WORSE TREATMENT EVER IN THE HISORY OF SLAVERY. It was the most dehumanizing treatment that one could endure.

Another feature of the New Slavery was the taking of the name. In Ancient Slavery the slaves kept the identity of who they were. Often there name or a nickname would be giving to them in the language of the Slave Master but they were allowed to keep customs, religious beliefs, and even contact with family if it was possible. Under the New Slavery these slaves would be giving the name of the Master usually this showed that you belonged to the Master and were forbidden to speak your native language and practice your customs. Though many would under the guise of Christianity or in some instances Judaism or Islam the vast majority in a few short years lost all knowledge of who they were and where they came from except that they came from some distant place called Africa.

The longer slavery continued the more and more the Europeans (all Europeans Spanish included) became hardened and harsher and they found it easier and easier to justify there brutality by constantly referring to them as less than human. The few that stood up of the slaves were considered heretics and in many cases were subject to brutal consequences. This was another way to strengthen the idea that slavery and the treatment they received was normal.

During the New Slavery families were broken up and rival nations, tribes, were often forced to breed together. Again this was another new factor in slavery were even who you had children with was dictated by your Master and in some cases the Master would take it upon himself to "breed new labor" thus adding another level of confusion into the slave mix what to do with mixed children. That is how the one drop rule was applied as long as the child has at least 5% black blood the Master could stud as many children as he wanted without feeling any guilt that he was enslaving his own blood.

I would like to add as a side note that the term Mammie is a black slave women who raised the slave Masters children, even growing to love them and though the white kids may love her back they would make the excuse that Mammie was diffeernt while they continued business as usual.

It is in these years in these conditions that White Supremacy really was born and took shape. The idea of being White began at this period White Supremacy is a product of the 1600s and would continue until this present day with more and more justification until it amounted into WW2. Those who helped this White Supremacist worldview were not the slave Masters but those who did nothing to stop it, those who said "I'm just doing my job" or "it has nothing to do with me" were and are the biggest aids to the domination of White Supremacy. The denial that it existed or you shouldn't have to answer for what happened or is happening shows your true colors. Your denial exposes you as the true White Supremacist that you are and that's not an exaggeration. You deny it or shrug it off because deep down you benefit from the system and would not do anything to jeopardize your lofty place in that system even though everyone knows that system is falling apart. Denial or shrugging off the past is not an answer as long as you do that the alienation between both peoples will continue to grow and burst out in various criminal activity. White Supremacy is not only dragging down non-whites but its dragging down whites now as well but the majority of white people don't see it that way.

I have often thought that the subconscious reason why New Slavery took on this dimension of hatred is because deep down the Arabs, the Europeans, the whole world knows that they come from these "primitive" peoples. That all arts, philosophies, sciences, and civilization was birthed not by them but by these other people and it was really jealousy that spurred this level of dehumanization that became manifest in the New Slavery. That;s my speculation but its one I think deserves some close attention.

Copyright 2016 Abdul Batin Bey