There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones – there may be slaves well-clothed, well-fed, and happy, as there surely are those half-clad, half-starved and miserable; nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one. Men.
It is the literal, unvarnished truth, that the crack of the lash, and the shrieking of the slaves, can be heard from dark till bed time, on Epps’ plantation, any day almost during the entire period of the cotton-picking season.
There’s a sin, a fearful sin, resting on this nation, that will not go unpunished forever.
Brought up with such ideas – in the notion that we stand without the pale of humanity – no wonder the oppressors of my people are a pitiless and unrelenting race.
The influence of the iniquitous system necessarily fosters an unfeeling and cruel spirit, even in the bosoms of those who, among their equals, are regarded as humane and generous.
Oh! how heavily the weight of slavery pressed upon me then. I must toil day after day, endure abuse and taunts and scoffs, sleep on the hard ground, live on the coarsest fare, and not only this, but live the slave of a blood-seeking wretch, of whom I must stand henceforth in continued fear and dread.
Death was far less terrible than the living prospect that was before us.
He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God; that they were, by nature, rebels against His government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God, through Christ. I cannot say that I had a very distinct notion of what was required of me; but one thing I knew very well – I was wretched, and had no means of making myself otherwise. Moreover, I knew that I could pray for light.
A man with a particle of mercy in his soul would not have beaten even a dog so cruelly.
Still he plied the lash without stint upon my poor body, until it seemed that the lacerated flesh was stripped from my bones at every stroke. A man with a particle of mercy in his soul would not have beaten even a dog so cruelly.
How often since that time has the recollection of his paternal counsels occured to me, while lying in a slave hut in the distant and sickly regions of Louisiana, smarting with the undeserved wounds which an inhuman master had inflicted, and longing only for the grave which had covered him, to shield me also from the lash of the oppressor.
Let not those who have never been placed in like circumstances judge me harshly.
The human birthright includes the possibility of an easy death at extreme old age if we are healthy. Alternatively, we may experience a lot of disease, but with medical intervention probably live almost as long, suffering from suboptimum health all the way through. It’s our choice.
It doesn’t matter how the harvest will come out”, says Masanobu Fukuoka. “Just sow seeds and care tenderly for the plants and soil. You have joy. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
I fight White supremacy by raising my daughter to take up space and make her voice heard in a world that wants to quiet her. Rochelle Rice, musician.
I organize faith leaders and people of faith to dismantle White supremacy and structural racism through the power of representing voices and practices.
We must acknowledge that we are the dreams of our ancestors and that our fight will require a long view and the ability to bounce back from one painful setback after another.
The United States has figured out a way to bend a false interpretation of Christianity to undergird, and make sense of, a logic of White supremacy and racial hierarchy.
I had no idea that Black women only get 0.2 percent of all venture capital investments until I was looking and saying, “Where’s the money?
Dedication. The battle we’re in requires “the act of devoting all of one’s energy, effort, and abilities to a certain task,” as the Muhammad Ali Center boasts on its walls. Folks.