A Very English Theft

“NEWLY DISCOVERED AMERICA WAS A SHIPPING DESTINATION FOR ALL INDIGENT BRITISH CITIZENS INCLUDING CONVICTS, PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, VAGRANTS AND BEGGARS. THESE WERE THE VERY FIRST PEOPLE (FROM ENGLAND) WHO INHABITED AMERICA.”  

Estates were first worked by the indentured servants rounded up as vagrants or “sturdy beggars” in England and Ireland, and sent to the colonies as punishment. Within a decade planters were importing even cheaper labour – free, in fact – in the form of enslaved people from West Africa.

“RACISM, ACCORDING TO “LAND IN OUR NAMES”, “IS A STRUCTURAL AND SYSTEMIC PROBLEM THAT NEEDS REPARATIVE JUSTICE IN ORDER TO STOP THE UNNECESSARY VIOLENCE THAT PEOPLE OF COLOUR EXPERIENCE.”

“THE REASON FOR SLAVERY WAS ECONOMIC, NOT RACIAL, IT HAD TO DO NOT WITH THE COLOUR OF THE LABOURER, BUT THE CHEAPNESS OF THE LABOUR.” "SLAVERY WAS NOT BORN OF RACISM; RATHER, RACISM WAS THE CONSEQUENCE OF SLAVERY.”

“THE CONCEPT OF RACE WAS A QUASI-SCIENTIFIC, LIE CONCOCTED ON THE SUGAR FARMS OF THE CARIBBEAN AS A WAY OF DIVIDING THE SOLIDARITY BETWEEN WHITE INDENTURED SERVANTS AND THE ENSLAVED AFRICANS. IN 1661, THE ENGLISH AUTHORITIES PASSED “THE ACT OF BETTER ORDERING AND GOVERNING OF NEGROS ON BARBADOS. BY BANNING MISCEGENATION (SEX BETWEEN RACES) AND GIVING PRIVILEGES TO WHITE WORKERS, IT GAVE RACE A SALIENCE (DEFINITION) IT NEVER HAD BEFORE.”

 “EVEN SO, THE 1661 ACT DIDN’T WORK; THE IRISH AND AFRICANS TOGETHER PLOTTED TWO MAJOR UPRISINGS IN 1686 AND 1692 AND TO THIS DAY THERE ARE MANY MURPHYS, McDONNOUGHS, AND McGANNS, IN THE CARIBBEAN PHONE BOOK.”

THE ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE SAW SLAVERY AS A VIOLENT EXTREME EXTRAPOLATIONOF WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE WHITE WORKERS OF ENGLAND. TO THEM, THE DIVIDE BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE WAS A SMOKE SCREEN TO MASK THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE: THE EXPLOITATION OF LABOUR AND LAND; THE IDEA THAT CERTAIN SECTORS OF SOCIETY SHOULD HAVE A GREATER SHARE OF THE WORLD THAN OTHERS.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/very-english-theft-countryside-taken-094532849.html

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/confederacy-con-job-whites-still-william-gooding/

Excerpts from "IRONY":

Forward

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Oftentimes it seems, political life is dominated by divisive rhetoric, religious posturing, avarice and - the ever present- fear.

Throughout my childhood I embraced and often, idealized the opinions and philosophies of my parents as it related to politics, religion and the laws of the country. Their teachings became the foundation that governed my behavior both morally and philosophically. As I entered adult maturity, I began to slowly discard my fanciful musings which clutter the path toward adulthood.   

There are moments in life when we discover the fallacies in some prior teachings we have received. Such moments, tend to lay caution to youthful idealism and are replaced by new realities. These realities may rattle the foundations of our ideological and spiritual underpinning, but, they still enter our lives and minds without fail.

It becomes a defining moment which can leave us with a sickening feeling that descends to the pit of our stomach. It is a feeling that leaves a void of undefinable characteristics, an emptiness with which we are buffeted by – seemingly – ceaseless complexities in our analytical persuasions; then all that remains is a maddening state of utter confusion.

It is an experience that is sometimes difficult to replace with words; words that portray the consternation or anger which we may feel. Newness can sometimes be perplexing and the past events are not easily forgotten (or cannot be). Ideas that are already embedded in us, almost from the moment since our awakening, are not easily removed, but must be accomplished. Though, it is not easy to walk away; putting distance between us and our affinity for these ideas, it must be done. We cannot keep staring into the void, thinking somehow we may find the answer. We must instead, let passion guide our footsteps and drive our search for knowledge. We must not succumb to confusion in our life but seek to recognize that learning is an ongoing process fed by experiences that on occasion, are not pleasant.

To emerge from our aimless meanderings and find the sunlit meadows of new understandings, we must be ready to take risk and step out to change perceptions that have been disproven.

Such was my dilemma in my overall pursuit of a Christian experience and my desire to embrace our laws - without equivocation.

I have learned that despite the many contradictions that I have encountered, ultimately, I must seek to reflect upon my own experiences and to make sense of the unending flow of changing perspectives. Hopefully, somehow, someday, I will emerge with a better understanding of what will be required of me, to illuminate a brighter path forward to a more unified world of Homo sapiens.

Author, Joan Chittister, hints at this condition when she penned: “contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God. It brings us as well, face to face with the world, face to face with the self. And then of course, something must be done; she continues, “nothing stays the same once we have found the God within”, and she believes that “we carry the world in our hearts; the oppression of all peoples, the suffering of our friends, the burdens of our enemies, the raping of the earth, the hunger of the starving, the joy of every laughing child.”[1]

For Negros brought from Africa as slaves and the indigenous New World population, the Anglo-Saxon’s presence has exacerbated this conundrum. 

https://www.amazon.com/IRONY-Theophilus-Nicholson/dp/1520964846