I haven’t finished reading this article but because you referenced me and my work I had to respond as I could not get past this statement. There is no such thing as a «slave being treated decently.» There is no humanity in regarding human beings as property. PERIOD. Many things in America can attempt to be sugar-coated, but slavery is NOT one of them. It would be the worst disrespect of my lifetime to not speak on this horrendous statement you made. Although I do believe you made it in ignorance as you defend your own ancestors, while I do understand your well-meaning motives, I cannot be silent on this.

European slave owners captured my ancestors (I am of Nigerian descent) and brought them here for the sole purpose of servitude. Not only that, they WILLED my ancestors to their children and children’s children to ensure that my entire lineage would remain in servitude. Had it not been for the brave souls who came before me, I would not be writing this or anything else because I would have been someone’s property and would not have been allowed to go to college, get my degrees, and build a life for my family.

I want you to read this without being defensive (if possible) because I mean you no harm. But I TRULY want you to re-read and UNDERSTAND the words you wrote. You suggested that slave owners were kind to the human beings they regarded as PROPERTY.

Let’s say you have a child and someone was able to snatch that child from your arms and deem them as their property. They would have no future, no ability to make their own decisions, would be whipped and beaten for getting the tattoos or piercings or coloring their hair that you are able to do, or even hung from a tree. But as long as they didn’t attempt to have a mind of their own, learn anything, or try to free themselves, they could at least survive with their master. Of course that would never stop the vicious and brutal rapes that would take place whenever the slave master needed a fix.

Does that sound like a decent life where people are being treated GOOD?

I want White people to remove this narrative FOR GOOD. It’s disgusting, distasteful, disrespect, and delusional. There is no place in the universe where people who are considered property are treated kindly. When humanity is stripped from a human being nothing that comes after that is good.

I don’t know where these stories come from about slave masters being kind to enslaved people, but just the name SLAVE MASTER tells you that this was not a benevolent institution. It hurts my people more when these careless narratives are spoken. Slavery was a vicious, cruel, dehumanizing, sexually predatory existence for my people. We have done research and my sister has written an entire book on slave narratives that should be read and taught in schools so that this false story of benevolent slave owners can be finally put to rest. The Daughters of the Confederacy attempted to peddle this same story. It was destructive then and it still is now.

I appreciate you taking the time to examine this but please, do your research. Study the facts. Please don’t take this opportunity to appease the consciousness of White people by saying all slave masters weren’t bad because slavery WAS bad and slavery WAS wrong. Nothing good comes from dehumanizing other humans, no matter if some owners beat their slaves more than others and there’s bo proof that this is true at all. ALL of them bought humans and raped young girls and women which can never be excused or explained away. White people who feel badly about that have a plethora of opportunities to do good NOW instead of minimizing the effects of slavery.

I had to speak on that because I want it to be clear to anyone who reads this that there is no such thing as a benevolent person who owns human beings. The benevolent thing would have been not to own humans at all and to afford them EQUALITY, EQUITY, and FREEDOM. Anything short of that is cruelty no matter how you spin it.