The awkward questions about slavery from tourists in US South

By Ritu Prasad BBC News, Charleston, South Carolina

  • 2 October 2019

 

 

“Centuries of slavery followed by decades of institutional repression, according to Eaves, has reinforced old narratives that portray black Americans “as second class citizens”. An ignorance of the complete story is behind the persistence of nostalgia for the antebellum south – and for some, a rejection of anything that questions it.

‘They wouldn’t go to Auschwitz or Dachau and expect to hear a happy narrative and walk away cheerful, because they have an understanding that this was a place of death and exploitation and forced labor. A slave plantation was just that, even though, yes, this was someone’s home.’”

Prejudice against persons of color is a nasty, incredibly hurtful and unforgivable practice.  It is handed down from generation to generation and just recently re-emerged from the previously hidden behaviour of ignorant and vicious malcontents.  It needs to be resisted and condemned wherever it rears its ugly head.