Slavery is a stain that plagues this country to this day. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not end this horrific crime; neither did Juneteenth nor the Thirteenth Amendment. This traumatic crime has simply sustained itself through social institutions, black families, and social stereotypes to this day; most of the time going unrecognized. In the midst of the justice movements for Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, and so many other unarmed black lives, everyone has had to face the realities of the state of race in our country. People of the world are protesting the murder of innocent lives and promoting the education of those outside of the black community, so that they may finally understand the trials black people face due to the color of their skin. These conversations have been tough, but they have allowed people to dig deeper and recognize what was hiding in plain sight: perpetuated slavery.
As neo-slavery becomes a more discussed topic, people look to documentaries like 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay, to explain how slavery has sustained its legal life through the prison system. The U.S. Constitution’s Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of crime. Black Americans took it as a warning of possible legal re-enslavement if deemed a danger. After this amendment was passed, society immediately began to aggressively promote the idea of blacks being uncivilized dangers to society and inherent criminals. Along with the social narrative, the government created and promoted Jim Crow laws that legally placed blacks in a second class status beneath whites. These laws kept blacks uneducated, poor, and reliant on whites to grant them the human rights they were born with. People in the black community did their best to be law-abiding citizens after they were freed, but could not escape the very thing that made them guilty in the eyes of the law and society; their skin. This pushed some of them to believe that if they were going to be determined guilty whether they were good or bad, then why be good and poor when they can be bad and have a chance at having something. These are the very reasons that this minority population makes up the majority of the prison population in this country today.
On top of the social institutions that have reformed slavery to the modern age, black families have perpetuated the trauma within their descendants. Grandparents that faced the brunt of racist brutality as an everyday reality has passed on survival necessities to their children. Parents that were raised with drastic survival tactics from their parents also faced the more modern passive racism that plagues society today. Both bold and corrective tactics that parents have learned have been passed on to their children, who are creating even newer coping mechanisms to survive the generational trauma that runs in their DNA. These same lessons can be seen in the generations of the white community. Lessons of hatred, bigotry, and privilege have been passed on for generations and recent events have brought these maintained lessons to light more than ever. History will only continue to repeat itself if what future generations are being taught continues.
Not only are generational lessons in the spotlight right now, but also social stereotypes that originated during the system of slavery and soon after it was abolished. Stereotypes that have labeled blacks as inherently angry, aggressive, violent, and overall dangerous “creatures”. These and other smaller-scale stereotypes have sustained themselves socially and corporately. Socially, a portion of society treats blacks as if these stereotypes are factual statements that have proven themselves throughout history. These people often do not take into consideration the political, economic, and entertainment factors that played into presenting the black community in this light. Corporately, throughout history corporations have both benefited from and maintained stereotypes that are rooted in slavery. Brands such as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s have faced the realizations of these stereotypes and are taking steps toward correcting them. The same stereotypes have been perpetuated about the white community. Stereotypes of all white people being racist bigots that culturally appropriate minority cultures with no reverence for their lives have made the conversation even harder between hurting black people and white people that are trying their best to be active allies. Allyship is a hard role to take on in such drastic times as these, but this has not stopped people in the white community from taking the necessary steps to address their privilege and generational lessons that they have acted on. Active allyship has swept the world in an attempt to come together as humans before anything else. This movement of unity is the only way the world and this nation will see real change.