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Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:49:54 -0500 |
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Tony,
I appreciate your comments and the quote from my sources that emphasized the
heinousness of the crime. Yet, his crimes pales somewhat in the light of the
crimes committed against slaves on a routine basis and considered part of
the "rights" of ownership. I did not mention in the piece, for the sake of
brevity, that the owners of the slave executed for the rebellion were
financially compensated by the state for the loss of their "property".
What I wanted to make apparent was that slaves were not complacent with
their destiny as property, and in some instances, such a Nat Turner, made
very loud statements that indicated they wanted their freedom. Instead of
listening and learning from this rebellion, the proponants of slavery merely
instituted harsher laws to prevent further "uprisings". This was an
opportunity for the good people of Virginia to overturn slavery as an unjust
system that so burdened the victims that they would rise to the point of
heinous crime in order to attain their freedom. Instead, the took a note
from the pharaoh of yore, and hardened their hearts against their oppressed
servants.
One thing that I hope children will gain from this story is that freedom
burns in the hearts of all who are oppressed, and that suppressing the
expression of that freedom leads to gruesome consequences. Freedom is
precious, and not just to our forefathers, but also to those who were
enslaved by those same forefathers.
Anne
Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
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