Citius, Altius, Fortius – Genocidius

We are more than a week into February – Black History Month, and we have already seen or been exposed to countless documentaries detailing the atrocity of slavery in America which ended over 155 years ago. It is right to study the history of our country, good and bad, so we do not repeat the bad, and try to emulate the good. So, Black History Month can be a positive thing, a productive thing, if we are willing to learn from our past. And what are the lessons that we should learn most from Black History Month?

The over-arching lesson I learned from Black History Month is that the institution of slavery is not only wrong, and evil, but it is just as evil to be complicit in or sit idly by and allow that evil to occur without speaking out. But obviously we are not learning that lesson very well because over 20 million people are still living in slavery throughout the world, and very little is said about it. There is a disproportionate amount of discussion about the slavery in America that ended over a century ago, then about the slavery that continues throughout the world today. We can talk until we are blue in the face about the slavery in America’s past, but none of that will do anything to free one of those slaves or hold one of those slaveowners accountable. But our words and our actions regarding present day slavery can go a long way to free people around the world who are enslaved, and to holding those who have enslaved them accountable. The biggest offender of slavery, forced labor, and subjugation of human beings in the world is the Chinese Communist Party.