Slavery, Past and Present - 50 Word Story Contest
"Slavery is what slavery's always been: About one person controlling another person using violence and then exploiting them economically, paying them nothing. That's what slavery's about."
- Kevin Bales -
Slavery is a horrible aberration of justice.
There was a time in our country when slavery was explicitly sanctioned. Viewed in the light of human history, it was not that long ago.
In our modern day, slavery still thrives in the guise of "paying your fair share." Should you decline to acquiesce to what the government laughably calls "voluntary compliance," you are herded to court at gunpoint and ultimately thrown in a cage.
But I digress...
The 50 Word Short Story Contest this week calls for a theme of "clean."
I love being pointed in a very general direction, and then being able to choose within those constraints...
Bondage - Image courtesy of Public Domain Pictures
Clean Getaway
by Duncan Cary Palmer
"Thank you, Abigail. You may retire."
Abigail slipped into the muggy Charleston night, but turned away from the dorm.
Retrieving a concealed bundle, she spoke to the waiting shadowy figure.
"I'm ready, Mr. Still."
"Call me William."
"My true name is Aba."
Mounting Still's carriage, they headed for the station.
The Plantation - Image courtesy of Dirk Spijkers
Story background:
NOTE: Should you find this topic interesting, please don't overlook the reference links below.
The search and struggle for liberty is one of the themes of my life. This week's prompt, "clean," almost immediately suggested a clean getaway. Throughout human history, those who treasure freedom have had to seize it, because the sociopathic Powers That Be will not grant liberty willingly.
And so I did some research, beginning by seeking the name of a real slave from American history, a living, breathing person that I might be able to identify with. I found Abigail, "owned" by Colonel H.K. Hugan. Abigail reportedly arrived early in 1820, at the age of 34, in Charleston, South Carolina, hotbed of the American slave trade.
Wondering what Abigail's original African name may have been, I did some further research. I discovered that a female slave of matching age by the name of Aba had been shipped to Freetown, Sierra Leone, and liberated by a court there. Speculating wildly, I further supposed that Aba may have been recaptured by traders and delivered to Charleston some years later.
I imagined poor Aba (anglicized by Hugan... "I shall call you Abigail") hearing through the grapevine of the underground railroad. After months of planning and cautiously making the right contacts, she gathers a few of her most valuable earthly possessions into a bundle, and is finally ready.
Abigail leaves Colonel Hugan's dining room after dinner one evening. Rather than follow her usual routine of heading for the dorm, Aba seizes her freedom with the help of Mr. William Still, a conductor on the underground railroad. Still spirits her away from the plantation in his carriage, to seek safe refuge elsewhere.
~FIN~
you can still reward it: CLICK HERE.
P.S. If you have an "in" with anybody at Steemit, Inc. - Would you please ask them to get rid of these damn, extremely annoying "off-website" arrow/boxes? The have, overnight, made Steemit ugly. There are much better solutions.
For an extensive collection of stories,
please check out our Library Stories Shelf - CLICK below:
Introducing: The SILVERengines proton - Image by @creatr
CONTACT US - Will Exchange for Steem
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.
⬇️To Check Out @creatr's World⬇️CLICK Each Image Below⬇️
|
|
|
Most interesting back story to the writing. Thanks @creatr
Such a sad episode in a country's history...
I find the present situation in many ways far sadder.
During the "explicit slavery" chapter of our history, at least there were no bones made about it... The despicable pretense that humans could own and arbitrarily control other humans was at least clearly out in the open. Men and women were bought and sold on the public market.
In contrast today, the real situation is obscured by nationalistic platitudes and fueled by jingoism. The very same ownership claims are subtly made by governments and thoughtlessly acceded to by the people. National populations are treated as no more than cattle-like property, tax-farmed and subjugated economically by politicians poorly disguised as "public servants" but in all truth the puppets of despotic ruling powers.
What we have in all truth is gutless, ignorant acquiescence to tyranny, masquerading as living in "freedom." 😢
Nonetheless, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, my friend! :D
One day this dark age will be pure history...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, @creatr - Hoping this new year will be peace-filled and joyful :)
Thanks, John! :D
Great story, @creatr. And the backstory is an excellent read. I really enjoyed following your discovery process about Abigail and how you made some connections and filled in the blanks with your imagination. Making the connection to today’s political climate is interesting. I think about where we are in history and the current “powers that be” a lot, but had not as yet considered any similarities to the slavery years!
Thanks, Jayna. I am so glad you enjoyed my story and found it interesting and thought-expanding.
It is of course not in the best interests of the "PTB" to allow us to draw parallels between the dark years of American slavery and the present day. They like to keep us distracted and confused with all kinds of "news" about modern celebrities, global crises, party conflicts, and other assorted misdirection.
However, when we step back and look at the common elements between our situation and that of the shipped-in human traffic in the 19th century, the conclusion is unavoidable.
There are many antonyms for freedom, but one tops the list. What else but "slaves" can you call any group of people who are forced to work one third to one half of the year for the government? And I consider the Tax Foundation estimates of "Tax Freedom Day" to be quite conservative because they do not consider all the hidden taxes that we pay, and even then no one seems to consider that with every purchase of goods and services that we make, we are paying the taxes bundled into those prices by the suppliers of those goods and services.
I like the meme below, because it offers a "quick grasp" of our present-day, direct parallel to slavery:
Income Taxation is Slavery... CLICK the image for the article.
That meme came from this pretty good article on the subject.
If you care to read a more thoroughgoing, scholarly argument that compulsory taxation is slavery, here is an excellent treatment by Edward Feser.
While it is certainly depressing and discouraging to consider the truth of our bondage in servitude to human governments, I would rather be consciously aware than blissfully ignorant. Government as we know it, based on the initiation of force, is clearly not the only way to organize society.
In stark contrast to our oppression by the PTB, i.e. the way things are presently, I see considerable hope for humanity in the development of decentralized money (e.g. cryptocurrencies) to replace government fiat and in the advent of DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) to replace government corporations. Steemit itself is an instance of that trend. But of course, the PTB are fighting every effort to loosen their control; the incarceration of Jared Rice, Sr. for working on key instances of these "liberty tools" is but one recent instance of the concerted efforts of the PTB to continue our abuse.
In any case, I will continue to resist and to attempt to raise awareness. I hope this isn't too much more than you wanted to hear!
I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year, and may we see a palpable decrease in de-facto slavery in the coming year.