"Newsletter of the Southern Phalange"
Sons Of Confederate veterans Offer $1,000 Reward
Morganton, NC (PNS) Jan. 16 <> The Burke County branch of The Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 836 is offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the people who have been sending hate mail to a number of predominantly black colleges in North Carolina. The reward was announced on Thursday by Jim Pierce the Camp adjutant. About 30 schools , Jewish organizations and civil rights groups have received one of the three versions of the letters which were filled with neo-Nazi rhetoric, four letter cuss words and at the bottom of the letters images of the Confederate flag.
The letters whether sent by dim-witted racists or dim-witted NAACP members trying to disparage the Confederate flag is not important, the fact they are using that flag in a hate crime is what matters. Mr. Pierce stated "Let all hate-motivated racists know that if they use signs or symbols of the Confederacy in the commission of hate crimes - they will not find refuge anywhere among those of us who rightfully adhere to our Confederate heritage." We applaud Mr. Pierce and his SCV camp for stepping forward and doing something positive in this matter and hope others will follow suit.
Gov. Hodges and The Flag
Columbia SC, Nov.16 '99 <> South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges urged legislators Thursday to set a date to vote on removing the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol dome. The flag has flown there for three decades and survived sporadic efforts to lower it. This year, the NAACP announced plans for a national tourism boycott of the state to pressure the state to remove it.
Now Hodges, a Democrat who earlier said he would not revive the issue, said lawmakers need to act on the banner. "Everyone needs to see some definitive day or dates whereby some final action will be taken," Hodges said Thursday.
Hodges also said he wants the NAACP to delay its boycott until the Legislature votes. That won't happen, state NAACP Conference of Branches President James Gallman said Thursday night. "The economic sanctions as we passed them are to begin on Jan. 1," But Gallman said plans to step up the boycott to include products, sporting events and urging athletes not to attend state colleges could be put on hold if the Legislature makes a "good-faith effort as far as removing the flag." Since the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for a boycott of the state, more than 80 groups have canceled meetings and conventions there.
Opponents see the battle flag as a symbol of racism and slavery. Supporters say it honors South Carolina's Confederate past and today's Southern pride. South Carolina is the only state to still fly the Confederate battle flag over its Statehouse. It was raised in the 1960s, during the civil rights era, to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War. Only the Legislature has the authority to bring it down.
From Gov. Hodges State Of The State Address
Jan. 19th 2000
(Robert E. Lee's birthday)
Southern Phalangist commentary in red.
Finally tonight, I believe that each of us must accept the challenge to open our hearts to reconciliation. There are some steps long overdue for our state that we must take now. State government must finally recognize that the life and legacy of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. deserve recognition in the form of an official state holiday. But the life and legacy of Robert E. Lee deserves nothing except abuse and insults.
All of our sister states recognize this day and as do numerous cities, counties and school districts right here in South Carolina. We must take this step now because it is simply the right thing to do. We'll see more of this "right thing to do" phrase. Right for who?
There is a separate issue we also need to address. The Confederate flag that flies above this Statehouse is hardening the hearts of some of our fellow South Carolinians ( and others who aren't even Americans let alone Southerners ). On both sides, voices have been raised, tempers have flared and many have been tempted to dig in their heels. Let me tell you what I believe. Sanctions or no sanctions, we must move ahead (How often have we heard this term "move ahead"? Move ahead to what.? Ahead to the final eradication of our Southern culture, history, heritage and yes even our Southern speech. Move ahead is another phrase for letting the South die at the hands of Leftists and the politically correct.) and find a resolution to this debate.
Sanctions can no longer keep us from doing what's right. Leaving the flag where it flies IS what's right
The majority of South Carolinians understand that we have two sovereign ( sovereign? It's been 135 years since South Carolina has been a sovereign state and the U.S. is not a sovereign nation either, it is or supposed to be, a union of sovereign states, just as the European Union is not a sovereign nation but a union of sovereign states ) flags that represent every one of us: the United States flag and the state flag with the Palmetto tree and crescent. In its current location on the dome, the Confederate flag claims an inappropriate position of sovereignty. What law says that only so-called sovereign flags can fly over the Statehouse?
Let's resolve this issue. And let's resolve it right now. Here is what we should do: ( first he says should then changes it to must ) We must move the flag from the dome to a place of historical significance on the Statehouse grounds ( Don't you have to get the NAACP's permission first? ). The debate over the Confederate flag has claimed too much of our time and energy, energy that can be better put to use building schools, improving health care and recruiting jobs for our state. Why expend energy at all? Just say "NO" it ain't coming down and then go about your business as usual.
A divisive debate over the Confederate flag can't build one school or buy one textbook -- but an honorable ( honourable?? ) solution will teach our children a valuable lesson about resolving our differences in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Doesn't mutual mean equal? Like, we respect your hero by making his birthday a state holiday and you respect our heroes by leaving our flag alone. Mutual respect sounds nice Mr. Governor but like your campaign promises they don't amount to much.
My colleagues, the entire nation is watching and listening to us. Most importantly, South Carolina's young children are watching and listening to us.And they'll hear how we surrendered our heritage to blackmail, threats and lies.
As we work to resolve this issue, let us be sure that the lesson we leave to the next generation is that we learn more by listening than by talking. Listening to lies, bigotry, ignorance and hate. And not talking and responding with the truth. Let us be sure our children learn that problems can be resolved only when people show mutual respect for people with opposing backgrounds and viewpoints. Like the NAACP does with us??
Yes, let us reach agreement this year to move the flag. Let us do it in a way that will teach our children well the right and proper way to resolve our differences. Don't stand your ground when you know you're right.
Members of the General Assembly, tonight I have told you about the State of Our State as it currently stands -- on the brink of a bright and wonderful future.A future where we are ashamed of our history, heritage, culture, symbols and yes, ashamed of our own selves.
I challenge you to join me in our progress ( there's that word progress again ) toward a new South Carolina for this new century.
A South Carolina no longer troubled by long-running conflicts over the flag. Though after the flag it WILL be something else, it always is.
A South Carolina where the children of Clarendon, and every county, can begin the first grade healthy and ready to learn. Ready to learn the false history of our struggle for independence with a strong emphasis on our past sins. Ready to learn that it's ok to be gay, killing your unborn baby is a personal choice and it's alright to have sex outside of marriage as long as you use protection.
A South Carolina with enough highly qualified teachers to prepare our students for the rigors and rewards of higher education.
And a South Carolina where seniors like LaVonne Cain can grow old with dignity and independence. LaVonne Cain can grow old with dignity and independence but NOT Dixie.(Applause)
Whatever experiences each of you brings here tonight, I believe our hopes and dreams for South Carolina look a lot alike.
We all want a new and better South Carolina. The people of this state are looking to us to make that happen.
Now, let's get to work. Thank you. If these anti-flag bigots really believed that 60% of the citizens of South Carolina want the flag down, then why don't they let the citizens of South Carolina vote on it? Because they know it is a lie. Why hasn't the press mentioned that the good people of Georgia voted to keep the Confederate battle emblem on their state flag? Now the NAACP knows this and yet they are still going to go after the state flag of Georgia to have it changed. In other words they are saying "We don't care what the majority of the people of a state want, it's what WE WANT and that's that. So it matters little to them what the people of South Carolina want either, they're going to get their will done come hell or high water and our politicians will sell us out and obey them, not the people of their state.
The Southern Phalange proposes to all Southern organisations to demand that the U.S. flag be taken down also, if the Confederate flag is removed. It really has no business on the Statehouse if according to the Declaration of Independence we are free and independent states. Besides it's a symbol of slavery, racism and oppression and there are people who find it offensive. The Statehouse is not a federal building and the people who work there are not federal employees, it is a state building with state employees.
The Original 13th Amendment ..... the one the NAACP doesn't want you to know about
The Confederate flag has been demonized for its link with slavery. This is one of reasons why even Southerners with Confederate ancestors are often anti-flag. For generations, Northern textbooks and other materials have depicted the War for Southern Independence as one in which righteous Yankees shed their blood to free the slaves from evil Southerners. But historical reality is not so cut-and-dried. Few authors and commentators on the war have dared present one basic fact that overthrows the myth of Yankee beneficence toward the slaves.
On 2 March 1861, the 36th U. S. Congress (minus, of course, the seven seceded states of the Deep South) passed by a two-thirds majority a proposed amendment to the Constitution. Had it been ratified by the requisite number of states before the war intervened and signed by President Lincoln (who looked favourably on it as a way to lure the Southern states back into the Union), the proposed 13th Amendment would have prohibited the U. S. government from ever abolishing or interfering with slavery in any state. The proposed 13th Amendment reads: "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." Note well that this amendment was designed to be unrepealable (i.e. "No amendment shall be made . . . .")
This gives the lie to claims that a righteous North went to war in 1861 to free the slaves. Moreover, it undermines the claim that the South seceded to preserve the institution of slavery. If that had been the South's goal, then what better guarantee did it need than an unrepealable amendment to the Constitution to protect slavery as it then existed? Arguments against the flying of the Confederate flag in the Southern states (particularly in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama) lose their validity in light of the proposed 13th Amendment. The fact that the War for Southern Independence was not fought over slavery is indeed a bitter pill to swallow for those who demonize the South and her honourable symbols. What the South fought for was simply the right to govern its own affairs free from an intrusive central government in Washington, DC.
NAACP Boycott Fails...S.C. Tourism Booms
This article courtesy of The Edgefield Journal www.dixienews.com
Columbia, S.C. <> The much-vaunted economic boycott against South Carolina that was instituted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has so far, failed miserably. Despite the fact that over 80 groups, mostly small black associations and family reunions, have announced that they are boycotting South Carolina, tourism in South Carolina is up dramatically over the same time period last year.
The effect of a boycott is not measured in the number of cancellations, it is measured in the number of people who come despite the boycott. Some visitors may even be coming because of the boycott.
The S.C. Department of Revenue has the numbers that one needs to compare 1998 and 1999. They keep a monthly tally of Accommodation Taxes paid by hotels and motels in South Carolina. As those taxes are paid by visitors and collected they are reported to the Department of Revenue. Their numbers show that since the middle of the year of 1999 when the NAACP first announced its boycott, tax revenues to South Carolina have increased approximately 9.6 percent. That means the number of visitors to the state is also up approximately 9.6 percent over the same period as last year. This 9.6 percent increase was during the same period that the black meetings have been canceled. That is a dramatic increase for a half-year figure.
The Department of Revenue monthly totals of July through November (the last month available at this writing) shows that approximately $19,020,395 was collected in Accommodation Tax in 1998 while $20,851,328 was collected in the same period in 1999. That increase was despite the massive government ordered evacuation in September of 1999 due to hurricane Floyd with all of the lost revenue that evacuation entailed. September was a down month 1999 in tax revenues compared with 1998.
Mr. Lou Fontana, who was a reporter for WIS-TV, is now the spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Tourism. When contacted at his office he seemed to be unaware of the Accommodation Tax figures. He said that his department would not have any numbers to report until about March when they were finalized. He said that tourism for 1999 appeared to be "about the same as the previous year." He added, "It’s been about flat." A check of the figures from the Department of Revenue, however, shows an increase of 7.7 percent in the first 11 months of 1999 over the same period of 1998.
The yearly rate increase of 7.7 percent, when measured against the 9.7 percent increase during the boycott period, shows that tourism is not only up strongly over the previous year, but that the rate of increase has been greater during the period of the boycott than for the year as a whole.
No member of the major media would dare tell the people of South Carolina that the NAACP is failing. The major media, most of which is owned by left-leaning news corporations headquartered outside of South Carolina, are trying to create the false idea that the NAACP is succeeding. Every time a black group cancels a meeting, the major media gives it prominent coverage. The S.C. Hospitality Association is also keeping a running tally of the estimated number of groups that do not come to South Carolina and they report it frequently. The figure they are currently reporting is in excess of 1 million dollars in losses. If tax revenues are up almost 2 million dollars at hotels alone, it is reasonable to assume that overall spending is up hundreds of millions of dollars since each visitor spends well over $100 each on average.
Lake High, the past Chairman of the South Carolina League of the South is not surprised by either the increase in tourism or the fact that the Department of Tourism either does not know of it or will not reveal it. "First of all," High said, "you can not expect to hear the true facts, or get a true evaluation of the issues, in the major media. The national media have a political agenda, which is to bring down the flag, and there is no dishonesty they will not perpetrate to accomplish that goal, including hiding the true facts," he said.
High also mentioned one of the possible reasons that tourism is up in South Carolina. He commented, "As we all know, over the last two generations over 100 million Americans have moved from cities and towns out to the suburbs. It is a cold, hard fact that those people didn’t move there to be with blacks. People don’t go where blacks are, they go where blacks aren’t." He also thinks that people’s natural avoidance reaction may very well hold true for tourism as well. "The same people who moved to the suburbs to live where blacks aren’t might also vacation where blacks aren’t. When they hear that blacks are avoiding South Carolina, they may very well be making plans to come," he said.
Regardless of the reason for the increases, South Carolina is doing quite well in the tourism department as the true figures show.
While it is easy for some associations to switch their convention plans and issue a press release, thousands of other people quietly make their own individual decisions and they don’t hold press conferences. They just bring their families to South Carolina and have a great time seeing the sights and enjoying a quiet, safe, fun filled holiday. "If this boycott keeps up," High said, "South Carolina will boom." He noted that the joke currently making the rounds on the cocktail party circuit in Columbia is the quip, "If they make us take down the flag, can we at least keep up the boycott?""
By HANNAH MITCHELL
Hickory N.C.--Most City Council members haven't decided how to handle a controversial request to add a logo with the Confederate battle flag to city welcome signs. The council can't legally deny the local Sons of Confederate Veterans' request to add their logo, a city attorney advised council members last week. But the council could end the logo program and take down all the logos to avoid the prickly issue.
"It's unfortunate that this has come at this particular time because of all the publicity with the Confederate battle flag in South Carolina," said council member Pat Moss.
"It's not a symbol that's honored at this particular time by the majority of the population."
The issue is set for the council's Feb.15 meeting. The city's Appearance Commission voted 9-1 Monday to recommend that the council deny the Sons' request.
"When I went to elementary school, every morning at recess we'd re-enact the Civil War, and the South won every time," said commission Chairman Skipper Smith.
"There's no one prouder to be a Southerner than I am (wanna bet?). But there comes a time when you have to recognize which symbols are offensive, and the Stars and Bars is, regrettably, one of those symbols. It's a symbol of racial hatred and it has no place on the welcome signs." This jerk claims to be a proud Southerner and yet calls the Confederate flag a hate symbol?? Where was this nit-wit educated?
The commission then voted unanimously to recommend removal of all logos on the signs.
"They're better for a community like Mayberry than a progressive city like Hickory," Smith said.
The local Sons has tried to get permission to its their logo - which bears the Confederate battle flag - on Hickory's welcome signs since 1997. Council members had denied the request, saying the signs are too crowded. Oops! Hannah forgot to mention that after the Council said that, they then allowed the Masons to put their sign up.
Group members say the city is discriminating against them. They haven't sued the city, but they enlisted the help of a legal organization that works on civil rights cases involving Confederate flags.
Council members won't comment on discrimination claims because of a possible lawsuit.
Council member Danny Seaver hopes the council can avoid offending both sides.
Moss said the Sons should come up with a logo that doesn't include a Confederate flag.Council member Z. Ann Hoyle, the only black person on the council, said the Confederate flag offends her. But she said she hasn't decided how to handle the Sons' request.
The Rev. E.B. Wilkerson, president of Hickory's NAACP branch, wouldn't comment on the logo or on Confederate flags. "It's unfortunate that this has come at this particular time because of all the publicity with the Confederate battle flag in South Carolina."
Gore and Bradly Need To Forget the Rebel Flag and Get A Life
By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
January 19, 2000
It must have been a slow day on issues Monday for Al Gore and Bill Bradley. They both decided to run against the Confederacy which fell about 135 years ago. At issue is the Confederate flag which flies atop the capitol in South Carolina.
Now why, do you suppose, that flag is flying there in the first place? It has BEEN flying over the capitol of South Carolina for a long time. At issue here is the NAACP on one hand and South Carolinians who wish to continue to honor the dead Confederates of the Civil War. Others are trying to create a politically correct problem out of that flag.
Yesterday, Al Gore said: "The Confederate battle flag divides Americans, it is a hurtful symbol to millions and should be removed from any government institution."
I rather suspect that not one American in a million has given the Confederate flag ANY thought until the NAACP, always searching for a divisive issue since their reason for existence has disappeared, brought up the subject.
Not to be outdone by his rival, Bill Bradley pompously announced, " I'd pull it down today. It is an offense to our common humanity."
The Sons of the Confederate Veterans, who have a website at www.scv.org , have a page in honor of Black History Month, which talks about the thousands of black Confederate soldiers that the politically correct and the NAACP would really not like you to know about. The page, which sports two confederate flags, is has a fact sheet prepared by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Education Committee for distribution to "professors, teacher, librarians, principals, ethnic leaders, members of the press and others interested in promoting an understanding of Black contributions to United States History."
The fact sheet was prepared by a black man, Dr. Edward Smith, Dean of American Studies American University. Among the points he makes on the sheet is the following quote from Frederick Douglas, former slave and abolitionist, in the fall of 1861: "There are at the present moment, many colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty...as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets...."
Dr. Smith notes: "Easily tens of thousands of blacks served the Confederacy as laborers, teamsters, cooks and even as soldiers. Some estimates indicate 35% of free blacks and 15% of slaves actively supported the South during the war."
He points out that blacks served the South because it was their home, and because they hoped for the reward of patriotism; for these reasons they fought in every war through Korea, even though it meant defending a segregated United States. He also points out that " President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. Issued at a time when the Confederacy seemed to be winning the war, Lincoln hoped to transform a disagreement over secession into a crusade against slavery, thus preventing Great Britain (and France) from intervening on the side of the South. The proclamation allowed slavery to continue in the North as well as in Tennessee and large parts of Louisiana and Virginia. It applied only to Confederate-held slaves, which Lincoln had no authority over, but not to slaves under Federal control."
Contrary to the re-written history of the modern era, the Civil War was not fought over slavery, as the following quotes of Abraham Lincoln point out: "I am not in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office...." 9/15/1858 campaign speech "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery...." 3/4/1861 First Inaugural Address "I am a little uneasy about the abolishment of slavery in this District [of Columbia]...." 3/24/1862 letter to Horace Greeley "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it...." 8/22/1862 letter to Horace Greeley, New York Tribune editor
Horace King, a famous bridge engineer and former slave who received naval contracts for building Confederate warships labored under the Confederate flag. A black servant named Sam Ashe killed the first Union officer during the war, abolitionist Major Theodore Winthrop. John W. Buckner, a black private, was wounded at Ft. Wagner repulsing the U.S. (Colored) 54th Massachusetts Regiment. George Wallace, a servant who surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox, later served in the Georgia Senate. Jim Lewis served General Stonewall Jackson, and was honored to hold his horse "Little Sorrel" at the general's funeral. Captured black cook Dick Poplar suffered cruelty by Yankee Negro guards at Pt. Lookout, MD for being a "Jeff Davis man."
Dr. Smith also notes that the first man to die for the American cause of freedom was Crispus Attucks, a black seaman from Boston and at the time of the American Revolution, New York City held almost as many slaves as all of Georgia combined.
When General John Fremont freed slaves of "disloyal" Missouri Confederates in St. Louis, an angry Lincoln fired him. Slaves in Washington, D.C. were not freed until April 1862, a year after the war began with the firing at Ft. Sumter. Slavery continued throughout the entire war in five Union-held states: Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. The New York City draft riots of July 1863 resulted in burning of a beautiful black orphanage and the lynching of scores of blacks. A provision in the Confederate Constitution prohibited the African slave trade outright (unlike the U.S. Constitution). Encouraged by General Lee, the Confederates States of America eventually freed slaves who would join the army, and did recruit and arm black regiments. General Robert E. Lee freed his family slaves before the war; Union Gen. U.S. Grant kept his slaves well after the war. Many blacks owned slaves themselves. In 1861 Charleston, for example, a free colored planter named William Ellison owned 70 slaves. Even in 1830 New York City, three decades before the war, eight black planters owned 17 slaves. American Indians also owned black slaves.
Dr. Smith also says on the fact sheet that Nelson W. Winbush, a retired educator and Sons of Confederate Veterans member, lectures on his black Confederate ancestor, private Louis N. Nelson. A black Chicago funeral home owner, Ernest A. Griffin, flies the Confederate battle flag and erected at his own expense a $20,000 monument to the 6,000 Confederate soldiers who are buried on his property, once site of the Union prison Camp Douglas. Black professor Leonard Haynes (recently deceased) of Southern University (Baton Rouge) spoke regularly on black Confederates.
Does this sound like the Confederate flag is an issue that should divide Americans? I don't think so. However, perhaps the sharpest critique of the issue was made by the Presidential candidate who is never quoted on the issue by the liberal, Democrat media -Alan Keyes, a black conservative Republican.
The Confederate flag, Keyes observed was not the flag of slavery. In fact, the ships that brought slaves to America flew the Stars and Stripes, yet throughout all of America's wars, including the Civil War, black soldiers fought under that flag and at no point have they ever demanded that the Stars and Stripes be brought down. Alan Keyes correctly observed that the flag over the South Carolina capitol was the Confederate Battle Flag, a flag that thousands of Southern blacks as well as Southern whites fought under.
It has to be the ultimate in absurdity that the BIG ISSUE here for Al Gore, Bill Bradley, the NAACP and much of the media is the Confederate flag flying over the South Carolina capitol, while their racist supporters show their true stripes by calling Alan Keyes a wild African pig and ridiculing him. Why? He's the first truly qualified black man to run for the presidency and he is running on a unifying message for all races and ethnic groups. Alan Keyes is an articulate, moral, educated man who is living proof that opportunities still abound in America, in spite of those, like the NAACP, who make a living out of pretended victimhood and ridiculous "problems" like the Confederate flag.
To those, like Al Gore and Bill Bradley, who claim that the Confederate Flag it is a "painful" symbol and therefore should be an issue in the presidential race, I would say, Get Over It and Get a Life! The Civil War has been over for 135 years. It's time to stop whining and to move into the 20th century so you will only be 100 years behind the times instead of 140 years behind the times. In fact, there are some 21st century problems that you ought to be spending a little of your time on.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
700 Years of African Slavery
Why does a Neo-Confederate organisation like the Southern Phalange speak out against slavery in Africa and we don't hear a peep about it from the NAACP?
Last month, Amnesty International's American branch decided it was time to abolish slavery. Presented with evidence of human bondage in North Africa, the members voted to add to an already crowded mandate the emancipation of chattel slaves.
It may be hard to believe that in 2000 a new abolitionist movement is needed. Today, in the former French colony of Mauritania, where slavery was ended - on paper - in 1990, the State Department estimates that over 100,000 blacks still live as the property of Berbers. Perhaps 300,000 freed slaves continue to serve their former masters because of psychological or economic dependence.
Black Africans in Mauritania were converted to Islam more than 100 years ago, but while the Koran forbids the enslavement of fellow Muslims, in this country race outranks religious doctrine. These people are chattel: used for labor, sex, and breeding. They may be exchanged for camels, trucks, guns or money. Their children are the property of the master.
A 1999 Human Rights Watch/Africa report said that in Mauritania routine punishments for the slightest fault include beatings, denial of food and prolonged exposure to the sun, with hands and feet tied together. "Serious" infringement of the master's rule can mean prolonged tortures known as "the camel treatment," the "insect treatment" and "burning coals" - none of which is fit to describe in a family newsletter.
To the east, in the Sudan, slavery is making a comeback, the result of a 17-year-old war waged by the Muslim north against the black Christian south. Arab militias, armed by the Government, raid villages, mostly those of the Dinka tribe, shoot the men and enslave the women and children. These are kept as personal property or marched north and sold.
Many of the children are auctioned off. Gaspar Biro, a United Nations human rights monitor, returned from the Sudan in March reporting that abducted children are often sent to camps that become 20th-century slave markets. The price varies with supply. In 1989, a woman or child could be bought for $90. In 1990, as the raids increased, the price fell to $15. Not only are their bodies in bondage but also they are stripped of their cultural, religious and personal identities.
An investigator from Anti-Slavery International interviewed Abuk Thuc Akwar, a 13-year-old girl who, along with 24 other children, was captured by the militia, marched north and given to a farmer. "Throughout the day she worked in his sorghum fields and at night to be sexually abused in his bed. During the march she was raped and called a black donkey," the investigator wrote in a 1990 report. The girl escaped with the help of the master's jealous wife.
Another report described Kon, a 13-year-old boy who was abducted by Arab nomads and taken to a merchant's house. There he found several Dinka men hobbling, their Achilles' tendons cut because they refused to become Muslims. Threatened with the same treatment, the boy converted. After six months, he escaped. Kon was lucky: slaves caught fleeing are often castrated or branded like cattle.
Human rights groups are the first to admit their failure to organized support for Africa's slaves. Anti-Slavery International is courageous but small and underfinanced. People at Africa Watch privately despair about Mauritania: "No one is interested in a French speaking country of only two million and no oil," said one researcher.
Most distressing is the silence of the American media whose reports counted for so much in the battle to end apartheid in South Africa, and of mainstream African-American organizations like the NAACP. The Congressional Black Caucus has yet to take a stand on the issue. Does freedom count for more in Johannesburg than in Nouakchott and Khartoum? Or maybe it's easier to attack the slavery of pre-civil war America than it is to attack slavery in present day Africa.
We hear of "compassion fatigue," especially when it comes to Africa, but it is hard to believe that people can be aware that slavery is alive and well and turn away. Far better to think that as the plight of slaves becomes known here, Americans will once again speak out in the name of human freedom.
[ Last updated 03 Feb. 2000 ]
