TANYE AND "BENIGN" SLAVERY By William J. Dodwell May 7, 2018 The
debate about race is rarely honest.
Political sensitivities cause the focus to center only on black
grievances and attendant accommodations as the solution to their difficulties. This “the glass is half full” view suppresses
inconvenient realities about black behavior and history. Indeed, the pursuit of truth also requires a
consideration of the role of personal responsibility and the deleterious reliance
on excuses in “the glass is half empty approach”. In particular, that contemplation should
include an understanding of the complete reality of slavery, which is commonly
ascribed to ongoing problems in the black community.
Last week rapper Tanye West created a furor suggesting that, because
slavery in America lasted as long as 400 years, some slaves tolerated slavery
by choice. After all, if slaves opposed
their plight en masse the resistance would have reached a critical mass that
would have ended slavery much earlier. Predictably,
Tanye’s words created vitriol on the left.
True to form, some black thugs called for violence against him in a
display of animus that is symptomatic of problematic black behavior writ large.
On the right, Laura Ingraham suggested
Tanye meant to say something less toxic that did not diminish slavery as the
sacred cow it is. No, Tanye said what he
meant. What’s more, he’s right, the
extent to which has to be determined.
I have long harbored Tanye’s thought about what might be considered certain
benign slavery but have not dared to address it in my extensive writings on
race. But since Tanye opened the door, I
will enter the fray. Of course, this is
not to ignore lynchings, whippings and other atrocities inflicted on slaves in
undeniable bondage. We also know that
slaves were abducted and many tried to escape as their owners chased them in
pursuit. Involuntary servitude was a
reality. But could it be that for some,
perhaps most, slavery was benign?
Consider, they got three square meals a day and a roof over their heads
that might not otherwise have been available to them in a highly discriminatory
society. This phenomenon is seen among
some long-term convicts who do not want their freedom when their sentence
expires. They only know prison life and
they are comfortable with the succor it offers.
This acquiescence may have prolonged slavery as Kanye suggests. To what extent was slavery benign, akin to
the relationship of a Jack Benny to his domestic, Rochester? The question is verboten because it
undermines slavery as an excuse for the ongoing black plight that deflects from
real solutions in the debate about race.
As always, politics trumps truth.
I continue to denounce Kanye West as a purveyor of cultural rot that corrupts
our youth and degrades our civilization.
But if his expressed allegiance to Trump garners substantial black
support for the president, as evidenced in the immediate doubling of Trump’s
approval rating in the black community, I’ll give him a temporary pass. And I’ll give him eternal credit for
broaching slavery by choice, a notion heretofore never even whispered. ©2018 William J. Dodwell
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