"Who Told You We Were Slaves?"

By Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace

Presented by Omni University "Ideas are weapons of war." Ancestor Dr. Conrad W. Worrill, on the "Roland Martin Unfiltered Show", June 2, 2020

The title for this message was taken from Genesis 3:11 which reads, in part: "And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?...". Adam's confession, in Genesis 3:10, that..."I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked: and I hid myself." seemed, in itself, to answer God's question. However, it left my questions about other ideas, such as "slave" and "master", and their source(s) unresolved. 

For example: How does the idea of "nakedness" arise in an isolated place, i.e., "the Garden of Eden", which is only inhabited by two people, neither of whom could have any concept of raiment? If one has never seen clothes, there is no basis for comparison when the idea of "unclothed" is introduced. But, even if there were, "nakedness" could not be assumed to be a pejorative term, something about which one should be ashamed. After all, since it was not God who introduced the notion, who else was there with the authority and/ or in a position to judge?

A similar problem seems to have existed in the case of Ham whose descendant, Canaan, was cursed, by Noah[his grandfather], to be "a servant of servants to his brethren" because Ham had looked on his father's "nakedness".[1] It is from these two examples that we may be able to launch an exploration not only of ideas but, also, of the sources from which they derive their legitimacy. 

It should not be surprising that human life began in the "southern cradle"[2], the proverbial"Garden of Eden", wherein "all of the good things of nature"[3] we're in abundant supply. It was in this cradle that African life, so amply nourished, lived free and unencumbered by any notions to the contrary.

The rest would be his-story had it not been challenged by those who had "drunk deeply from the fountain of [Our] Black culture, Sat at the knee of and learned from Mother Africa..."4. These "intellectual warriors [5] have made and continue to make it clear that "free Black people were captured and kidnapped from the African continent"[6]. Thereafter, they were transformed, through a prolonged process of atrocities, from African CAPTIVES to negro SLAVES [7] --from Kunta Kinte to "Toby"[8].   

Among the greatest "crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages"[9] is the crime of legislating human beings into things, i.e., commodities, beasts of burden to be sold to the highest bidder- the self- designated "slavemasters". But, where there are no "slaves", there can be no "masters". Human beings do not become slaves either when or because they are stolen. Human beings who are kidnapped are captives and their kidnappers are their captors. The relationship between them is not one of Superior/ inferior. It is a predator/ prey or in this case parasite/ host relationship. 

But, if never before-, by now we should know better because we know the truth - not only from our current as well as our Ancestor "intellectual warriors" but, most importantly, from our SOURCE:

Psalm 100:3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Who told you we were "slaves"? 

*Formerly known as "Our Daily Blog"

Footnotes: [1] Genesis 9:22-27 [2] "The African Origin of Civilization.. " by Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop [3] "Facing Mt. Kenya" by Jomo Kenyatta [4]"What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black..." by Dr. Margaret T. G. Burroughs [5] Intellectual Warriors/Ancestors Priest Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers; Dr. John G. Jackson  Dr. John Henrik Clarke Harriet Tubman Dr. Josef Ben Jochannon Dr. Chancellor Williams  Dr. Frances Cress Welsing Dr. Amos Wilson Toni Morrison Ida B. Wells Et al, ad infinitum [6] "The Race: Matters Concerning. Pan Afrikan History, Culture & Genocide" Edited by Kiarri T.H. Cheatwood  [7] "Language: Colonizer of the Mind" ( Unpublished Masters Thesis) by Gloria J. Latimore  Gloria J Latimore. in "The Race..."Op cit  "We Were Never Slaves:..." (upcoming book) by Hunter Havelin Adams III

[8]"Roots" by Alex Haley [9] "What to a Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Speech given by Frederick Douglass