Although we are all inundated with information, at times certain words or images make you stop, take deep breaths, and grasp again the true picture of the insanity of America. That happened to me tonight.

Today, in between seeing patients I took a break to watch my beautiful brown skinned 3 year old grandson, while his mother helped chaperone his sister’s school field trip. We played games and then he went out to play by himself in the backyard while I watched from the window.

This evening I started watching this wonderful piece on Netflix. Then I had to stop. I had to stop when they showed pictures of the manacles used to hold 3-year-old slaves so they could sell them at auction. I then pictured that joyful boy who had played just a few hours before in my backyard in a slave market with those manacles on.

Formal slavery in America only ended because the South lost the civil war. Once again, slavery in America only ended because the South lost the civil war. If there had not been a civil war, we would most likely still have slavery. Again, if there had not been a civil war, there would most probably still be slavery in the United States. Until that time, the Supreme Court had consistently upheld slavery and many members of Congress and a number of past presidents owned slaves.

Racism and hate are real. Americans were happy to take brown and black babies from their mothers and sell them to other people. There has never been a national reckoning with that fact. We live with its continual repercussions every day.

If you want to do something about it, try watching this show on Netflix. I will finish it at a later day and time.

© by Daniel DeMarle 3/7/23