In defense of a few slabs of stone (but not all)

History is not who we are, history is who we were. It’s where we come from. You can topple a few statues, hide them from sight but that is not going to change what already happened.

Slavery is not something white folks have done to black folks. Slavery is something that folks with power did to folks without. Slavery was around since the dawn of mankind, in all the famous civilizations you heard of, Egypt with the pyramids, Mesopotamia with the Hanging Gardens, Greece with the democracy, Rome with the togas. They all had slavery, and it wasn’t based on race or ethnicity, it was just purely down to circumstances. Prisoners of war, indebted people, or somebody who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Granted, because humans are crafty beasts as history marched on slavery, much like everything else, evolved and it was institutionalized and race became a significant factor.

There is no human being in the history of the world, nor you, nor me, nor the holiest saint out there who didn’t profit from slavery. This is a sad fact of life. Even now, in 2020 there is still modern-day slavery in the world, and not in faraway places as you would like to think. Your game console, your boot cut jeans, or even your fruit might be a result of slavery. You cannot select a few items to deface. Every statue, every old landmark, from the pyramids through viaducts and cathedrals to the Burj Khalifa, every beautiful – and ugly – city must be raised if we want to get rid of everything affected by slavery throughout human civilization. But we can’t achieve equality by singling out statues and chopping off their noses. Granted, people like Voltaire didn’t think twice about the damages colonialism was doing throughout the world and took the comfort provided by this for granted. But used this relative welfare to think about a lot of other topics and contributed to a change in human mentality that eventually led to the life we have now. A time when there is a real chance to finally achieve real equality.   

Surely achieving equality, for all human beings, regardless of race, sex, creed, place of birth, orientation or any other absurd criteria anyone can think of is a mammoth enough task on its own, there is no need to go through history and erase everyone. If we erase the past the possibility of repeating it grows considerably, and we’re prone to repeat it anyway.  

Since I can’t compel you to stay as there are laws against it why don’t you do it on your own? Stick around and read more of my short stories. All of them are amazing. Well, most of them are. OK, honestly, some of them are. Why don’t you decide for yourself? Take a look around –> Here’s a map!

Or, if you’re really adventurous, get off the beaten track and read a random story!