Tag: slavery

The End of Slavery in the USA June 19th, 1865 

A Long-Fought Cause Finally Accomplished 

The education of our children is of the utmost importance. It becomes even more so when the topic is a moral one. That is why the history of crimes against humanity has to be made clear.

Slavery, an institution that has records of its existence as far back as 3500 BC in Mesopotamia and is mentioned directly in the Book of Hammurabi in 1750 BC is one dark side of mankind that still exists to this day. 

For this note’s purposes, I will reflect on more recent history.

In the year 1435 AD Pope Eugene the IV wrote a papal bull condemning slavery, in no uncertain terms, when he learned of the enslavement of the black people in the Canary Islands. He wrote the following argument as it pertained to the Christian Faithful and their responsibilities before God. 

“They have deprived the natives of their property or turned it to their own use, and have subjected some of the inhabitants of said islands to perpetual slavery (<subdiderunt perpetuae servituti>), sold them to other persons and committed other various illicit and evil deeds against them…. Therefore We … exhort, through the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ shed for their sins, one and all, temporal princes, lords, captains, armed men, barons, soldiers, nobles, communities and all others of every kind among the Christian faithful of whatever state, grade or condition, that they themselves desist from the aforementioned deeds, cause those subject to them to desist from them, and restrain them rigorously. And no less do We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex that, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their pristine liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands … who have been made subject to slavery (<servituti subicere>). These people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of any money.” 

Then again in 1537 Pope Paul III wrote another letter against its practice in learning of the enslavement of the Native Americans “The Sublime God”. Which is a strongly worded document against slavery and specifically defending Native Americans as right free human beings. Two other bulls would be published to implement the teaching of this letter, one to impose penalties on those who fail to abide by the teaching against slavery, and a second to specify the sacramental consequences of the teaching that the Indians are true men. 

Therefore, it is no surprise that George Washington in the year 1799, the first president of the United States of America, a right, just and learned man would in his last will grant freedom to his slaves upon his death. But it is sad that a man with a justly formed conscious such as he had, did not have the will strong enough to free his slaves while he lived. He was a southerner, and going against the will of society was surely a big deterrent at the time. 

This point acknowledges the fact that mankind already knew that slavery was unjust and should be abolished. In fact, by the early 1800s a term Southern Democrat came into existence referring to those in the south of the nation that did not agree with the abolishment of slavery. 

The Catholic Bishops in the country did not particularly come out against slavery. But just like the crime of abortion (infanticide), which is currently widely accepted in these United States, the bishops of the USA succumb to the social and political elites and are unwilling to risk it all to vocalize the truth taught by the Church. Abortion unjustly dehumanizes a human baby for the sole purpose of its destruction because of many issues other than self-preservation.  

Again, the bishops playing politics as a religious minority in the population did not strongly oppose this evil. Rome then continued to press the issue, building upon letters of the previous popes Gregory XIV (1591) and Urban VIII (1639) and in 1839, Pope Gregory the XVI wrote the following. 

“We, by apostolic authority, warn and strongly exhort in the Lord faithful Christians of every condition that no one in the future dare to bother unjustly, despoil of their possessions, or reduce to slavery (<in servitutem redigere>) Indians, Blacks or other such peoples.” 

Then it all came to a head with the Civil War which began in 1861 and lasted five years. The death toll was astronomical. The total death toll was 618,222 men, of which 360,222 were the Union Soldiers who fought for the freedom of the slaves. This represented 3.34% of the population and would be the equivalent of 11 million people (about twice the population of Arizona) in our country dying today for a just cause. Let us not ever forget the bloodshed given by honest freedom loving men to right this wrong. 

June 19th in the year 1865 is the day that the State of Texas declared the official emancipation of the slaves and from there is derived the contraction and term currently being used for this holiday “Juneteenth”, even though the president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln had already declared slavery illegal in the Emancipation proclamation of January 1, 1863.  

Because of this newfound freedom the Catholic Church had its first black priest in the United States of America, Venerable Augustus Tolton, who had been born into slavery. It was no easy task for this young catholic to become a priest and he had to travel to Rome to get an education due to the racism he still faced in the country. He was the founder of the first black parish in Chicago Illinois. 

Sadly, in the professionally researched book Grant by Ron Chernow, we learn true freedom had to be continually fought for as the Southern Democrats still retained power and imposed cruel and unjust punishment on the black people that opposed them. This would continue up into the 1960s. It is terribly sad that a country born out of a fight for freedom would itself have this dark stain on its history. 

Growing up in the USA as a Cuban Immigrant I faced only minor racism and always felt compassion for the blacks that had it worse. As the years went on, here in the northeast of the country I believed relations had improved and in fact in the 1990s when Los Angeles had its riots due to the Rodney King incident, I recall everyone in NYC took the following day off knowing full well that there would be no riots here. In fact, I would say racism was at its lowest until President Obama in my estimation promoted racial division. 

Sadly, we are still fighting racism. But now we are also fighting modern slavery. Let us all on this day remember those who in the past gave their lives so that others can live in freedom and pray for those in the battle against human trafficking and all evils that beset mankind. 

I will end this with a prayer. 

Dear Lord Father in Heaven, 

May You open the eyes and hearts of all the people on this earth to know that the only way to happiness is by loving your neighbor as yourself. Only by giving of ourselves by showing kindness, love and respect will the world become a better and happier place for all peoples of any color or origin.  Please give us all the grace to make it so.

I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Cuba – An Island of Slaves

An Island of Slaves

In these last few days, we have been witnessing a revolt of the people of Cuba against the much-heralded Cuban dictatorship. A dictatorship regime that from the start has been known for human rights atrocities and puppet courts to destroy any voice against their “so called” leadership.

The Cuban people over sixty years ago did not believe Castro would make them communists, but he did. The people that had no way to leave or thought that they could make change stayed behind. But from all the failed socialist and communist experiments on the island an escape from their economic disaster was only made by asking increased sacrifices from the ordinary people. Anyone who spoke against the regime was either imprisoned or silenced. By silenced, I mean murdered. The more public profiles who had celebrity were protected from death, but the unknowns would just disappear. The Castro regime survived through brute force, instilling in the people a constant fear that their lives and that of their family’s would be destroyed.

Photo by Matthias Oben on Pexels.com

As the years went on millions of native Cubans would leave and the diaspora would be spread out throughout the world. These people would not forget their homeland and would send much needed currencies, many from the USA, to sustain their families. Of these monies that came the Cuban government stole a good chunk of cash.

Most recently, they made it so all external remittances would be under the control of the government. They extolled a severe taxes some visible and some hidden. All the goods needed to survive for the public have of late been put out of their reach. Whatever they had been able to acquire before was now no longer available. Essentially they are starving to death and living in a constant state of malnutrition.

The people can no longer be fooled with the lies that the US embargo is their problem. Access to the internet has enabled them to know the truth. They came to realize that as the government officials lived in mansions of former millionaires while eating and drinking comfortably, that they were actually their slaves.

The time has finally come when the slaves have realized that they outnumber their oppressors. That no matter how much support the oppressors receive from their international accomplices from Europe, Latin America and China, they can throw off the chains of slavery. They will no longer accept the lies and propaganda of the ruling dictatorship. 

For a person not to be a slave they need to have representation. They want liberty to speak, to move and to assemble. They want the right to have leaders they have chosen. This is for us in the USA, a basic right given to us through the wisdom of the founding fathers that we take for granted.  

But for these people it is something they must risk death to overturn. The world is witnessing a real human tragedy before their eyes and still do not lift a finger to save these people from slavery. At least the slaves in the USA had the Underground Railroad and finally the Civil War that affected real change. This being over 100 years ago and yet we claim to be so enlightened here, but I do not see one of those civil rights leaders lifting a finger to support these oppressed peoples.

All those that stay silent are accomplices, though they act otherwise. It is time for all people of good will to unite to free these poor people from slavery to this cruel and evil dictatorship. 

People who want to see what slavery and suffering look like in this modern age only must turn to Cuba. But the propaganda of the cruel regime is parroted by the globalist media because it does not fit their world view. They hold up the dictatorship as a government to be praised. When the truth is they are leaders to be despised and are not much different from any evil governments that have stepped on the human rights of people in the past.

If Cuba were not an island, these people would have freed themselves years ago. Sadly, even now the media in the USA is under reporting the news and by doing so assisting the dictatorship as they have shut down the internet to hide this away from the outside world. It is sad that it will literally take much more blood (death and torture, sweat (hunger and a sacrifice)and tears (the loss of many loved ones) for them to be freed if the foreign powers that can, do not help them.

While I was writing this piece, I received news of the already occurring brutality of the police and military towards this mostly peaceful rebellion. They literally beat one young man on the streets kicking the teeth out of his head, removing his eyes and finally merciful death came upon him. Will the world just let this evil continue?