Roll up Roll up People For Sale ..........

I begin with an apology for the title of this post but from what we saw on Saturday the

brutality and inhumanity of the slave trade suddenly hit home. Imagine if you can a market place where you can buy people to do your bidding at your command. This is what we encountered as we visited the Old Slave Mart in Charleston.

(If you want to read the text on some of the photos just click on the photo and that should enlarge it for to a readable size.)

The market place was set up because the powers that be in Charleston felt the sale of enslaved people out in public did not reflect well on the city of Charleston so business was done in specially created slave marts. In 1856 selling enslaved people on the streets was banned by the local authorities. On 1st July 1856 the slave mart on Chalmers Street was opened by 1860 there were thought to be up to 40 such markets operating in .Charleston.

The photo shows how much could be expected to be paid for different ages and genders of human beings.

So the question I have is how can people enslave humans and buy and sell them like property or a piece of furniture?

My sense is that it has to begin with dehumanization. Firstly, the humanity of individuals has to be removed. As soon as people begin seeing others as not human it changes the way they relate and it changes the value we place on those we are dehumanizing. This makes it easier to create excuses to treat people with contempt and ascribe little or no value to them beyond what can be paid in financial terms.

The bible tells us in Genesis that all people are created in the image of God so there is something intrinsically valuable in each person, not because of what they have achieved or what they earn but because of their humanity. The narrative of the bible is God's relentless pursuit of humanity and his desire to re-establish relationship with the human race.

The second sense is that a pursuit of more (Greed), leads us to decisions and lifestyles that are inappropriate and sinful. We all do it, not necessarily with people, but we all seek more and better. A new TV, a new camera, more clothes, a bigger house in  a 'better'area. The pursuit of more is a strong driver in decisions we make and the decisions we make often have implications on the wider world we live in.

Jesus said in Luke 12 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”

Finally, the third reason people bought and sold people was that it was allowed, it was legal. Sometimes things are legal but they are not necessarily moral. My mind goes to paying tax, there are all kinds of 'tax efficient' ways of saving our money but are they moral? The dumping of sewage into our rivers and oceans is legal but is it morally right for the environment? This is something the abolitionists pursued and there will be more of that in further posts.

Obviously it is a lot more complicated than what I have written above but I have been challenged over these last few days not just to cast stones at the slave owners and systems that upheld them but to ask myself what am I doing that is unjust and what needs to change in my own life?

If you want to read more about the slave mart on Chalmers Street the link below should take you to their website...

Slave Market

Oh, and on Saturday we also went on a boat ride.......