#whether its because of institutional cowardice or maybe I just had coward teachers in a white majority town

[betterbemeta]

A weakness I remember in my public school education in the northeast USA is that it was clear on what the US Civil War was fought over (slavery) but it didn't actually explain why.

Like, really really WHY.

I don't mean the obvious human rights issue of slavery. If anyone is enslaved it should be intuitive to a decent human being that action needs to be taken to secure their freedom. What wasn't discussed in detail was why people were enslaved.

And by 'why' I am not stopping at 'to do work on plantations'; we read about that and saw pictures in our textbooks of how people were packed in on slave ships and tortured with beatings and giant metal collars because it wasn't a choice 'to work on plantations.' I mean like, why human beings who DID choose things, decided to commit to enslaving other human beings.

The answer to that is that wealthy people liked slavery and didn't want to give it up.

Not just in the sense that it's cheaper to not pay someone than to pay them. The obvious inequality suits the wealthy landed class; they won't be removed except by force, and they keep slaves, so to exist in proximity all people must then adopt some kind of framework to subdue natural empathy for other human beings or else just... be unable to tolerate reality.

If you can get people to accept that 'some people are slaves', and that's the normal way of the world, you can get them to accept basically anything.

#when education is impeded #its way more than 'they don't want to be guilty' or 'they resent they lost a war' #if people were actually educated they would also understand how the motivation to do the same crimes still lives on #or how it can define laws and structures that can live on when the thing that takes the blame is sacrificed #'what do the people who decided this... want?' is an important question to ask and even if we're allowed to know about 'the crime' #'the motivation for the crime' can still be left a little obscure and that protects who still may be motivated in a similar way #like I dont want people to believe that its just florida or 'former confederate states' that fall short #whether its because of institutional cowardice or maybe I just had coward teachers in a white majority town #its not like we 'teach the civil war' up here accurately either #You can be totally truthful about the atrocities but draw no real connection to anything with implications about the modern day