Lest We Forget
Our ancestors fought slavery so that I would have the privilege to write this article without chains and without being whipped for sitting on a chair to write. They worked hard despite the inhumane treatment that they lived. Slaves worked hard for their education. They were eager to learn and work hard to be free from oppression. They encountered hardships. They had the mental resilience to be fugitives, running away from the Northern states’ pressure, braving the dangerous weather along the way en route to settling in various states and some en route to a haven, which was in Canada. Being a fugitive required a lot of term work and secrecy. They used their made-up slang to communicate. The language was an inside thing. I often hear my kids talk about their jokes and ask what they are talking about and say it is an inside thing. I now get it. Inside things just remain inside.
I salute a hero, Superwoman, brave woman named Harriet Tubman. She was abused as a child slave. Beaten and suffered head injuries, she did not give up the fight to abolish slavery. Her resilience in abolishing slavery is a testament that we must never lose hope. She served in the war to the same people that oppressed her. She was a military leader, worked as a laundress and to add to her role, and she was a mother of many. To this day, black women are still mothers of many races.
Care from the heart
Let’s take a look at healthcare. Black women are nurses, PSW’s, Cleaners and all other caring jobs. We all know that mothers are carers. Black women worldwide have been nursing and caring for generations. During Slavery, black women were nannies. A few years ago, I went on a quest to interview old black women on how they emigrated from different parts of the world. The many I asked were from Guyana, and they came to North America as nanny slaves. They took care of some prominent families whose names are huge household names to this day in our society. Why do they do caring jobs? These jobs are where black women have job security because they are smart and have spent a lot of investing in their education. A college drop of other race can easily find a blue-collar job vs a black person who dropped out of school.
I also want to salute Abolitionists like John Brown, Levi Coffin, William Still and many more. Their fight and hard work in hiding those that were named fugitives; simply because they wanted freedom. They played a massive role in the Underground Railroad Project. The Underground project was an operation to set the enslaves from America into Canada to be free. It was a lot of hard work, sacrifice and keeping the route secret so they wouldn’t get caught. The lesson to learn here is when we work together, in unity without seeing colour, we can overcome and conquer the evil in our world when we stand for what’s right as right and what’s wrong as wrong in unity. We will defeat evil.
We must continuously be the C.E.O’S of history. In my world, a CEO is not one that sits in the boardroom all day. A CEO is one who Continuously Educates Others. Educate others about the history that was so dark and that they should be no place in our society for racism. For how long shall we continue mentally enslaving others. Just because we’re are no longer in chains does not necessarily mean we are free from mental and systematic slavery. Although we do not live in the past, we must reference it to better future generations on the history and the hard work that our generation’s history would be the generation that leaves footprints of love, unity and togetherness. Many black people contributed as slaves for our benefit today.
We must continuously fight to end injustice and modern-day slavery. Modern-day day slavery is silent and often legal. When we bring farmers from different countries, We must give them the equal treatment given to our Canadian employers. Foreign workers deserve fair pay, vacation and enough rest. Foreign workers should have access to health and should not be made to work when ill. When the weather conditions are harsh with extreme heat, they deserve to be treated like us, and they should be not work in extreme weather temperatures.
We must never take Freedom and the sacrifices made by our ancestors and those that helped abolish slavery. Let us unite and give credit where credit is due. Let us unite in collaborating for a better world of love. With love from my desk United we Stand and divided we fall. Choose love, freedom and humanity.
