The seriousness with which the history of slavery in America should be studied, contemplated, and taught is undermined by the casual and disrespectful use of slavery and plantation imagery by conservatives as part of their political agenda to encourage Blacks to defect from the Democratic Party. Using the word “plantation” to characterize the relationship between Black voters and Democrats is an untoward primary strategy of today’s Republican Party. To them, Blacks who don’t vote with the GOP are “slaves on the Democrat plantation.”
This abhorrent plantation rhetoric is racist and sacrilegious. Such hyperbole would never be used against any other demographic in America. Imagine the outrage if Nazi and concentration camp tropes were used to describe Jews who chose not to vote Republican. It would never happen. But alas, the descendants of those whose labor built the wealth of America have never been afforded proper dignity or respect in this nation. Making light of the horrors of slavery to score political points is repulsive. Callously using terms that describe the history of our oppression should be verboten and never again should they be used by conservatives as a cudgel. The repeated use of plantation imagery dilutes the emotional potency of the most execrable chapter in American history. Read more…