DISCLAIMER: If you're not in the reading mood - skip to the second half.
Tonight. I
* almost didn't go. I'm tired of being
alone. I'm tired of venturing to events
alone. For paying for parking
alone. I'm tired of being the loner the corner. Tired of creeping people out by attaching too quickly - talking too much - trying to force/flatter people into being my BFF - & if not forever, at least the evening.
I almost didn't go. I went in circles around Dinkytown trying to find free parking. It was a failed attempt. I was going to have to fork over an
hour of pay for a mere two hours of parking.
I almost didn't go because I walked in the wrong direction. With my phone (aka safety net) sitting where I accidently left it - the driver's seat of my car.
I paid an hours worth of pay for parking. & I was arriving late (from walking out of the way) to an event where I knew full well I'd be the girl hangin' solo in the corner.
But, Alhamdulillah I went to the
Not for Sale sponsored event at
Bordertown Coffee to listen to
James Stewart lecture on what it means to be an an
abolitionist. The twist - Stewart is a historian and his claim to fame is expertise in the US abolitionist movement during the transatlantic slave trade. Back in the days of the civil rights movement when he was 23 and in college - he asked - how did we get here? How did we get to this movement? & has spend the last 45+ years figuring it out. & has been quite successful.
So why is Mr. Stewart is a bit annoyed? Because he has spend his entire career studying the grassroots and political movements that eventually abolished slavery ...no regrets... BUT today - there are
double the amount of slaves in the world in comparison to time of the transatlantic slave trade. Yes, I said DOUBLE.
27 million enslaved people today. So this guy - abandoned the Historian way - and started using his knowledge of history to bring awareness/progression to the future. Because even if you don't understand modern day slavery -
we must question - where are the lines between slaves and oppressed persons?
Are you catching the drift that I love anyone who motivates me? Therefore, I love this man. His humor. His drawl. His analogies. e.t.c.
Stewart asked as all to become abolitionists. Not half hearted abolitionists. Not tomorrow. But today. This is where I wish I could quote/would have taken better notes - ready for ramble? He said that in all his studies, all his books, travels and research he found it was the committed, full on abolitionists that found success. The people like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and John Brown weren't all that different from you and I - but they,
they woke up abolitionists. They brushed their teeth as abolitionists. They wanted slavery to be abolished
yesterday.
He asked us to look at the person next to us - and truly imagine owning them. He asked us to close our eyes and imagine being the forced prostitute, child solider, enslaved laborer - and attempt to feel owned the way in which they do. Afterwards, can you really feel comfortable with what's going on around the world?
Maybe it was easier back in the day. Slavery was visible. It was acceptable. There were records. There was something/one to fight. Today, the average person cannot stand up to a trafficker, we're dealing with the secrecy of the Internet, there is no opposition, the industry is HUGE, slavery is not in our faces. But slavery is in our world, in our state, in our city. It is in our products.
Our chocolate.
Our coffee. Slavery is still everywhere.
Welcome Non-Readers:
So what? What do you do? How can you even start to end something so gigantic. & the answer is - what you're good at. This is where I got excited. Because it doesn't take someone powerful and famous to make a change.
Anyone can be and act as an abolitionist. Because the only way modern day slavery will ever come to an end - is if we can create a movement. If we can start seeing human beings. It can end if its demise is engrained in our everyday. If we can agree - that it should have been obsolete yesterday.
Some people, can go out and be committed lawyers for victims of human trafficking. Others can write heart-wrenching/warming pieces about slavery today. Myself - I can educate my blog readers & refugee co-workers/clients & beyond! You - could choose to read a
book on modern-day slavery. Or donate a book to a library, a high school. Not a reader? Watch a
documentary on modern-day slavery - then pass the title on. Watch it with friends. Are you an artist? Create. Are you teacher? Teach. Are you a crazy person? Do something crazy. Bring your talents and abolitionism together. It's possible. & together - everyone teamed with their passions/talents - can create a movement. We can end it. Because we've done it before.
& so. When I left. I wasn't alone. At least my parking spot was an hour's pay rather than a week, or the value of my sold body. I left part of a group. A movement. & with that friends will eventually come. & until then - at least I have my voice and freedom. & some energy. Come on. Call yourself an abolitionist.
*my apologies for the whinny I I I I I talk, but it got better, right?
