Friday, August 29, 2014

THERE. THERE. BE A GOOD SLAVE.

Today I visited The International Slavery Museum on Albert Docks, Liverpool.

And what a huge disappointment.

Tucked quietly away on the 3rd floor, the museum seemed to be more of a token gesture to hide Liverpool's crucial role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. There is more space reserved for The Beatles across the city than revealing Liverpool's role in the TST. And yet Liverpool was the key port for the sickening trade that made many fortunes, not just in Liverpool but in The West Indies, and of course that of The Crown.

And what made it even worse and laughable was a poster that equated MLK and Obama.

One of the better things at the museum was not part of the exhibition at all, but was a note written by a visiting child, that simply read, "For give us" [sic].

It is still worth visiting, but you have to ask why the 2nd floor is dedicated to just The Titanic and a few other ships, while the 3rd floor which is The International Slavery Museum has only a small part dedicated to the most gruesome middle passage, with more space reserved for stuff that makes it feel like it is all over and is a thing of the past.

The psyche that implemented the TST is still alive and well and living amongst us. Instead of crude metal chains we have the loan and mortgage that are financed by money created out of thin air yet are expected to be paid off with physical goods and/or hard physical labour.

And ignorance of all this is reinforced by the education system.

There. There. Be a good slave.






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