About Richmond’s slave jails in Shockoe Bottom
A piece I wrote for the new Richmond.com is up. Instead of focusing on Shockoe Bottom’s floods, its farmer’s market or randy saloons, this commentary is about righting the record of what was going on down there in the 1800’s, before the Civil War. And, get this — it makes no mention of baseball whatsoever. “Doing […]
A piece I wrote for the new Richmond.com is up. Instead of focusing on Shockoe Bottom’s floods, its farmer’s market or randy saloons, this commentary is about righting the record of what was going on down there in the 1800’s, before the Civil War. And, get this — it makes no mention of baseball whatsoever.
“Doing the Right/Smart Thing” is about properly understanding the business of selling slaves.
When people speak of reparations for the descendants of slaves I understand the sentiment, but the idea of putting a dollar value on such a gesture explodes in my head. Good intentions, or not, it won’t work. The only thing we can do now, to do any justice to those who were sold like beasts of burden, is to tell their story as honestly as we can.
Click here to read the entire piece.
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