“If the strongest was always right, the concept of human rights would be meaningless”(Rousseau)
I asked a friend who happens to be a black woman from the Caribbean what she thought the legacy of slavery would be. Will those with that look like claim to have been oppressed by this economic-political tool demand restitution, and what would it be? She told me in her wise, open-minded way that it was a question difficult to fathom, let alone answer in a singular fashion. It sure is complex, and in its complexity, the answer may be found. Many within our present-day society want financial-social-political restitution, or perhaps a heartfelt apology on behalf of multiple societies that used the tool of slavery all over the world.
Slavery as a business enterprise, became most significant in America and Africa during modern times. Africa was the source of raw materials, a transport system was devised attempting to lose as little merchandiser as possible during the long trips, and in the Americas and Caribbean and beyond a system was devised to monetize humans. Not a new idea though, for humanity has since time memorial enslaved others for a similar purpose.
Defeated tribes, communities, and armies were enslaved, ransomed, and sold at auction for over a thousand years. The Great Empires of the world engaged and perfected various forms of slavery. Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese, Babylonian, and Mongol Officers received wages along with a fresh new crop of prisoners. Slavery was so effectively managed that at one time Rome’s population was over 40% slaves. Armies of slaves dug the mines for ore and laboured in the fields, households, and brothels too. Ownership of slaves became a generational matter as well. With each child born in captivity, a new generation of slaves filled the rolls, and this generational process went on for hundreds of years.
While the slave traders of Europe were forced to detach themselves from direct participation in slavery during the 18th century their hands remained in this trade to this very day. The smuggling, traffic, and enslavement of humans is big business today all over the world, and it is not so far from your neighborhood as well. Perhaps your neighbor has a woman from Asia, North Africa, or Latin America who is said to work for them as a house cleaner, babysitter, or maid, when in fact that person is enslaved within the home, paying off huge debts to the captors(family). That woman was smuggled into your town and sold to this family, or perhaps they were brought to your community and told they’d receive education and a good paying job, only to be forced into servitude to pay off a debt never to be paid. Ladies and boys found in massage parlors could be slaves as well. The local den of people could be enslaved by a pimp and used for the sex trade.
Do you know which country has the most slaves today? China followed by Saudi Arabia. Chinese Authorities have millions of “political-social deviants” to re-educate and punish for their criminality. They build bridges, fill industrial plants each day, and sacrifice their body parts in the Chinese illegal organ trade, along with North Korea providing Russia with over a million laborers in Siberia’s forest and mining trades. A young daughter living in a modern society, trapped by her parents-community standards, expectations, and demands. Do as you told or else!
Slavery
Slavery is everywhere, in each nation, region, and town where greed surpasses the need for freedom, equality, and justice. It lies in the shadows, or out in the open for all to recognize and see, but often not acted upon. Do you know why China, Pakistan, and India can make so many items cheaply? Yup, mass slavery was enforced and used by business and governmental authorities for the benefit of foreign trade.
I sympathize with the Black Community for their efforts to demand justice for this legacy of slavery and demand restitution as well. If you ever were a victim of abuse, assault, or pressured to do something you did not want to do, you may know what it is like to be a slave. Slavery is Universal, a part of our social condition that needs to be recognized, and ended, and those who prey upon others are imprisoned(prison is too good for these people).
What possible restitution can those enslaved and their generational families desire, need, and require?
Transparency: Recognize those victims, and what industries they are a part of and let the world know who, what, and where these predators exist! Stop buying these nations’ or corporation’s items, embargo, and protest. These predators exist to make a profit, so stop buying from them.
Restitution: Protect these Victims, wherever they may be, true refugees. Those who run from oppression must be assisted. That means not just the foreign victim, but the person abused by a partner, pimp, or drug dealer. Civilized Society must end slavery. This will be difficult since mere addiction is enslavement, so if you are addicted to purchasing online items, eating too much, and consuming what is not good for you you are a slave to that item. Enslavement can be found everywhere.
Education and treatment of victims will be real-life ways to give back to those injured.
Accountability: The only thing Chinese Authorities do that receives my approval is how they end the lives of those criminals viewed as unsaveable, a shot to the back of the head(my opinion) The responsible actors in this development and growth of slavery must be globally identified and persecuted. Justice must be a fulfilling process where victims know, feel, and accept the punishment these transgressors must face. The Acquisition of POWER and PROFITS! That is the initiator for these horrible people, corporations, nations, and cultural systems. Take it from them and change the dynamic. Force them into the shadows, and then put a light onto their hiding places. The Media has an obligation to investigate, bring to light wrongdoing, and assist the community in their efforts to end all forms of slavery.
Do those wronged want money or status as restitution, or do they want a simple form of justice? Truth and reconciliation after the fall of apartheid in South Africa progressed towards the revelation of crimes, gathering both plaintiff and criminal to a court of justice, and seeking justice in whatever form it would be. Whether a lowly or high-born person, justice must be sought and criminality ended. He who enslaves once will do so again, just as 57% of violent offenders will offend again. Sometimes a crime is so horrible that punishment should be a lifelong form of character-changing education, service, and punishment.
As long as people can exert undue pressure upon one another, with individual and political forces forcing a person to do what they would never think of doing, justice must face the challenge head-on, and end a cycle as old as humanity itself.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
—
DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
