A high school friend posted on her Facebook page that she attended a wedding at a plantation in Florida. I posted the forthcoming comment in response. Just say NO to invitations of celebration at plantations! It ain't cool!
Plantations are former torture camps! The history is real. The history is painful. To celebrate at these venues is the height of insensitivity toward Black Americans, some of whom you may call "friend". Don't invite us. Better yet, don't you go!
Partying at a plantation is like dancing in Germany's gas chambers. These places should not be celebrated and in no way can they be sanitized. Their history is real...
Want the truth of what happened on America's plantations? Visit Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. NOTHING good came from the barbarity of slavery as NOTHING good came of the torture of people of Jewish faith in concentration camps across Germany. Nothing! Somehow, Germany understands that. America wants [us] to erase or forget. Never shall I forget. My Ancestors won't allow it. They [We] shall not be canceled...
Wanna' cancel something? Cancel these venues! #Boycottplantations
I hope my classmate understands what triggered this emotion. In the spirit of raising her level of [racial] consciousness, increasing her [and others] sensitivity to the realness and existence of Black pain, in fulfillment of my civic duty to say something when I see something, satisfying my duty to say "ouch" when it hurts, here is what I unapologetically wrote on my classmate's page:
Getting married, creating a Bed & Breakfast, or having any other kind of happy occasion at a plantation is akin to having a party at Auschwitz in Germany. It just ain't gonna' happen and no explanation of why it ain't gonna' happen need be spoken. It is as understood as is the inhumanity of the holocaust. So, what makes a plantation in the US different than a Jewish concentration camp in Germany, I ask in all sincerity???
This is more of America's history she refuses to face, what she is trying to erase. There is nothing happy or joyous about plantations. Horriific and atrocious acts of barbarity were committed at plantations. In no way should these places be beautified or glorified. To do so is the height of insensitivity to Black Americans and by extension, persons of Jewish faith. I hope neither community support these venues...
There is no sanitizing or washing away the history or the pain of rape, torture and other acts of inhumanity that happened upon that soil. There is blood in the soil that cannot be washed or danced away...
I wish ghosts were real or that trees and walls could talk. My Ancestors would have plenty to say. There would be no joy or happy occasions to be had at America's southern plantations, as there is nothing joyous, happy or beautiful about them. As they are torture chambers, they should be boycotted.
Don't Dance on My Pain...
#Americandenialisreal
#Boycottplantationsp
Beautifully written,insensitivity and disregard is within someone that would hold such a joyous celebration within the walls,and on the grounds of a plantation. Shameful
ReplyDeleteTruly powerful message there. I never even thought about this. The fact that we can, as a nation, sanitize portions of our history that make us uncomfortable, seems to have always come so easy. I fell for this brainwashing too. Plantations are so romanticized that we conveniently forget (myself included) about the atrocities that occurred there. Thank you for holding us accountable. We cannot be better without facing the truth of our past.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was supposed to get married at a plantation in South Carolina that is still owned by the family that enslaved our people there and I don't know what he and his fiancée were thinking. Thankfully it was cancelled because it was scheduled this weekend 2 years ago and the pandemic postponed it. I hope they reconsider when/if they actually have a proper wedding. I don't know how you can purport to be pro-Black and get married at a plantation and give money to people who made their money off the backs of your own people.
ReplyDelete