Anthony Rizkallah

​ “It's been 150 years. Why can't they just get over it?” Everyone has heard this argument at least
once in their life. Ignorance is the most precise word to use when describing people who use this
argument. Ignorance to the impact that slavery has on society today. Ignorance to the impact
slavery has on individuals who experienced the horrid events. Ignorance to the impact that
slavery has on family members of former slaves. Ignorance.
In the book “Beloved” by Toni Morrison there is a pattern about how slavery is something
that will have an everlasting impact due to the fact that slavery will haunt former slaves and their
families forever. Toni morrison starts the book out with “60 million and more.” This quote
shows the amount of people that the atlantic slave trade affected plus “more”. The “more” is the
people today who are affected from slavery in today's society. So many people do not realize the
vast effect that slavery has on society today. As it is seen in Beloved, slavery is something that
lasts for centuries on. The effects of slavery are very present in today's society. This is why it is
so important that the people flooded in ignorance with the argument that “slavery is in the past
and should be forgotten” realize the impacts that slavery still have till this day.
“Again [this is] why we invoked the language of terror. It basically communicated to African
Americans: You will not be safe here. You are not secure here. Law enforcement can’t protect
you. Courts can’t protect you. Congress can’t protect you. You are at risk all the time. And if you
do not comply, without wavering, to white supremacy to racial hierarchy then this will be what
happened to you.” (Capehart, 2017) This was a response from african americans in a community
where there were many lynchings. The fear that is implemented into these people's minds are
everlasting due to the horrid events that they have experienced during the time of slavery. They
will always feel like they are not protected by their government due to the constant white
supremacy that exists even today. The white supremacy and horrible racial hate crimes that are
seen today stem from slavery and are an impact of slavery. It also states in this article “ we can't
practice this denial tactic, this silence tactic, when young African Americans, who are unarmed,
are shot and killed by the police.” Slavery has created a culture of white supremacy in this
country, and nobody wants to talk about it. The more people talk about it, the more that the
impact of slavery will be recognized in today's society. It is so important that the impact of
slavery is recognized because there are many injustices that are happening today like unarmed
black men getting shot due to the impacts that slavery have on institutional and structural racism.
“60 million and more.” Those powerful words from Toni Morrison become more and more
clear everytime I do more research about the impacts of slavery. The “more” is extremely strong
and doesn't want to leave my head. It is very effective at showing that slavery effects far more
people than the 60 million people who died in the atlantic slave trade. Slavery's impact will have
an everlasting impact, and Toni Morrison explained that in the most perfect but subtle way. “​The
lines that were drawn between black and white begun in the days of slavery, where generations
grew up with the notion that this is the manner in which the two races are supposed to co-exist.”
(Li, 2017) This shows that so many injustices today are due to the divisions that slavery created
between white and black people. Slavery created separation while also creating the idea that one
race is superior to another. That mindset is so clear in today's society with all of the racial hate
groups and racial crimes. The separation between black and white has created an unequal
economic impact of black communities due to the fact that separate is not equal. Plessy vs
Ferguson really got that one wrong. Things from unequal schools to unequal job opportunities to
lack of government funding all stems back from slavery and the unequal separation that it has
caused.
The economic inequality that is a cause from slavery's impact is substantial. ​ “In cities
across the country, and in rural areas of the Old South, the situation of the black underclass and,
increasingly, of the black lower working classes is bad and getting worse….the crime, drug
addiction, family breakdown, unemployment, poor school performance, welfare dependency, and
general decay in these communities” (Loury, 1998) Due to the sperations that slavery created,
overtime, african americans were pushed into their own communities and were not getting the
same government funding/ government perks as rich white communities. Overtime, this
economic inequality has led to the devastation of some African American communities as it
states in this article.
“60 million and more.” These words by Toni Morrison will stick with me forever.
Doing extensive research on the impacts of slavery will definitely make me prepared the next
time I hear someone say “why don't they just get over it.” People do not understand the “it”
enough to understand the impact it has on society today. Lets just hope that in the future slavery
will be a thing that more people talk about and get educated about so everyone can really learn
the impacts it has on the injustices that African Americans face today. Before we can end the
problem, we have to understand the problem.

Citations:

Capehart, Jonathan, director. The Washington Post. The Washington Post, WP Company, 27
June 2017,
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/06/27/how-the-terror-of-lynchings-in-th
e-past-haunt-us-today-and-our-future/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6ba995392cdd​.

Li, Haoran, director. ​Medium​. M

​ edium​, Applied Intersectionality., 2 Mar. 2017, 
medium.com/applied-intersectionality/the-reality-about-slavery-69fc58cb8076 
 
Loury, Glenn C., director. B
​ rookings​. B
​ rookings​, Brookings, 28 July 2016, 
www.brookings.edu/articles/an-american-tragedy-the-legacy-of-slavery-lingers-in-our-cities-ghettos/​.  

 
 
Morrison, Toni, et al. ​Beloved​. 10-18, 1987.