Addio zio Tom Page #4

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was appeased through gratuitous

acts of violence,

perpetrated especially on the women,

who slept alone at night

in the barn with the animals,

and were therefore defenseless.

Oh, go away.

The black puppies not yet ready

for work were like toys,

and as such they were given

to children.

But the black puppies grew up quickly,

and pretty soon they preferred

a new kind of game, that the white

kids often enjoyed watching.

Let's read an excerpt from the diary

of Fanny Kemble, English actress:

''From the early morning the boughs

of the large tree before my window

were full of couples chirping like

blackbirds in love.

I, who was English, and had just

joined my American husband in Georgia,

was amazed that such a puritanical

white society could allow its slaves

to indulge in such depravity

in every corner of the jungle.

Another time, in the rice fields,

I came upon such a carefree,

shameless band of urchins,

who were so busy with their pleasure

that they didn't even notice me.''

But after her marriage to the planter

George Butler,

Fanny Kemble became

a typical southern lady.

I, a typical southern lady?

Have you ever seen a southern lady

ride a horse western style?

Now I'll show you another thing that

a southern lady would never show you.

Look at all the lovebirds!

Look at them

running from the sugarcane field.

The masters themselves encourage them.

Do you know what my husband says?

''Go on, get busy!

The more children you have,

the happier you'll make me.

Do as you please.

I get rich,

and you have a good time.''

In this shop, you don't pay for what

you break, and I pick up the pieces.

Excuse me, ma'am, where is

the church at Turner Bridge?

I don't understand.

I'm German.

- Where is church?

- Three miles down road.

- What's happening here, ma'am?

- Very interesting.

They're cutting the Negro who broke

20 virgins at the Peterson plantation.

- Cutting what?

- Cutting his balls, what else?

He's through f***ing.

The pliers! The pliers!

If on the one hand the masters

allowed their slaves

an almost unlimited sexual freedom,

it was also true that he would be

furious if that freedom cost him money.

On every plantation there were always

a number of virgins

destined for the marketplace.

Their virginity had a very definite

value, and if you took it,

you were a thief.

Such thieves

were publicly castrated,

and the castration took place

at the very scene of the crime.

Hewlett, a Louisiana man,

wrote in 1 831 :

''Such an exciting spectacle

was a pleasant interruption

to the boredom of a Sunday afternoon.

Males, females and puppies

enjoyed it from start to finish.

The more the victim screamed,

the more fun they had.''

The master calls for the pliers.

No, not my balls!

Shut up! Take the balls with

your hands and pull.

- Quick, put the balls in the pliers.

- He's pissing! He got me all wet!

Not my balls! No!

- Do you want to go in?

- No, thank you.

- Listen.

- Squeeze!

Did you hear that?

It's done.

- What did they use for the operation?

- Horse pliers.

- It's horrible to make him suffer so.

- No, Negroes never suffer.

That Negroes felt physical and moral

pain less that white men

was a widely held belief.

The scientific writings of that time,

first among them those by

the authoritative Samuel Cartwright,

a professor at

the University of Louisiana,

mention ''poor motor skills, typical of

monkeys and subhuman species in general.''

No one suspected yet that

all the folklore, the excesses,

the collective hysteria don't

Negate the presence of pain.

On the contrary,

they underline its intensity.

At this point I have only to remind you

that God condemned to slavery

the damned line of Canaan

from the time ofJoshua.

God ordered Abraham's descendants

to keep slaves,

and he decreed that those slaves

were to be inherited by their children.

God recognized Abraham

as the master of the slaves.

And Jesus ordered

that any who dare object to

or disrupt the institution of slavery

be repudiated as subversive individuals,

whose behavior is --

The Protestant Church,

then even more powerful

than the Catholic Church in America,

approved of and preached

slavery as a divine decree.

The sermons of the most influential

ministers, like this one,

by Reverend Stringfellow of Virginia,

were bound and published in volumes.

The curse in the Old Testament

on the black man, Canaan,

the evil son of Noah,

who had castrated his father,

was falling heavily on his descendants,

who were now reduced to slavery.

The Baptists said, ''Flog them.''

The Presbyterians, ''Deny them rights.''

The Methodists, ''Chain them up.''

While Bishop Polk, the same one

who later became a Confederate general,

beat all records as a slaveholder.

Slavery is thus a divine institution,

ordered and sanctioned by God.

Therefore, with all the authority

granted my by the church,

I, Reverend Stringfellow of the State

of Virginia,

order you to honor slavery

and not to question it on the basis

of false moral grounds.

Instead of false moral grounds, Reverend

Stringfellow would have done better

talking about

false economic grounds.

For example, it was false

to think that a slave's labor was free

simply because he wasn't paid.

Let's consider the eternal problem

of domestic servants.

When a master thought he could solve it

by filling his huge house with droves

of Negroes dressed to the nines,

he was solving

a very different problem--

the problem of his prestige in the eyes

of his family and his guests.

Please, come in. But I'm warning you,

I can't give you much of my time.

As you can see, this isn't a house,

it's a madhouse.

- The luggage.

- What luggage? Oh, yes!

Mr. Thackeray's luggage.

Haven't I told you a million times

to get it and bring it downstairs?

Go on, don't waste anymore time.

My God, they're useless!

Hurry up!

I'll have to leave you to your own

devices. Take a look around.

- I'll see you later.

- Where do the sheets go, ma'am?

Come on. Let's hurry it up!

This looks nice.

Always cleaning, cleaning.

My fingers are hurting, ma'am.

Even at night I dream

that I'm still cleaning.

Black slave's always cleaning.

And you keep telling me

I have to clean even better.

Where do we put the sheets, ma'am?

''Where do we put the sheets, ma'am?''

Put them on the bed, you idiots!

The real mistress of the house, though,

was the Mammy.

The house was her kingdom.

The children were her subjects.

She reigned upstairs, over the children

of both masters and slaves alike,

in absolute promiscuity,

because black or white,

all babies have the same color pee.

She was almost always fat, thanks to

her privileges in the kitchen.

She was always mean and arrogant,

and mistreated everyone, black or white.

All this thanks to the immunity

she enjoyed in the domestic setting.

When, for instance, a white man --

- Whom does this one belong to?

- Throw him over there.

When I'm done with your pup,

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