Creepy wedding trend: Plantation Weddings - 'Let's get married at a former slave plantation' There is talk of slavery sometimes, only when guests bring it up. We don't delve into that on principle in a wedding but if someone is interested, we are happy to talk about it in detail," Mary Edmonds of Tuckahoe Plantation in Virginia tells Salon, who uses the word "principle" somewhat loosely. If you are trying to sell a house and someone has been murdered in it, the estate agent is obliged to tell potential vendors. This is because most normal, decent people would not feel entirely comfortable living in a place with that kind of history. But if it the site of the happiest day of your life has a vile history -no problem! I am not suggesting that these couples (mainly heterosexual, Caucasian and ages between 23 and 35) are being deceived and don't know the history of the buildings. Rather that they simply don't appear to give a damn. What are the murders, rapes and forcible removals of children of black people when it happened in such pretty surroundings? It reminds me of when some people were trying to get justice from my old school when it was revealed the headmaster had been abusing pupils. One man wrote online: "Yes, but if only state schools had grounds like this!" Remembering the past: Slaves at the Magnolia Plantation & Gardens in South Carolina The trend for using plantations for social events was in the news recently when singer Ani Di Franco decided to use one for a retreat and song writing workshop. She succumbed to public pressure and issued a remarkably indifferent apology on her website. Some people simply do not respect these sites and the suffering that was endured by the people of African descent on them, because now, just like then, they don't see these people as human. They weren't afforded any respect then, and as couples slow dance together on their graves, they aren't being shown any now. I sadly don't have to envision the kind of rage that some readers will be building up against my blog. I am so used to the reactions of people in the UK (which also played a significant role in the slave trade) when the ugly subject of slavery rears its ugly head. Many like to point out that no black people that are alive today were actually slaves, black people weren't the only slaves, how talking about the subject makes you the real racist, how we should just forget about it ignoring the legacy it left behind and the fact that at the end of it slave owners and not slaves were compensated. You are told to not make a fuss about it and to let it go. And they will get their black friend that agrees with them to come and shout at you and tell you that it's a shame that you allow yourself to be defined by something that happened such a long time ago. The fact is that if slavery were not a big deal then some people wouldn't be so uncomfortable around the subject. It wouldn't cause so much resentment, bitterness and anger. And black people wouldn't feel so strongly about it either. 12 Years A Slave should serve as an introduction to slavery and the inhumane behaviour carried out during that time. Anyone reading this should carry out their own research and find out more. I don't know whether this would ever stop the creepy trend of plantation weddings; as most of these people have clearly shown no empathy to start with. It may however, mean that weddings taking place at these venues are a little less well attended.