st of the ancient empire of Scythia. Instead of destroying the kingdom itself though he left Ateus, it’s ruler in charge, and continued the slave trade to re-build the empire whose resources his son would then use to conquer a large part of the Asiatic world.
But the word “slave” actually originates from the Latin word “slav,” which described the people from the Slavic regions that were conquered and sold into bondage. It was these Eastern Europeans who were sacrificed on the altar of industry that were bought and sold to serve the Empires of Old. Whether it was in the Barbarian Kingdoms of Europe who reigned after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Near Eastern Arab Lords or what was known then as the Imperium Romanus (Byzantine Empire), they toiled and were deprived of their lands, labor, and women for the pleasure of the strongest military forces of that era. And since it was the Latin and Arabic tongues that most of Europe and subsequently all of its colonies in the Americas adopted their language from, that created this synonymous concept of “slavs” being known as “slaves.”
During this example, I have to point out how the American version of slavery sought not only to redefine the institution, but achieved that by separating people from their history. I can remember as a teenager having had several arguments with people who most of them being white, claimed that since Africans sold their own people into slavery it wasn’t really as much the fault of the enslaver. While this is an understandable reaction to the guilt and the striving towards escapism from the actions of ones ancestors, it doesn’t lift the burden from their colonial masters. This nation and others still benefit from that and will continue to for years to come. It doesn’t make the purveyors of such malice, hatred, and deceit guilty of any less of a crime. As if me holding someone down while you rape them makes you any less guilty of what you did. I may have made your cold-blooded goal easier to attain, but I don’t carry any blame for you, I carry my own blame for myself rather than a part of yours for you. We must all carry our responsibility to whatever end… in full tow. And yet if I am, but the servant of your will then I am only doing my masters bidding in the crime and yet I share in none of the glory, and devour only the scraps from the table. It is also important to point out that the definition of slavery by other Africans was completely different from the stripping of all humanity and conversion into physical property of people by Europeans.
We would be remiss to point out though that ever since the beginning of humanity, people have always found methods of defining themselves so as to consolidate power in order to live in a state of perpetually declared and reinforced superiority. Not necessarily just in their eyes. But more importantly, to the people they conquered who were forced to help construct the nation of the victorious party. One must realize that all people who have been held in bondage by their conquerors because of their so called race, nationality, religion or supposed lack thereof were actually instrumental in building the foundation of every aspect of that culture, the scientific advancements, political framework, and economic pillars. Impossible to overlook also is the workforce that suffered to build the beautiful structures by which these civilizations are often remembered best for. The subjugated masses were not only the tool for their masters in building, but also in populating and fighting for the preservation of the very entity, be it an Empire or a Nation, that coincidentally reduced them to the form of servitude and that redefined their place in the world. A nation in other words is and has not been defined just by its citizens, but also very much so by its slaves. The purpose of this text though is not to delve so much into the complete history of slavery, but to see how racism was formed in modern times to justify it for an economic purpose and how the inability to face these facts that created the particular ci