Rather than placing the blame of the terrible institution of slavery on a handful of people and businesses, WBJ’s story on slavery shows how slavery is part of the shared history of our region and our nation, and we all must address how the legacy of slavery and the treatment of Black people in the years since abolition have left the Black community at a disadvantage.
In an effort to put the renewed focus on business diversity & inclusion efforts into an historic prospective, outgoing WBJ editorial intern Devina Bhalla spent a good portion of the summer looking at Central Massachusetts’ ties to the institution of slavery and what legacy this leaves us with today.
WBJ Editor Brad Kane
In the in-depth story published in this Sept. 28 edition, she found – probably like you would find almost anywhere in the country – both before and after Massachusetts abolished slavery, the region’s economy had direct and indirect ties to slavery. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the South and the enslaved people who made up a significant portion of its labor force were such a part of the national economy, it would have been nearly impossible for businesses in a free state like Massachusetts to ignore it. Central Massachusetts businesses, particularly those in the textile industry, bought raw materials from the South, while other businesses sold their finished goods to slave owners.
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The point, rather than placing the blame of the terrible institution of slavery on a handful of people and businesses, is to show slavery is part of the shared history of our region and our nation. Everyone is culpable in one way or another, and we all must address how the legacy of slavery and the treatment of Black people in the years since abolition have left the Black community at a disadvantage. As Central Massachusetts businesses have stepped up their diversity & inclusion efforts this summer in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, we must understand the history behind why these efforts are necessary and why previous endeavors to address these issues have left us still in the situation we are today.
I’m certain over the course of history, my ancestors probably did some pretty terrible things. Sure, they probably did nice and productive things as well, but those who lived through the period of time where people were bought and sold – which, frankly, is the majority of human history – either directly or indirectly benefited from a terrible institution. And I am aware, as their descendant, I sit in a position of privilege not afforded to those who are descended from enslaved people. But I can’t do anything about the people who came before me; I can only control what I do now and the impact that has on the future.
The concern about today’s increased diversity & inclusion efforts is the focus will fade once the killing of Floyd and others like him moves further away in time, and the impact will be limited. If we are to proceed to a place where people of all talents and backgrounds are given equal opportunity, we must understand the history of where the disadvantages come from, and how we can overcome them for the future.
