Clear Language on Slavery:

Slaves = Hostages
Slave Owners = Human Traffickers
Slave Catchers = Police
Plantations = Death Camps
Mistresses = Rape Victims
Discipline = Torture/Murder
Overseers = Torturers
Trading = Kidnapping
Profit = Theft
Middle Passage = Genocide

Make a note

Start replacing the words you commonly hear and read about slavery in your head.

Bookmark this as a reference.

Start using everyday words that are relevant to you in this day and age.

Stop obscuring the horror with detached, antiquated, euphemistic terms.

So "Slave families lived in plantations owned by white slaveowners who hired overseers to maintain discipline"

You have:

"Black Families were held hostage in death camps by white human traffickers who employed torturers to torture and kill them"

Different, huh?

"Mr. Johnson, a philanthropist and slave owner, demanded in his will that his slaves be freed upon his death"

Becomes...

"Mr. Johnson, philanthropist and human trafficker declares that his family of Black hostages will be freed over his dead body"

"The US Congress Passed the Fugitive Slave Act which obligated white Americans to return slaves to their master's plantations"

is

"Congress passed the Escaping Black Families Act which obligated whites to return terrified Black families to the death camps of their kidnappers"

"The prominent slave owner never publicly recognized the offspring of he and one of his slave romances but allowed him to serve in the house"

is really

"The rich human trafficker raped his female hostage and then held their son hostage as well at the death camp he owned"

"We abolished slavery way back in 1865! There's no need to still be talking about it now"

"Even though it has been only two human lifetimes back to back since it was fully legal to kidnap, torture, rape and murder Black people, there's no reason to still be upset"

The way we talk about harm that we cause matters.

It is reflexive of us to minimize the harm we inflict and tend to hide the severity of that harm behind spin and fuzzy language.

And this doesn't allow for real accountability or compassion or even apology.

If someone punches you in the face and breaks your nose, you're not likely to accept the apology "Sorry I annoyed you"

Why? Because though a broken nose may be ALSO annoying, by only admitting to that minor consequence, they are avoiding facing the core of the wrong they did.

History books essentially paint slavery as an alternative society structure. Perhaps unjust and a bit ugly, but valid.

Sanitized terms and images of Gone With the Wind romanticize even these horrific atrocities and those behind them.

When we cannot come to terms with and acknowledge the full enormity of our actions, not only can we never be accountable to those we have harmed...

But we make their pain and anger seem illegitimate and arbitrary and without cause or validity.

Words matter.

https://twitter.com/absurdistwords/status/1031215178300510210

Down the rabbit hole... https://twitter.com/absurdistwords/status/1307678625941069830?s=19