The comparison of degrees of enslavement, that is whether the
institutional subjugation of one race of people by another is more
or less severe in one country or another or one region of a country
or another, is not the designed purpose of this book. For the
life-style of the Africans and their descendants enslaved in New
York State prior to the mid-nineteenth century can best be
described as analogous in its character and intensity to that of
their counterparts in the southern states. In truth, the impact of
enslavement on these Africans - who were ripped from their
traditional homelands and brutally enslaved for centuries in the
"New World"- their families and descendants was and is virtually
the same regardless of disposition - North or South. Enslavement in
the northern extremes of the United States and, in particular New
York State, cannot and should not be excluded from the present day
debate on restitution, apologies and reparations. The only truth to
be discussed is that the enslavement of human beings, against their
will and with the ultimate goal of profit for their enslavers, is a
"crime against all humanity." --- L. Lloyd Stewart This is a work
that deserves to be read, not only because of the quality and
amount of research and thought that went into it, but also because
of what it reveals about the history of the state of New York and
this country. It also points to their need to come to terms with
the immoral, evil and unjust acts committed in the name of race,
religion and the "right" to conquest. Brother Lloyd Stewart draws a
clear line between his work and many recent works on enslavement
which attempt to tone down and sanitize the horror, criminality and
human tragedy of African enslavement. Indeed, he is especially
concerned with stripping away New York's unofficial masking of the
horror of its policies and its pretension of a benevolence
impossible in such a violent, degrading and dehumanizing process.
As the title suggests, Brother Lloyd is very concerned with
exposing the myths, hypocrisy, extended brutality and injustice in
the concept and practice of "gradual abolition," which subsidized
the enslavement of children and reinforced enslavement while
pretending to ease and erase it. Rich with documents and
documentation, Brother Lloyd unveils the state's sanction of
enslavement with law, subsidy and ideology, its bloody vengeance
for rebellion and resistance and the contradiction between
self-congratulatory claims of freedom and democracy and the daily
violent dehumanization of enslavement. He concludes with an
argument for reparations for both the inhuman practice and its
continuing consequences. Moreover, Brother Lloyd reaffirms the
essential character of enslavement as a crime against humanity
which demands remedy and repair as a matter of morality and law. In
conclusion, the book is an important contribution to the ongoing
discourse on the Holocaust of African enslavement and merits a
close and careful reading for its insistence on objective analysis,
cogent reasoning, ethical reflection, and a quick and salutary end
to the falsification of the history of New York and the United
States. For only when a society confronts and concedes the horrors
of its past can it build safeguards against their repetition and
begin to heal and repair the devastating damage done, not only to
the immediate victims, but also to our concept and practice of what
it means to be really human and do justice in the world. -- Dr.
Maulana Karenga Professor, Department of Black Studies California
State University, Long Beach
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