Slavery In Niger

Our country abolished slavery 140 years ago, yet activists rant on as if the "peculiar institution" continues on to this day in America. They demand reparations, affirmative action, and special programs. On the other hand, these same activists, usually black, are rarely troubled to raise their voices on behalf of victims of contemporary slavery.

Slavery in Niger is not an obscure thing, nor a curious relic of the past, it is an intrinsic part of society today.

A Nigerian study has found that almost 8% of the population are slaves.

You wonder how this can be in the 21st Century and why people do not know about it?

When was slavery banned in Niger? Last year. Yeah, you read that right -- 2004. And yet we hear not a word from any of the usual suspects. Where is Jesse Jackson? Where is Al Sharpton? Yoo-hoo -- Maxine Watters? Nope. Not a one of them has anything to say. I guess that long-dead slaves are more important than slaves who are alive today, continuing to be held in defiance of the laws of Niger and all human decency. I guess fattening their own pocketbooks and campaign coffers in the liberal salons of Hollywood and the Upper East Side matters more than men, women, and children held in bondage. After all, there isn't any money to be made in challenging this chattel status of impoverished blacks in a backwards corner of Africa, while affirmative action, minority contracting, and reparations scams are a source of big bucks for the "professional Negros" of the liberal Left.

But since so-called black leaders in this country won't tell you about them, let's hear about the slaves of Niger from the BBC. Who are these slaves, and what are the conditions they live in?

Most slaves in Niger today are the descendents of slaves who were kidnapped in wars and raids centuries ago, and were simply born into their status.

Many slaves in Niger are appallingly abused by their masters.

Slave children are taken away from their parents before they are two-years-old, to break the bonds between parent and child and to eliminate any sense of identity.

The children grow up working in the house of the master.

Assibit was born into slavery, as was her mother and her husband

The slave owners encourage the slaves to reproduce to increase their numbers, sometimes even determining when they have sexual intercourse.

They treat the slaves like their cattle.

Slaves are often beaten for small misdemeanours.

They work long hours and are sometimes deprived of food as punishment.

There are documented cases of slaves being stripped naked in front of their families to humiliate them, of female slaves being raped by their owners, and even of male slaves being castrated by their owners as punishment.

So the next time you hear some Leftist start the usual litany about American racism, ask them why they are not doing something about enslaved blacks today in Africa. And then give them a boot in the ass, suggesting to them that they need to do something constructive with their passion and outrage. Like freeing men, women, and children in Africa who are slaves, rather than demanding "something-for-nothing" for folks in this country who never have been.