Slavery

In one of my favorite films about slaver, “Sankofa” by Haile Gerima, a character says “It was easier to accept being a slave if you were born into it…” For the African-born (who knew freedom), it was easier to resist and harder to accept it. Another related quote I am fond of using is this one by 20th-century freedom fighter Assata Shakur (former Black Panther and Tupac Shakur’s godmother): “People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things…”