Reading List

I am about to make a terrible confession. I don't read blogs. I write my blog and I read books. Yes, I read books. I am very old. Only very old people read books. Recently I read BRUTAL JOURNEY, by Paul Schneider. It is about the Spanish in the Americas in 1528. Their journey through Florida and into Mexico was brutal. But also the treatment of the people of Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Mexico, and elsewhere by the Spanish was brutal. The Spanish made slaves of everyone they could. They worked the slaves to death and ultimately killed millions of people. They stole all of the gold they could find. South America had emerald mines; so the Spanish stole all of the emeralds they could. They actually found a mountain of silver in Peru. They made slaves of the people, forced them to work the mines, and a million people died mining silver over one hundred years.

I generally thought of slavery as being the problem of Black slaves in the American South. However, throughout history, throughout the world, people enslaved each other. The Greeks and Romans took slaves. The various tribes in Africa enslaved each other. Slavery was a world-wide problem throughout all of history. Sadly, there are still thousands of slaves, perhaps even millions. There are soldier slaves and sex slaves in Africa. There are work slaves in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and even here in the United States. Women are in sexual slavery throughout the world. It is long past time to end slavery. When and how can it ever be accomplished?

There are also many forgotten prisoners around the world. The rebels of Columbia are still holding hundred of prisoners in the jungles. There are prisoners of conscience being held around the world. Fortunately Amnesty International is working hard to free them. Most of the women in the Arab countries are basically slaves or prisoners. They have no rights and no education. Studies have shown that civilizations do not advance until they free and educate their women. When women are held in subservience, the whole society is held in bondage. It almost seems as if the world is getting worse rather than better. Maybe it is just that we are more aware and have too much knowledge about what is happening.