It’s a question Black Americans have been asking for a while, and now that former President Donald Trump has won back the Oval Office, it’s on everyone’s mind: Can slavery make an official comeback?
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Reflexively, the answer to this seemingly crazy question should be “hell no,” but if you take just five minutes to Google it, you’d be surprised to know we’re not too far from that reality.
In 2022, slavery was on the ballot in five states, according to AP News. Talk show host and author Tavis Smiley expressed growing fears of slavery right before the 2016 election. Going back to the 13th Amendment, legal loopholes still allow for slavery today.
Additionally, southern states like Florida have moved to ban teaching students about the horrors of slavery. And although many, like Canadian author Mark Steyn, continue to argue America is “over slavery” and Black folks should just “move on,” slavery is still deeply rooted in the foundation of the nation.
The Root spoke with Dr. David Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), who said the playbook for slavery is already in action. “A lot of this sh*t ain’t new,” he said. “The tactics, the strategy, the language, the racism, the white supremacy of it all. We might call it something that feels like new birtherism, but it’s white supremacy at its core.”
Trump has pledged to be a “dictator on day one,” and with a history of banning Muslims, building a southern border wall, and now Project 2025 looking to dismantle educational opportunities for Black people and attack Critical Race Theory, Johns said Black people have the right to fear what the MAGA president has up his sleeve and if his newest trick might include reinstating slavery.
Admittedly, Trump has always told Americans exactly what he plans to do. If you need it written down on paper, it’s all outlined in Project 2025— although the GOP winner denies any connection to the 900-page conservative, Christian manifesto. Johns notes the importance of reading between the Trump campaign’s strategic words as they “have been successful at co-opting language and weaponizing government to make it difficult for people to engage in critical discussion or inquiry,” he said.
According to Johns, this is why slavery is possible in 2024. Matter of fact, it’s already taken form. On Tuesday (Nov. 5), California residents voted against Proposition 6, which would’ve changed the state’s constitution and ended forced labor in prisons, according to CBS News. In a 54.9 percent majority, Californians took a side, leaving many civil rights activists baffled over the clear legal remanent of chattel slavery.
Also, let’s not forget the Latinx community voted in record turnout for the candidate actively planning mass deportations. “It is much easier for folks to lie to themselves and believe that they can access the white privilege that Trump embodies than it is to do the deep and sometimes difficult work,” Johns said.
And that, he argues, is why Black people must stay vigilant. “We have justifiable mistrust in a country that expects Black women to do custodial care without acknowledgement or Black people to do labor without reparations,” he said.
Despite growing concerns of the return of slavery, Johns has faith that like always, the Black community will persevere. “One of the lessons that Black ancestors teach us is that we are joy-filled people,” he said. “One of the goals of white supremacy is to steal that from us.”
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