Frederick Douglass was never supposed to be anything in life. He was born into slavery, separated from his family, and sentenced to a term of serving others for the rest of his life, having committed no crime. Though this story is tragic, those of us who have actually read American history know that his story is not rare for this reason alone. Douglass certainly had to deal with the brutality of slavery, but so did many black people, so this alone is not what is impressive about his story. What makes Douglass unique, and still quite the enthralling read even to this day, is that he demanded more from humanity than the simple, "well, that's just the way it is, so deal with it". He rejected the notion of complacency in life, and encouraged others to do the same. He did not believe that slavery was just a matter of brutalizing the body, but of abusing the mind. Douglass "Narratives of the Life of An American Slave" does what most other books of the period fail to do. It argues, and proves, that the slave system was kept alive by creating tiny communities on plantations. It is not Douglass' argument that slavery was a consistent horror show of beatings, as portrayed by European film makers. Indeed, he discusses beatings, and whippings, but he states very clearly in Narratives that it was not the beatings that kept slaves from running off (indeed it was the beatings that drove many of them to escape). So what did keep slaves from revolting for so long? There were far more of them than plantation owners, and they could have overthrown the whole system without the north? Why didn't they? This is a question that has plagued philosophers, who are always trying to complicate things instead of looking for answers. Fortunately for them, they need not question reality, or history for that matter. Douglass' writings tell us very clearly that slaves were paid, though obviously not well, they were given holidays, allowed to socialize with friends, allowed to practice Christianity, sing songs, dance, and all sorts of things that we still do today. After awhile of receiving rewards, and fun of this kind, the slave likely reasoned that this was the best they were ever going to get. After all, they knew nothing of northern life, where blacks were free for the most part. So, slaves did not leave because they believed their condition would not improve. They had no real evidence for this. They were lied to, and they believed the lie, even with the bible in hand, they believed the lies of their masters. This calls into question the moral trajectory of belief. If belief can lead to an enslaved populous, should we really be entertaining such a dangerous notion? Should we coexist with people who believe it is their inherent right to enslave others, and then raise children to believe that slavery is natural? It is their belief after all, and according to American dumbass logic, we have no right to question beliefs. Well, I'm questioning, and I am not going to stop. You do not get to erase history, not on my watch anyway. We must stamp out this notion that beliefs are sacred. They are fantasies that we develop to justify our hatred. If I believe that you are less than me, I will not care when you are suffering. It behooves you not to allow this nonsense to go on any further, and to start really questioning the motives of those who are always telling you to believe without evidence. This is black history month, but black history does not stop in february, nor does it rest when you decide that you no longer want to listen to your new rap album. Our culture is your culture. America was built on the blood, sweat and tears of black suffering, and mental abuse. It is high time that we all faced the fact that slavery can absolutely happen again, and that, if it does, it will not just be about enslaving blacks, but about controlling the political sphere of influence, which was always its real function. Let's have a black history discussion, on MCT.